THE MAGIC LANTERN CELEBRATION
ON PASEO

Photo taken from a previous Magic Lantern celebration. Photo c. by Nancy Condit

In a time of light instead of fright, children of all ages, their parents and friends are invited to descend upon the streets of the Paseo Arts District to enter a world of their making on Sunday, October 28^th by Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan.  Children can jump into their own creativity with a different twist to the Halloween tradition in the annual Magic Lantern Celebration. Community artists are offering children hands-on costume-making workshops from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., followed by a “Spin and Sparkle” where children can parade in their costumes from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

“This is a unique experience where children can be part of a multi-layered arts event involving wearable art, creative movement and a touch of theatre.  I am delighted to watch the children who attend become immersed in the creative process, their faces glow from inside out,” says Lorrie Keller of Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan who designs the celebration.  “If you are wondering how this even found its name, come observe the children and parents who participate and you will see.  Our celebration is inspired by a verse from a past StarDanceSwan performance . . . We are all Magic Lanterns, lit by the light of imagination.”

All that children need to do is bring their active imaginations, wear everyday clothing, and be ready to find wonder in paper and bits of glitzy possibilities.   Discovering and Doing are the main ingredients needed to make the most of this event.  Awaiting children are all kinds of paper that can be twisted, crumpled, folded, ruffled, and embellished into fantastic sculptures to be worn over their clothing.  Children and parents can walk from studio to studio to build original costumes that include hats, make-up, a glowing surprise and a pumpkin friend. 

This is an opportunity for parents to be involved in the problem solving aspects of their child’s constructions.  Helping hands and brainstorming are important and engaging parts in this process.

The celebration will culminate in a grand finale when children can display their costumes during a street dance.  A giant winding pathway painted on the street in the shape of a pumpkin by artist Elizabeth Muller provides the setting for the spectacle of costumes.  The StarDanceSwan dancers and Steve McLinn of Ojas Music join children in generating spinning wishes and sparkling energy to awaken the dance in all.

From the press release

HARTEL DANCE GROUP
PRESENTS THOUGHTFUL
EVENING OF DANCE

By Nancy Condit

Continuing their practice of bringing the audience and dancers closer together, while presentig both completed and works in progress, Hartel Dance Group performed a evening of innovative, thoughtful, enjoyable dance last Friday night in their studio on the fifth floor of the Magnolia Building downtown at Northwest 7th and Broadway. The four dances were choreographed by Austin Hartel, artistic director.

"Network," with music by composer Aaron Robinson, was the pivotal piece of the evening, as dancers, including Hartel, performed some of their fabulous stands, like the one on the backs of her partner's calves as the dancers both faced away from each other.

Austin Hartel and another dancer perform one of his signature
non-traditional moves.
Photo c. by Nancy Condit

"'Network' is (concerned) with how social media works and (that) people expect instant on and off. What is really a relationship? 'I have so many friends on Facebook,'" Hartel said. In continuing staggered movie playbacks, the backdrop continued to reflect the dance as it echoed through different media, as they danced and after the dancers had completed the performance. 

Robinson's deep drums were also danced to in "Syncopated," as the dancers shook, leapt, and circled, leaning to the side in flat footed rhythm to the terrific recorded music. The four women appeared in bright red tube tops and brief trunks.

In "Superman" four women performed with bright red balls to music by Ted Nuggent. They slid over the balls, posed with them as they sat on the floor, and treated them as bowling balls in the enthusiastic piece.

"Stranglehold," the last dance, was very sexy as the four women danced in string tank tops and daisy dukes. The sexiest dancer extended her leg far above her head, four others swayed back and forth sensually, while a sixth held back, participating as little as possible, until the end.

The dancers were Christopher Castleberry, Thyrsa Da Rosa, Riley Daniel, Pamela Gimenez, Bethany Head, Sami Kropp, and Cameelah Pennington, and Austin Hartel. 

The seating was changed to incorporate both a section of bleachers to one side, and cabaret style seating, with small round tables and an assortment of chairs, keeping the space affordable for the dancers and viewers.

BUSY TIME FOR DANCE:
Hartel Dance Group
OKC Ballet,
Perpetual Motion modern
Dance Company

By Nancy Condit

October is one of the busiest times for dance. Look at the offerings just this week.

