Thursday Rehearsal

Sanspointe turns 10! was such a great performance thanks to all of our supporters, donors, and audiences that came out each night! We were also thrilled to have Girls Inc and other guests come view Thursday’s rehearsal!

From the live music of Iron Giant Percussion and Michael Glaser to the audience’s invitation to change their point of view during the performance, Sanspointe Turns 10! was truly interactive! Check out what Artistic Director Rhea Speights has to say on the Company developing this unique experience for audience members.

photo by Barbara Aldridge

“To be honest, I was a little nervous about presenting our birthday celebration concert the way that we did. Even back in 2005 when Michelle and I collaborated on Point of Contact, we were talking about ways to make the performances more interactive, but the strong tradition of the audience to sit and receive the work in a seemingly passive way is a large hurdle to overcome. Shellie has been most successful in that sort of effort with Dances Along the Line in 2011 where she asked the choreographers to situate the dances in a specific area of the park and guided the audience to travel along a specific path to view them.

photo by Barbara Aldridge

My goal was to bring that freedom of space into the theatre. Shellie’s “Memory Trace” and Rachael’s “Marked” were exciting works to include in this program because they required explicit participation. I don’t believe the audience is a passive receiver of the performance. Talk to audience members after a show. Their experiences are all so completely a product of their specific point of view, their history and preferences and, yes, even their seat in the house. The audience is actively engaging their imaginations and performing a creative act along side the performers.

I was pleased with the number of folks who took the invitation to more actively select their perspective throughout the concert and thrilled that the experience we shaped for Sanspointe Turns 10! elicited such a positive response. As artists, we are always seeking new challenges and I look forward to exploring this new territory now that the bar has been raised.“

Open Community Class with company artists led by Rhea Speights

May 18 2-3:30pm in the CDF Studio Theatre (1715 27th Ct S. Birmingham), $10
The community class on May 18 will focus on connecting the upper body with the lower body, the right side with the left side, and the inner with the outer. Movement exercises will relate to various technical approaches including some traditional modern techniques, contemporary release technique, and improvisation technique. The class is open to all levels (but we consider everyone a dancer!) and is recommended for those 10 years old to adult.

Photo by Clark Scott featuring Margaret Armstrong, Anna Foshee and Stella Nystrom in Speights’ “SHINE”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Apr 15, 2013

Birmingham, Ala.  - Birmingham’s professional dance company Sanspointe is celebrating ten years of creating, collaborating, and connecting through modern dance with Sanspointe Turns 10!, a gallery of performances at the CDF Studio Theatre Friday, May 17 through Sunday, May 19.   Sanspointe Turns 10! features dances from our repertory as well as new works from Taryn Brown, Rachael Inman, Artistic Director Rhea Speights, and a work from Shellie Chambers with guest student dancers from Children’s Dance Foundation.

The audience at Sanspointe Turns 10! will be able to move through and around the dances, as if they are in a gallery space more than a proscenium theatre.  Chairs will be provided, but the space will be constructed with no established “front.”  The audience will be invited to look at the dances from various points of view and change their relationship to the performers throughout the concert. 

Speights said, “The company’s presentations of dance outside of the theatre have given the audience an opportunity to see the work up close and with a personal perspective that we are encouraging in the theatre as well.  The theatre lends itself to an atmosphere of fantasy that we are attempting to dismantle.  I hope that this close exchange with the work, seeing the dancers sweat and hearing them breathe, gives the audience a keener sense of their own physical being.”

“I was considering ways of taking the company back into the theatre while maintaining the excitement we produce with work we take into the community.  Rachael Inman proposed making a dance installation, working with the dancers as individual movement sculptures, and suddenly it became clear that the agency of the audience to see the work on their terms was what we found exciting in the site work,” Speights added.

