Spank Dance Company

The fire at 304 E. Fifth has forced choreographer Ellen Bartel of Spank Dance Company to close Center Studio, the dance space she's been managing there for a decade

"...Another year, another downtown fire, another arts company out of a home...."

Jan. 20, 2006 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

School of Dance

Post-MFA, Ellen Bartel has a brand-Spankin' new choreographic point of view

"...The dancers were unhurried as they paced and pivoted, evoking the..."

May 11, 2012 Arts Feature by Jonelle Seitz

Dance Fever

With Hot September Flurries, a corps of Austin choreographers burn up the Blue all month long

"...Or, say, a month. Because this town boasts enough dance makers to fill a page of the calendar with..."

Sept. 16, 2005 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Austin Dance Festival

The debut of this new dance fest offered a range of interesting work, the best being fluent in musicality

"...For a city crazy with festivals, our dance festival history is kind of shaky. For much of..."

April 24, 2015 Arts Review by Jonelle Seitz

Top 10 Dance and Classical Music Wonders of 2007

Chronicle Arts Editor Robert Faires recaps 2007 in dance and classical music

"...of trusted designers, and her amazing corps of aerial dancers transformed the massive beams and vast emptiness of the..."

Jan. 4, 2008 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Top 10 Dance Phenomena

Chronicle Arts writer Jonelle Seitz recalls 2008, in dance

"...1) Sharon Marroquin The nuance and precision of this dancer-choreographer's movement and thinking left most of the audience in..."

Jan. 2, 2009 Arts Feature by Jonelle Seitz

The Earth Moves

For choreographer Ellen Bartel, dance does make the world go 'round

"...Let's get one thing straight: Dance doesn't make the world go 'round. Although the world..."

Jan. 23, 2004 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

Moving Real Strange for Free

Butoh performances by Spank Dance Company

"...different from the more familiar Western forms of modern dance as an arsenic-based life-form is from our own human..."

Dec. 10, 2010 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

The Electric Exchange

Theatre, dance, music, and film meld and get supercharged in the Fuse Box Festival

"...of art – keeping the visual arts apart from dance and classical music apart from theatre and everyone apart..."

April 25, 2008 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Drive, He Said

In its 13th year, Jason Neulander shifts Salvage Vanguard Theater into overdrive

"...as artistic director for the roughly dozen years the company's been in existence...."

April 14, 2006 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

Killer Choreography

Ellen Bartel's blood-spattered new dance 'Killsport' mocks our love of the old ultraviolence

"...last, from that most graceful of art forms, a dance inspired by Death Race 2000!..."

March 18, 2005 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Who Gives a Damn About Big Range Austin?

The answer might be a lot closer than you think

"...Here comes the Big Range Austin Dance Festival again, for the fourth annual time, but what..."

June 24, 2011 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

Spanking the Figurative

A new Austin gallery captures dancers with paint

"...go up, you know?" says choreographer Ellen Bartel of Spank Dance Company. "Like, oh, here's another artist that talks..."

Aug. 10, 2007 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

KillSport

In KillSport, Spank Dance Company's latest, performers shoot, stab, bludgeon, and explode stuffed animals to satirize our lust for blood

"...Imagine my delight when I saw the members of Spank Dance Company giving one another rhinoceros kisses toward the..."

April 1, 2005 Arts Review by Barry Pineo

Spank Dance Company: Butoh

The dancers in this performance evoke nothing so much as machinelike armatures slowly, intermittently, gorgeously going haywire

"...Spank Dance Company: Butoh..."

April 4, 2008 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

Greyhounds and Other Virtual Ways to Travel

Spank Dance Company's 'Greyhounds and Other Virtual Ways to Travel' may not move you to the next plane of existence, but its force and beauty will make this plane much more satisfying

"...it is a fact, for example, that much modern dance, especially that assayed by self-consciously "cutting edge" or provocative..."

March 17, 2006 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

Are We on the Edge?

Spank Dance Company's Black Things, in which black-clad dancers dance in near darkness, is original, striking, and resonant of the shadow side of our interior and exterior worlds

"...Black ThingsSpank Dance Company..."

Jan. 30, 2004 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

Big Range Austin Dance Festival 2012, Program A

BRADF 2012's opener embraced the experimental but showed deep thinking and skilled execution

"...Big Range Austin Dance Festival 2012, Program ASalvage Vanguard Theater, 2803 Manor Rd.,..."

June 29, 2012 Arts Review by Jonelle Seitz

Sharon Marroquin Benefits

The dance community rallies around one of its own to help with medical expenses

"...expense of medical treatment. Now, it's happening in the dance community. Choreographers and dancers are looking to help Sharon..."

Oct. 8, 2010 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Big Range Austin

The festival that packs a year of contemporary dance into two weekends

"...Most of the year, Austin's contemporary dancemakers are pretty far-flung, across the calendar and across the..."

June 25, 2010 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

First Night 2009 Schedule

"...The Love of China School of Chinese Dance Performance: City Hall Council Chambers, 3-3:30pm..."

Dec. 26, 2008 Arts Feature

Another Round of Praise

Nominations for the 2007-2008 Austin Critics Table Awards

"...the year's most exceptional achievements in the visual arts, dance, classical music, and theatre. The nominations for the 2008..."

May 9, 2008 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

'Greyhounds and Other Virtual Ways to Travel'

In 'Greyhounds and Other Virtual Ways to Travel,' choreographer Ellen Bartel creates three dances exploring the idea of how we travel without moving

"...is making," says Ellen Bartel, the artistic director of Spank Dance Company, responsible for such Austin modern dance gems..."

March 10, 2006 Arts Feature by Barry Pineo

Hey, Jude

The talented Mr. Hickey deftly clambers up that old ladder (ladder, ladder, ladder) of success

"...Theatre and dance, these days. The man dances – a lot. He's..."

June 8, 2012 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

FronteraFest Long Fringe

Dance!

"...by Wicked Cricket Dance Theatre This is the sort of thing I imagine..."

Feb. 8, 2002 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

Top 10 Most Memorable Locally Produced Live Performance Offerings that I Chanced to See in 2007 (A Hierarchical List)

Chronicle Arts writer Barry Pineo on the most memorable moments onstage in 2007

"...4) Dance Carousel (Spank Dance Company/Austin Independent Choreographers) Spank's annual FronteraFest..."

Jan. 4, 2008 Arts Feature by Barry Pineo

Austin Critics Table Awards 2013

Arts writers raise their glasses to outstanding art in list of nominees

"...with what we considered the most exceptional achievements in dance, classical music, visual arts, and theatre...."

May 24, 2013 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

FronteraFest Schedule

"...in my life right now using spoken word, props, dance...."

Jan. 8, 2010 Arts Feature

Anything Goes

That free-for-all spirit is part of the kick of FronteraFest

"...with whatever moves them, be it self-written monologue, interpretive dance, or hip-hop. Anything goes at FronteraFest, which is part..."

Jan. 11, 2008 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Risk Immersion

Time again to sink deeply into FronteraFest's exhilarating experiments in performance

"...Feb. 14, you can savor more self-written monologues, interpretive dance, improvised comedy, slam poetry, hip-hop, musicals, and who knows..."

Jan. 16, 2009 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

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