NEWSLETTER: spin out

Peace & Love!

Well peoples...I just can't imagine why, oh why the flame throwers have been brought out, turned on high and aimed at our pockets. Actually, I could run a pretty interesting theory for you, but instead, I'll implore you to continue insisting for that 700 billion dollars to be spent on US, not on poorly managed businesses. "Yeah, but they voted," you say. Yes the senate did, but congress is still trying to figure themselves out. But as our outgoing president has shown us laws and agreements can be unsigned...If nothing else, you now know that there IS money for your child's school. There is money for the arts. There is money to stop the foreclosures. There is even money to pay down the deficit. No more excuses from the "leaders!" One of the great things that is happening is that we KNOW now: acting collectively and with great focus, we can make a change. So don't loose heart! I was listening to Howard Zinn today on the radio talking about FDR and how FDR came to be FDR. It was inspiring, because he is holding out for Obama to really become the change, not because he already knows how (heeellooo, nuclear lobby?!) but because we will lead him to his greatness. Yeah, there are forces at work to destabilize our new-found understanding of democracy, but there are more of us than them. And by applying that sense that we are all great, just in need of a bit of a boost from our "constituents" we can live the change, right now. Just look at what is happening in LA dance: the Times fired its reviewers, the performers got mad then organized and are making it happen. There's a shortage of venues: galleries, coffee shops, parking lots, yoga studios and parks are now hosting major performance events. It takes all of us rising to the occasion and taking turns at the helm to create and enjoy greatness. Yes We Can!


Afrologic. Afrological. Afrologica. How big is you 'fro?
Multiple, fractal, improvisational, polemical, but always moving with spirit and in the service of lifting it/us all up.
That's the Logic of the Afro--sign up, get your community on.


As if last weekend did not run me deep enough into the ground, this weekend is PACKED with events that will likely be pivotal in your life if you go to any of them. How awesome is that? BLOWIN BACK DA FRO this week? The realization that art happens, no matter what. Check it out.



MILES MEMORIAL PLAYHOUSE
1130 Lincoln BLVD, Santa Monica; 310-998-8765
Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
October 3,4 @ 8PM; 5th @ 3 PM, FINAL WEEKEND
is just about a wrap. I'll be in da house on Saturday night. Also check out other events produced by Teada, they look interesting...

OC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, directions
Fall into Dance
October 2 & 3, 8 PM; $10 per program--i think...the server is down
Dang it! I had written this entire thing about this mini-festival, picked out folks I recommended, and then...I realized I was looking at last years web page! Well kiss me and call me peaches if they are not back with another fantastic line up, but did they not get the memo that they are supposed to tell me first?! SO I can't go, but some of you should, cause it looks fantabulous.
With works from Nacho Duato's Compañia Nacional de Danza, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Keigwin + Company and more

*Also at OCPAC, Slow Dancing, the monumental videodance installation by David Michalek is running through October 11th. Hurry!


HIGHWAYS PERFORMANCE SPACE
18th Street & Olympic, Santa Monica, CA
San Soucci
October 3 & 4, 8:30 PM, $20/$15
Lights, Camera, Action, Post and ACTION! An evening of screendance merging with live performance that should delight and surprise you with amazing synaptic manipulation! I'll be there on Friday.


CAL ARTS, Lund Theater
24700 McBean Pkwy, Valencia, CA 91355
Second Annual Commuter Festival
Thursday October 2 & Friday 3, 8 PM FREE, reservations can be made at 661-291-3046
Whoa as me! The distance is too great to get from Highways to Cal Arts in a timely fashion, but if you are up for a drive to a great venue, please go check out the dance ninja herself, Meg Wolfe, rock the kiddies in the School of Dance with the help of my baby Joel Smith and co-conspirator, Liz Casebolt. Also on the bill: We welcome Lionel Popkin, Oni Dance directed by Maria Gillespie, Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company directed by Kate Hutter.


SHAKTI'S ELEMENTS
717 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90401; 310-576-2008
Raga Lounge
Friday, October 3, 8 PM, donation
An open-mic style, laid back night. Give Tova a ring and get on the bill!


PHYLLIS STEIN GALLERY
207 W. 5th Street, Los Angeles
Performance Happy Hour
Saturday Oct. 4, 7 - 10 PM, FREE
I am itching to get down here and visit with Mecca Vazie Andrews. Where is my helicopter taxi?! If you aren't headed west, get downtown and avail yourself. With Movement, Movement and Sarah Paul Ocampo.


Missing something from last week? Check out the archives to your left. Wanna put in your two cents? Scroll down and write us somethin'!


THE MUSIC CENTER
135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012, directions
World City
Select Saturdays, 10 AM queue for 11 AM show; 11 AM queue for 12:30 show
WOW! A very interesting series for FREE, aimed especially at kids. Tickets paid for by the Keck Foundation. Get the kids downtown!
October 11, 2008 Los Llaneros and Ballet Folclórico do Brasil
November 8, 2008 Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble
January 17, 2009 Chen Kuai Le Puppet Theater
February 7, 2009 Diane Ferlatte and Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir
March 14, 2009 Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre and Életfa Hungarian Folk Ensemble
April 18, 2009 Le Vent du Nord and Circo Comedia
June 5-7, 2009 Vietnamese Water Puppets

Also, get your tix for the Nutcracker and Ailey! Coming up at the end of the month, Miami City Ballet.