Sanspointe Turns 10! is a birthday celebration for the company.  Sanspointe was founded and directed by Michelle Knutson in 2003.  Shellie Chambers directed the company from 2008-2011.  Knutson and Chambers have each reconstructed a work made for the company from the period in which she was the director.  Chambers’ work was originally constructed for Railroad Park and includes participation from the audience.  Knutson will perform her solo “Traveling on Your Holy Ground,” which won best Modern Choreography at the Panoply Arts Festival chorography competition in 2006.  Speights’ “Shine,” revived from last year, will also be performed.

New works for Sanspointe Turns 10! look at relationships between the past, present and future from the different perspectives of each of the choreographers.  Taryn Brown’s choreography for “Diptych” is a duet exploring dynamic shifts and “a psychic unison with organic tendencies.” Chambers’ new work with students is a vibrant birthday celebration with new music by Justin Wallace.

Speights’s new choreography “Coursing” responds to thoughts about the Mississippi River, specifically maps made by Howard Fisk that show the variant pathways for the river over the past 2,000 years.  Without referencing the Mississippi outright, the dance follows a forward movement made by a series of reversals.  The development of this piece accentuates the idiosyncratic responses to the movement material from each of the dancers and allows the performers to respond to the dance in a very present way.

As part of the birthday celebration, the company is inviting the audience to a birthday party after the Saturday night performance on May 18 and offering a community class that same day, from 2pm-3:30pm in the theatre and taught by Speights.  The cost of the class is ten dollars.

Sanspointe Turns 10! is made possible with support from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Puffin Foundation and will be presented at the Children’s Dance Foundation’s Community Arts Center Studio Theatre in Downtown Homewood (1715 27th Court South) May 17-19.  Tickets can be purchased for ten dollars at the door or at http://sanspointe.eventbrite.com/.  Seating is limited.  To make a tax-deductible donation to Sanspointe, visit www.sanspointe.org.

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CONTACT: Rhea Speights, Artistic Director
Sanspointe@gmail.com / 205-344-0598

****THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS via Railroad Park.

Join Sanspointe and ALL of Birmingham’s Railroad Park neighbors at Railroad Park on Sunday April 14 for the park’s Neighborhood Block Party!! We’ll be performing along with several other fun-filled events. The Birmingham Barons are set to play at Regions Field later that afternoon, and here are some of the other items to look forward to:

Food trucks: Shindigs, Melt, Off The Hook, Dreamcakes, Steel City Pops, Taqueria Guzman Taco Truck.
Bands: Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, The Old Paints, Gip Gipson, Dopus Pennington and the Paper Combo
Activities: Kite flying, face painting, cornhole, Sanspointe Dance Company performance!
Drinks: Coca-Cola, Good People Brewing, Pinnacle Imports Wine“

PATRON MEMBERSHIPS:

DONATE>> Solo Level $100:

• One ticket to all shows for the year
• One class/rehearsal ticket for all classes/rehearsals for the year
• One promo item

DONATE>> Duet Level $175:

• Two tickets to all shows for the year
• Two class/rehearsal tickets for all classes/rehearsals for the year
• Two promo items

DONATE>> Improv Level $300:

• Four tickets to all shows for the year
• Four class/rehearsal tickets for all classes/rehearsals for the year
• Four promo items

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIPS:

DONATE>> Feature Level $125:

• One ticket to all shows for the year
• One class/rehearsal ticket for all classes/rehearsals for the year
• One promo item
• One year of listing business name on website (no links)

DONATE>> Avant-garde Level $350:

• Four tickets to all shows for the year
• Four class/rehearsal ticket for all classes/rehearsals for the year
• Four promo items
• One year of listing business name with logo on website (linked)

DONATE>> Counterpoint Level $550:

• Six tickets to all shows for the year
• Six class/rehearsal tickets for all classes/rehearsals for the year
• Six promo items
• One year of listing business name with logo on website (linked)
• One performance’s printed marketing materials listing of logo or business name

DONATE>> Titled Performance Level $1,000:

• Ten tickets to all shows for the year
• Ten class/rehearsal tickets for all classes/rehearsals for the year
• Ten promo items
• One year of listing business name with logo on website (linked)
• All performance’s printed marketing materials listing of logo or business name
• One titled performance (i.e., John Doe Insurance presents…) for the year

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS:

We also look to partner with patrons, corporations, and other nonprofits in the community to provide shared collaboration and promotions for performances and events. If interested in a Community Partnership with Sanspointe, then please email info@sanspointe.com with your proposal or for more information.

