'Curves in the Capital' Brings Holiday Heat to Montpelier

Here's something to help you shake off the shivers. Green Mountain Cabaret is performing tonight at Montpelier's Lost Nation Theater in a one-night-only, 21+ burlesque show. And if you don't feel like shaking — or shimmying — Alexa Luthor and Her Sugar Shakers will do it for you. And then some.

Formerly living in Chicago, Luthor returned to her native Vermont a couple years back and brought professional burlesque along with her, not to mention her husband, MC Leif Peepers. Since then, she's trained other dancers in the North Country, some of whom will be entertaining central Vermont hippies, er, Montpelierites tonight — Trixie Hawke Siouxsie Chrisse, Aeshna Mairead, Swizzle Schtick and Merrique Hysteric.

And if any readers are expecting, I strongly suggest you consider one of these names for your impending child.

LNT actually said in a press release that Green Mountain Cabaret is "Ass-tronomically talented," so what more do you need to know? Except that tickets are $15 and the show starts at 8 p.m. tonight and you can only go if you are 21 or older.

Photo by Matthew Thorsen accompanied a story about Luthor in February, which you can read here.

Dancing With Justin Timberlake: A Vermonter's Dream Comes True

Former U-32 student Lindsay Richardson danced her dream onstage last night with pop megastar Justin Timberlake at MTV's Video Music Awards. The best, and lengthiest, vid we found on the internets is on Perez TV right here. Or you can watch the Timberlake sequence here, or the entire broadcast on demand here.

Richardson started at age 12 studying hip-hop dance with Vermonter Sarah Cover, who runs the Urban Dance Complex in Williston. (As of September 1, it will be called the Urban Complex: Dance and Fitness.) With the help of Cover's New York and Los Angeles dance connections, Richardson got a leg up in the highly competitive industry. She moved to LA at 18 and, according to her Facebook page, is represented by the Go2 Talent Agency.

On Facebook before last night's show, Richardson let the cat out of the bag with these comments:

After a few of what felt like long weeks of secrets, I am VERY excited to say that one of my biggest dreams has come true. ... I could not be more honored to work with such an inspiring and humble human being and group of individuals. Tune in tomorrow and catch me and the most amazing group of dancers perform with Justin Timberlake on the VMA's!!!

In this "Stuck in Vermont" from 2007, Richardson spoke to Eva Sollberger about her aspirations.

Congratulations, Lindsay! Since one of your biggest dreams has come to pass, we can't wait to see what you do next.

Photo of Lindsay Richardson courtesy of her Facebook page.

Barre Cultural Alliance Pools Its Many Resources, Presents Story-Based Celebration

What do socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs, anarchist Emma Goldman, dance troupe Pilobolus and South African singers Ladysmith Black Mambazo have in common? Go ahead, think on that.

Give up? The answer is this: All have appeared on the stage of the Barre Opera House. Granted, the first two and last two were decades apart, but that just illustrates the long cultural history that Vermont's Granite City has had. And that's not even to speak of the colorful, artistically and politically rich past fostered by the granite industry itself.

But we will speak of that, because the Old Labor Hall — once the site of immigrant stoneworkers' intense socialist gatherings — last year joined the Barre Opera House and two other local institutions as charter members of the Barre Cultural Alliance.

Without Enough Funding, Dear Pina is Cancelled

Last January, Vermont choreographer Hannah Dennison announced plans to remount her ambitious dance-theater work, Dear Pina, which an ensemble of more than 30 local dancers performed at six sold-out shows in Shelburne Farms' soaring Breeding Barn last June. Feeling the production was still unfinished, Dennison said she was excited to "go deeper, to sharpen the edges, touch every part again, rub and burnish to a finish I had dreamed of last year but had to set aside because of time contstraints."

Unfortunately, she's setting that dream aside again — this time because of money constraints. Last year Dennison raised $112,000, $90,000 of which was used to pay dancers and collaborating artists. She wanted to pay them again this year, but says she couldn't raise enough up-front funds. 

So Dennison has decided to cancel Dear Pina, which was scheduled for June 25 through 29. "All of us — the 30-plus ensemble members and artistic collaborators — are deeply sad to not have this opportunity to work together again, complete the piece, broaden our understanding of each other and the audience, and dance again in the marvelous, magical Breeding Barn," she wrote in a press release. Read more from Dennison here.

The Flynn Center, which started selling tickets for the show last month, is issuing refunds to those who already bought them.

Still want to see the show? You can watch Lukas Huffman's hourlong film of last year's performance here.

 

Want to Start a Dance Cooperative in Burlington?

Since 2010, Vermont dancers have sweated through rehearsals, cranked out choreography and performed new works in the Burlington Dances & Natural Bodies Pilates studio in the Chace Mill. 

The place has hosted artists-in-residence, collaborated with dancers with special needs through VSA Vermont, and rented space for visiting choreographers and other movers and shakers.

But this June, owner Lucille Dyer is hitting the road to guest teach Bartenieff and Pilates in various places, so the studio is on the market — with or without its contents, which include yoga mats and bolsters, hand weights, a water cooler and fridge, bookshelves and a desk.

Here's the thing: Dyer doesn't want the place to become just another office; she wants it to remain a vital venue for area performing artists. So she's put out a call to creative people in hopes they might come forward to take over the lease.