THE OPEN SPACE
209 S, Garey ST, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Anatomy Riot #27 with guest curator Samantha Giron
Monday, October 13, 8 PM, $10 suggested donation
Looking for a GREAT night of risks and comraderie? Get some friends together and go to Hassan's house. On the bill:Dance Good Damn it!, Samantha Giron dance project, Ryan Heffington, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario,Nina McNeely, Alexandria Yalj, Serene Zloof


CAL STATE LONG BEACH/Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater
6200 Atherton ST, Long Beach CA
Not About Iraq, choreography by Vic Marks
Thursday October 16 & Friday 17th, 8 PM; $25/$20
"Can dance be a force for social change? A visceral, exhilarating dance to engage our hearts and minds, Not About Iraq looks at citizenship as it explores how dance speaks about our experience. Through a set of poetics only accessible through dance, internationally acclaimed choreographer Victoria Marks questions the place of the body in matters of courage and valor, knowledge and responsibility." If you missed this last year, here's your second chance! For tickets, call 562-985-7000.


THE RED MERMADE
2814 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
Asphalt Sea
Saturday, October 18th, 8 PM; $10--bring extra money for art & food purchases
A night of performance lurking, motel crashing and *quality* hanging with some of the edgiest performance artists in the city. I am curating and hosting with the lovely Ms. Pat Payne, together, we are VISCERA (!) and hoping to make your guts hurt from all the laughing and sudden surprises. Our invited guests are bringing surprise characters, jammin solo music and stunning dance, all adapted as site specific pieces & projections for dry docked boat, front porch, parking lot, alley and stairwell.
Pat Payne, d. Sabela Grimes, Ayana Hampton, Maia, Pete Lee, Derrick Maddox, Gregory Barnett, Anna B. Scott, Cari Ann Shim Sham + surprise special guests! $10 gets you all o' dis...


DIAVOLO DANCE SPACE
616 Moulton, Los Angeles; (tel) 800-838-3006
Peep Hole|People presented by LA Contemporary Dance
Friday October 17th - Sunday 26th; 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays; 5PM on Sundays, $25/$20/$15
All right. I will manage to get to this because it is time to see the company with my own eyes. They are about to take the stage right now at Cal Arts...alas. Tickets are already on sale.


REDCAT
631 W. 2nd ST, Los Angeles, directions
The Studio
Sunday October 19 & Monday Oct 20, 8:30 PM; $15/$12/$8
An underground favorite and, dare I say, staple, is back with a new installment. A great showcase for local favs and groups on the rise, The Studio is money well spent. On the bill: Ana María Alvarez, Nao Bustamante, Josslyn Luckett, Miwa Matreyek, Needtheater Company, Sarah Paul Ocampo, Poor Dog Goup, Wu Ingrid Tsang, and Kristina Wong. Tickets are on sale now.



ONGOING CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
The African Dance Workshop is here! Debbie Allen Dance Academy hosts one hot weekend of dance. The server is not responding right now--I think everyone is trying to get their advance tickets and program--but check back and see if you can get in there and get your package.
Changes in the ongoing class map can be accessed here. Make sure you check out The Open Space's website for their fall schedule of classes. Don't forget Kinky Stretch with Gregory Barnett starts 10/09.

Viver Brasil is hosting the living monument, Dona Cici. Please do yourself a favor and get to their Tuesday 8 PM class at The Dance Arts Academy. Learning the story inside the dance is priceless and RARE. Dona Cici is a true treasure. Classes are also enlivened by the drumming, I said drumming, of Iya Mainha, also in town!! $15 a class.

In San Francisco at the Aceituno Arts Cooperative, 2141 MIssion Street, STE 200, JORGE ALABE will offer an orixá movement class. Jorge Alabe is a powerful drummer and keeper of rhythms. Class is Saturday Oct 4; 3:30- 5:00 PM for $15.

DANCEbank is back! Revamped schedule, new location, new day: Saturdays 11am-1pm unless otherwise noted at Farmlab/Under Spring
October 11, 18, 25 - Rebecca Alson-Milkman
November 1, 8, 15 - Neil Greenberg (11am-1:30pm)
December 6, 13, 20 - Simone Forti (10:30am-12:30)
January 10, 17, 24 - Mira Kingsley
Jan 31, Feb 7, 14 - Susan Rose
Feb 21, 28, March 7 - Rae Shaolan Blum



whew!

LOVELY!
I've been listening to the VP debate and nearly getting sick to my stomach. Yikes! At least the questions are better than the Presidential debate, but good grief. I'm so glad that I have the chance to go see some invigorating, politically astute art making this weekend. Make a trip out to a show, or two or three, and talk to the person in the seat next to you. Learn something, share something, plan something! Be that greatness that we all need. Hop to it.

in love,
-Anna