CUSTOM DONATIONS:

 DONATE>> Custom Donation Amount $:

• Any donation is appreciated! Please consider donating an amount of your choosing.

As our Tenth Anniversary year approaches, we want to thank our sponsors and supporters, company artists and community for standing behind our mission of creating new dance works, collaborating artistically and connecting to the community through performance.  Together we can move forward into the next ten years melding, evolving and pushing ourselves to redefine what modern dance is and how it brings communities together…Sanspointe Turns Ten! is a celebratory dance performance that showcases 5 choreographers, 8 dancers, 5 young guest performers, 8 volunteers, 5 new dance works, 3 repertory dance works, and live music! On Saturday, May 18th, there will also be an open Community Class lead by Artistic Director Rhea Speights during the day, as well as a Birthday Party followed by the evening’s performance.

So thank you for your curiosity in our dances and creative process…we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you!  All it takes is for one audience member to be affected, challenged, moved…then we know we have made a connection.  Thank you for taking that journey with Sanspointe Dance Company!

Sanspointe Turns 10!
new and favorite danceworks celebrating our birthday

May 17 @ 7:30pm
May 18 @ 7:30pm + Birthday Party with the artists
May 19 @ 2:30pm

CDF Studio Theatre
1715 27th Court South
Birmingham, AL 35209

Tickets $10 at the door or online
sanspointe.eventbrite.com

Open Community Class with company artists
May 18 2-3:30pm in the theatre, $10

Sponsored in part by the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts

If you would like to contribute to the funding of professional modern dancers in Alabama, please click here!

Sanspointe Dance Company presents the Library Tour:
Life on a Shelf

Coming summer/fall 2013!

Sanspointe Dance Company presents, “Life on a Shelf,” dances created to connect us all, regardless of age, to the shelves and books in a library. Circulate through the travel, research, poetry and children’s sections and celebrate with us the life and imagination that we experience in books.

Sanspointe Dance Company returns to Birmingham’s Railroad Park for a new work choreographed for a site on the west end of the park.  Inspired by what we all offer and contribute to the culture of Birmingham, Sanspointe artists create a coherent community from disparate ideas and backgrounds with dancers, musicians, guest performers and the landscape.  Experience a singular expression derived from many voices.  Dances Across the Line is an opportunity to see one route for discovering our community and an invitation to imagine your own route.

Check out our video feature for this performance!

When: October 21 & 28 @ 2:30 & 4:30 (both days)

Where:  West End of Railroad Park
1600 1st Ave S, Birmingham AL 35223

Check here in the case of inclement weather

FREE; Everyone is invited!

Sanspointe Dance Company is looking for Guest Performers for their upcoming Dances Along the Line at Railroad Park!

Sanspointe is incorporating 20+ guests into a 30 minute piece they will be performing at Railroad Park October 21 & 28. The guest performers will learn a 5 minute choreographed phrase that will repeat and recapitulate over the course of the 30 minute work. The guest performers should be ages 10 to adult and have experience in dance. The rehearsal commitment is as follows:

• Saturday September 22 8am-11am
• Sunday October 7 1:30-3pm
• Sunday October 14 1:30pm-3pm

The performance commitment is Sunday October 21 and Sunday October 28 2pm-5pm, both days. Rehearsals and performances are at Railroad Park unless notified otherwise.

If you are interested or have questions, please contact Shellie Chambers by September 20th at shellie@sanspointe.com.