Hartel Dance Group will perform their last adult performance in "Network," with a party afterwards
with the company and audience, tonight at 8 pm. The place is the group's studio on the fifth floor of the Magnolia Building, 722 N. Broadway and 7th Street, in Oklahoma City. Tickets are $12, and can be purchased through the group's website, http://www.harteldancegroup.org/2012_season.html.

Preschoolers and up are invited to "put on your dancing shoes" and join them for modern dance, crafts and fun "right before lunch." Performances are Wednesday October 17th and 24th at 10 am, Saturday October 20th at 10 am, and Saturday October 27th at 4 pm -- "Wear your costumes and enjoy the
Oklahoma Gazette parade after the show."

Tickets for the evening performances are $12, and for the kids' performances $10. They can be purchased at the door, by calling 405.919.9331, or at www.harteldancegroup.org.

Oklahoma City Ballet's 41st season will open with "Director's Choice," three ballets "that are favorites of mine," writes artistic director Robert Mills. The contemporary ballet "Left Unsaid" by Nicolo Fonte, Antony Tudor's neoclassical ballet "Lilac Garden," and Margo Sappington's hybrid tango-ballet "Cobras in the Moonlight"will be performed at the Civic Center Music Hall Saturday, October 20th at 8 pm, and Sunday, October 21st at 2 pm.

Special events are a panel discussion led by Mills with one of the stagers from the Tudor Trust, and  choreographers Fonte, and Sappington on Saturday night at 7:15 pm in the south lobby of the Civic Center. On Sunday at 1:15 p.m. in the south lobby members of the Oklahoma City Youth Ballet will demonstrate and teach various dance moves that correspond to the choreographic styles used in the three ballets. This is geared toward the younger members of the audience.

 Ticket prices range from $12.50 to $55. Ask about the family four pack of tickets for $50. Tickets may be purchased online at www.okcballet.org, by phone at 405.848.TOES, or at the Civic Center Box Office, 405.297.2264.

Perpetual Motion modern Dance Company will complete its free performances in the Metropolitan Libraries on Saturday, October 20 at 2 pm at Southern Oaks Library, and Thursday, October 25 at 6:30 pm at Del City Library. The family friendly orgram by one of the best modern dance companies in Oklahoma is a successful presentation of dances for adults and young people, and is a great introduction for modern dance.

Perpetual Motion offers modern and aerial dance classes at City Arts to the public.  Check their website at
www.perpetualmotiondance.org.

HARTEL DANCE GROUP
PERFORMS NETWORK
FOR ADULTS AND KIDS
IN 2012 FALL SEASON
NETWORK

By Nancy Condit

 The Hartel Dance Group, one of the best modern dance groups in Oklahoma, will perform dance that "pushes the boundaries of the human body through the group's...hypnotic and enticing movements and shapes. The performances will showcase the joy and passion of the contemporary American art form" (from promotional material).

Evening performances for grown-ups will feature works by Austin Hartel, artistic director, and a collaboration with musician Aaron Robinson. There's a party with the group after the Friday night show. Adult performances are Wednesday October 17th, Thursday October 18th, and Friday October 19th at 8 pm. The place is the group's studio on the fifth floor of the Magnolia Building, 722 N. Broadway and 7th Street, in Oklahoma City. Tickets are $12, and can be purchased through the group's website, http://www.harteldancegroup.org/2012_season.html.

Preschoolers and up are invited to "put on your dancing shoes" and join them for modern dance, crafts and fun "right before lunch." Performances are Wednesday October 17th and 24th at 10 am, Saturday October 20th at 10 am, and Saturday October 27th at 4 pm -- "Wear your costumes and enjoy the
Oklahoma Gazette parade after the show."

Hartel Dance is also raising money for "Network," New Works, and Paying the Dancers October 17th - 27th on  their website.

Tickets for the evening performances are $12, and for the kids' performances $10. They can be purchased at the door, by calling 405.919.9331, or at www.harteldancegroup.org.

Hartel Dance Group is also raising money for "Network," New Works, and Paying the Dancers October 17th - 27th on  their website.

"DIRECTOR'S CHOICE" TO OPEN
2012-2013 OKLAHOMA CITY BALLET
SEASON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

By Nancy Condit

From Margo Sappington's tango ballet "Cobras in the Moonlight." Photo provided.

Oklahoma City Ballet's 41st season will open with "Director's Choice," three ballets "that are favorites of mine and ones that I knew audiences in Oklahoma would enjoy as well," wrote Robert Mills, in an email. The ballets are a commemoration of his fifth season as artistic director, and will be performed at the Civic Center Music Hall Saturday, October 20th at 8 pm, and Sunday, October 21st at 2 pm.

