Core Dance’s ‘Constructing Dance’ project challenges Atlanta’s dance artists in new ways

A project dreamed up by Core Dance Director Sue Schroeder showcases 40 dancers across 13 concerts — a challenge to the dance community’s old and new faces alike.

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Core Dance, now in its 45th season, is known for its innovative approach to presenting dance: In October 2024, for instance, Core dancers moved in and alongside the Chattahoochee River in Sandy Springs while percussionists played on the river’s tree-lined bank. Audience members followed the performers as they strolled from one section of the river’s edge to another. The work, titled Braiding Time, Energy and Water, will be performed again in Zonolite Park in Midtown in April.

In the meantime, with cold weather forcing even the hardiest Atlantans into large coats and woolen hats, Core Dance is going indoors for Constructing Dance: a play-filled celebration of the Art of Making Dances. This new project will run January 22 through February 8 at Actor’s Express Theatre.

The curated, 13-concert event will comprise work by 40 Atlanta-based dance artists chosen from an open call. Some, like Julianna Feracota, Faith Fidgeon and Meg Gourley, are familiar to contemporary dance watchers. Others, such as actor and movement artist Petar Miloshevski, are relatively new on the Atlanta scene.

Small Dances (January 23, January 30 and February 6) will feature new or adapted works performed within a 5-foot x 5-foot square outlined on the stage. On the Corridor (January 24, January 31 and February 7) limits the performance space to — you guessed it — a narrow, corridor-shaped space. That designated space will be assigned just moments before the performance, adding chance, and perhaps a few moments of anxiety for the dance-makers, to the equation.

Dancing the Score (January 25, February 1, February 8) is an evening of improvisation and Under Construction (January 26 and February 2) will be an informal sharing of new and in-progress works.

On January 29, DanceATL, an Atlanta nonprofit that supports movement artists in multiple ways, from professional development to advocacy, will curate A.M. Collab Mid-Process Showing, an informal showcase of works in progress.

Core Dance Director Sue Schroeder says she “dreamed up” Constructing Dance as one component of the company’s 45th year celebrations. Relationships are vitally important to her and, as she does for all her work, she made the project a community event by partnering with other members of Atlanta’s artistic community: Actor’s Express for physical space and the time for the project to unfold; DanceATL,which Schroeder founded, for connections to dance artists; and, of course, the dance artists themselves.

“I had fun creating the ‘scores’ for each evening,” says Schroeder, who describes Core Dance as both a leader and a laboratory for dance and movement-based works. Constructing Dance, she says, is a testament to the company’s past and a way of envisioning the future.