This week, we check in with Sharon C. Carelock, our Production Coordinator. Read on to see what Sharon's up to this summer, from her own dance projects to updates around the Core Dance studios!
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Summer Project 1: Dance Film
    For a year, I have been working for a pick-up dance company called sunday morning at 7, headed and directed by Anicka Austin. In May, we presented a live performance of Austin’s disco ballet, "Sanctuaries and Fortresses." A part of the process was the creation of a dance film directed by Lev Omelchenko called, "The Birth of Pleasure." In this film I played the character, Venus, which required lots of costume changes and makeup :) We were able to film on location in some amazing spots, including The Bakery Atlanta and the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. The cast and crew were stellar. I felt like a Hollywood movie star the entire time. I can’t wait to see the film which is set to premiere late summer/early fall.

Summer Project 2: Summer Refresh
    At Core Dance, the summer is for relaxation and recuperation for the dance artists, and it is also a great opportunity to renovate, repair, and clean out some areas in the office and studio spaces. We call this the Summer Refresh. I get to work alongside contractors and help make decisions about flooring, paint, lighting, etc. It feels very rewarding to walk into a room and know that I was an integral part of the change that took place there. I also use this opportunity for reflection. I think about what has transpired over the past season, and going through all of the closets makes me consider the time Core Dance has spent in this space and the impact we’ve made on the community.

This week, we meet Core Dance company member Rose Shields! Rose received her BFA in Dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts before moving to Atlanta to teach and perform. This upcoming season will be her seventh with Core Dance. We sat down with Rose to find out what she's up to this summer - check it out below! 

​Rose says...
​"This summer is filled with a mix of teaching and training for me. Next week I will be teaching ballet, contemporary, and acrobatics at Good Moves' week long Summer Camp. Then, I finish out the month teaching acrobatics and contemporary at the Good Moves' Summer Intensive.

I have been taking part in a collaborative effort, spearheaded by Zerina Serulle, to offer free Summer dance classes to fellow dance artists. I've been taking classes with Scott Wheet, Jerylann Warner, Zerina Serulle, and Amanda Sieradzki, and I myself will teach on Wednesday, July 11th.

I'm taking ballet classes at Atlanta Ballet, and contemporary classes here and there and everywhere to keep myself in shape and somewhat sane. I plan to take classes offered at the Staib Workshop and with Jillian Bodnar and Callanwolde Fine Arts Center.

Meanwhile, I train my circus skills on my own time at The Space, with fellow artists building human pyramids, and with ELEMENT Acrobatics at In Flight Gymnastics. Nearing the end of my summer in July, I will be teaching dance with some of my Core Dance co-workers in Vero Beach, FL at the Riverside Dance Festival. 

I keep busy, but I leave time for rest here and there."

This summer looks full of opportunities for learning, growing, and dancing for Rose! We can't wait to see how all her hard work this summer will pay off. Stay tuned to hear about the adventures of the rest of our company. ​

I usually try to stick to one post a week, but on Monday, I attended my very first march, and I have strong itch to write about it. Monday morning, our Core Dance company and staff bundled up and jumped on the MARTA to join the Martin Luther King Jr. March for Humanity. While we gathered with hundreds of other participants at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, I felt, for the first time since I moved here last fall, the importance of Atlanta’s history. At home in Rochester, NY, we don’t have too many landmarks for the civil rights movement. Here, in the true South, it surrounds us constantly.

As we folded into the crowd and got real close and personal with strangers, I could feel this vibration of energies coming together for the one vision of humanity. What I didn’t realize at the time, was that we followed the exact same path as the funeral procession for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, fifty years ago. To me, a 22 year old from Upstate New York, the march first felt like an exploration of downtown Atlanta. It was exciting to walk new streets of a city with which I am still fairly unfamiliar. But when Bernice King took the stage, I felt the significance of being physically in the same spot as a legend. I couldn’t believe that Martin Luther King Jr’s family was a few feet away, leading this united crowd. Some groups chanted in a celebration of life and an enthusiastic drum-line accompanied their voices, almost like the second line in a funeral. I wondered if MLK Jr’s family felt the same energy of that procession fifty years ago, a combination of mourning for our world and the determination to unite for change, today, in this march for humanity.
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Although I wasn’t immediately aware of the significance of our path, it seemed that even the youngest marchers knew they were participating in a significant moment. One group of kids - no older than five or six years old -  linked their arms and created their own chant of “MLK JR!” I was in awe. If they felt this strong need for change in kindergarten, who knows what they’ll achieve in the future. One girl was clearly the leader, counting in her fellow chanters with “A one, and a two, and a three!” I feel like if she has anything to say about our world in the next 15 years, we’ll be okay.