Nicolo Fonte's "Left Unsaid" opens the evening. "It is a beautiful contemporary ballet set to Bach violin concertos, danced in flat shoes. Nicolo has ballets in the repertoires of ballet companies all over the world."

"Anthony Tudor was one of the 20th century's greatest choreographers. We were very pleased to have been granted the rights to perform this work from his trust in New York City. The neo-classical narrative ballet, 'Lilac Garden,'  is set in the Edwardian era and danced on pointe. It depicts numerous guests at a garden party on the eve of one woman's marriage to a man she does not love but is promised to marry. Her real love is present, and we witness the couple's last moments together as they try to find a moment for one final kiss.  It is a touching work that I enjoyed dancing during my career."

The last work is Margo Sappington's "Cobras in the Moonlight," which she choreographed for Hubbard Street Dance Company in Chicago in l986. "We are the third company to have danced it since. I am not surprised because it is fabulous! It is set to four different compositions from Astor Piazzolla, the women are in high heels and the men are in tuxes. It is a hybrid of the tango and ballet. It is fast, exciting, and dare I say...sexy."

Human relations tie all the ballets together. Although Mills admits that the Edwardian idea of a forced marriage to someone they don't love, "the basic human elements of love, unrequited love, deceit and betrayal, all still exist. Although the other two ballets are abstract and have no story, they definitely have an undercurrent of human relationships, or maybe our relationship with ourselves, driving the choreography."

Special events are a panel discussion led by Mills with one of the stagers from the Tudor Trust, and  choreographers Fonte, and Sappington on Saturday night at 7:15 pm in the south lobby of the Civic Center. On Sunday at 1:15 p.m. in the south lobby members of the Oklahoma City Youth Ballet will demonstrate and teach various dance moves that correspond to the choreographic styles used in the three ballets. This is geared toward the younger members of the audience.

 Ticket prices range from $12.50 to $55. Ask about the family four pack of tickets for $50. Tickets may be purchased online at www.okcballet.org, by phone at 405.848.TOES, or at the Civic Center Box Office, 405.297.2264.

MODERN DANCE IN THE
METRO LIBRARIES
A SUCCESS

Photo provided

By Nancy Condit

With the new explosion of  dance in Oklahoma City, Perpetual Motion modern Dance Company has on stages, at arts festivals, in restaurants, and now, last night, Thursday, in the carpeted all purpose room at the Belle Isle Metro Library. This is part of the library series "Perpetual Motion: For the Love of the Dance."

Their dances ranged from "Hannah's Journey," in which they were dressed in long side-split light gold tunics with light deep silk pants underneath, as they emulated waving grain on their way.

Leah Watson's "Through the Fire," choreographed and danced by her, she "leaned on God for support in a difficult time. As I dance this piece over and over again, I (come to a deeper understanding) of it of what it means."

In "The Spaces In Between," or "Satori," the six women troupe used waist high white balls as they rolled in sequence on the  "We like to do dances that challenge us in our athleticism, as well as perform classic modern dance," said artistic director Michelle Dexter.

The last piece, "Vagabond," was a Norwegian one originally set by a Texas choreographer. The beat struck this writer as Hawaiian or Polynesian, and was, as promised, fun. Costumes were lacey tops with full pretty slip skirts.

Perpetual Motion offers modern and aerial dance classes at City Arts to the public.  Check their website at
www.perpetualmotiondance.org. They are on the performing artists roster of the Oklahoma Arts Council.
The National Endowment for the Arts and Metropolitan Library System also makes the series possible.

"We started a series 'Around the World' ten years ago, and then realised we had many artists right here at home," said Dana Morrow, outreach director of the library system.

Further performances are Sunday, October 14 at 2 pm at the Northwest Library, Saturday, October 20 at 2 pm at Southern Oaks Library, and Thursday, October 25 at 6:30 pm at Del City Library.

PERPETUAL MOTION
APPEARING -- FREE --
IN THE METRO LIBRARIES

One of the best modern dance companies in Oklahoma is appearing in the Metropolitan Libraries through October. Admission is free.

"This is the first time we have ever attempted to present modern dance in our libraries. We have a world class modern dance troupe right here in Oklahoma City. They are Perpetual Motion. Don't miss it!" writes

Dana Morrow, director of outreach at the Metropolitan Library System, in an email.