A! Magazine for the Arts Archive

Ballroom dancers follow their dream

While Martha Graham invited dance perfection through practice, she also said, "Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion."

In This Issue

• Attorney shares his passion for ballroom dancing Ashby Dickerson started dancing as a teenager.
• Ballroom dancing helps Parkinson's patients A friendly connection between Emory, Va., and Brooklyn, N.Y., resulted in a dance class for people with Parkinson's disease.
• Dancing helps children with confidence and poise While many people don't learn to ballroom dance until they take it for a college credit or until they're older and want a chance to socialize, cotillion students learn beginning in middle school.
• Places to learn or to dance Check out these venues for learning to dance.
• Arts for Youth Spotlight: Jenny Dolinger and Olivia Ellis When Jenny Dolinger and Olivia Ellis teamed up to write a play and enter Barter Theatre's Young Playwright's Festival, they did not expect to win, but win they did.
• A review of "From These Hills" at William King Museum "From These Hills: Contemporary Art in the Southern Appalachian Highlands," a biennial exhibition, is on display through Feb. 16 at William King Museum in Abingdon, Va
• AiPP adds permanent sculpture to downtown Bristol Art in Public Places announced that the Marcia and Marvin Gilliam, Jr. Foundation is sponsoring a bronze sculpture featuring two musicians playing their instruments standing behind a microphone.
• Barter Theatre's 2014 Season announced After celebrating its 80th anniversary last season, Barter Theatre is back Jan. 31 with a year packed with some all-time favorite comedies, spectacular musicals, thrilling American classics and Appalachian stories.
• January Jams are back in Abingdon at Barter Theatre
• Kingsport begins new concert series A partnership between the City of Kingsport, Tenn., and Toby Weisend will result in new musical performances at the Renaissance Theatre during the next year.
• Arts Array film series spring line-up The Arts Array Film Series showcases important foreign, documentary and independent American films on Mondays and Tuesdays at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., at the Abingdon Cinemall.

A! Extra

• Bristol Sessions to be subject of weekend program at Lincoln Center Tunes and tales of the Twin City's greatest claim to musical fame will be at the center of a unique celebration this weekend at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
• King alumna Katherine Paterson receives Lifetime Achievement Award BRISTOL, Tenn. – Best-selling author and King alumna Katherine Paterson was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award Jan. 10, at The Conference on Christianity and Literature's Chicago Modern Language Association Convention.
• Pain lived behind the smiles until the 30-day experiment HONAKER, Va. — As a child, Christal Presley locked herself in her closet — and she prayed. Once, she imagined her own death, going to heaven and meeting Jesus. Or, she feared, the things that she had done wrong would have sent her to the devil's fires for
• Local opera singer receives recognition Tatum Spears, soprano, received an honor in Charlotte, N.C., recently. She auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera National Council (North Carolina district).
• Winter issue of "Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine' looks at music What is the kinship between Appalachian and Hawaiian music?
• Scholarships available for students East Tennessee Foundation announces the availability of scholarships for student in the region.
• Barter academy to expand to help more budding actors ABINGDON, Va. — From learning how to overcome stage fright to perfecting auditioning skills, dozens of youth have honed their acting chops at the Barter Youth Academy. This year, even more will have the chance to participate as the program expands from o
• Annabelle's Curse: 'We just play until it sounds right' Nary a note within the musical realm of Bristol's Annabelle's Curse strikes as bewitching. Oh, they're different alright.
• Key acts announced for Rhythm & Roots 2014 BRISTOL, Tenn. – Music fans who found more coal than goodies under the Christmas tree can still scoop up the year's best price on Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion tickets.
• Giles County native gets role in 'Alpha House' ROANOKE, Va. — Southwest Virginia's connections to the cutting edge of show business just keep on proliferating.