RISING TO THE OCCASION

RISING TO THE OCCASIONLOCAL TALENT ELEVATES THE CULTURAL QUOTIENT.

ACE ANDERSON

Dallas actor Ace Anderson is on a roll. At only 27, he’s into his third season as a member of Dallas Theater Center’s Brierley Resident Acting Company, he’s performing in five upcoming DTC productions, he’s teaching as part of DTC’s Public Works Dallas Literacy Instruction For Texas (LIFT) initiative, he’s a spoken-word poet, and somehow he’s finding time to run The Striped Heart, his graphic design company. An innate can’t-stop drive has Anderson bouncing all over the creative map. “I can’t just do one thing,” he acknowledges. “If I start to work on another project, like writing poetry, it’ll help me with my acting because I’ve gotten to release in a different way. It gives my brain more space to create and problem solve in the other things I’m working on.”

Anderson was determined to become an actor as early as sixth grade, and he understands the importance of teachers and mentors; he counts among his own renowned choreographer Bill T. Jones, with whom he worked on HBO’s Masterclass series some years ago. No wonder Anderson is giving back through

the Public Works Dallas LIFT program. “What I’ve learned in working with students is that there is so much power in eradicating impossibilities,” he says. Between his teaching and acting in Public Works Dallas productions, he’s convinced that the arts can enhance every life, regardless of social status. “I’m very devoted to spreading art,” he continues. “My job now is to spread art as vastly as I can, through whatever means I can, showing people that there are boundless possibilities in creativity.”

Anderson’s upcoming productions include DTC’s perennial A Christmas Carol, the Pulitzer Prize–winning Sweat, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and As You Like It, and the world premiere of Penny Candy by Dallas playwright Jonathan Norton. “I’m really excited that in Penny Candy I’m playing a Jamaican character for the first time,” he says. “My family is Jamaican, I’m first generation American, and I get to speak in patois, which I’ve never done on stage. I’m hoping my grandparents can make it out to see it.”

DANIELLE GEORGIOU

Danielle Georgiou Dance Group performs ensemble-based, experimental dance theater. Over the past seven years, Georgiou’s innovative work has earned her critical accolades and a devoted audience. While Georgiou’s background is in dance, her performers include musicians, actors, and singers, as well as dancers. She says, “They want to do something out of the box and are willing to experiment and contribute. Our work is truly collaborative.”

Georgiou’s choreography is dependent upon buy-in from her cast. Working from a roster of 15 to 20 performers, she will invite any number of them to participate, depending on the project. After presenting her concept, she asks them, “What do you want to add?” This successful formula includes training within the disciplines, making the work a cohesive whole. Inherent in the process is a degree of trust. Georgiou says, “We build a family environment with the company that allows us to do this type of work.”

Georgiou met partner and co-producer Justin Locklear after her first season. “When we met, we immediately started working together. He is my constant editor and my conscience,” she says. She

credits Locklear with developing the text-based work.

In December, Georgiou will be the choreographer for Stage West’s regional premiere of Everybody. Inspired by 15th-century morality plays, the work changes nightly as each performance includes a lottery, wherein one cast member is selected to represent Everybody facing the journey at the end of life. This dynamic presentation plays to Georgiou’s strengths. In her own work, she says, “I want to present performances that make people think. I want it to start a conversation.”

Dallas native Georgiou is a first-generation Cypriot-American. Though she grew up ensconced within this small community and was raised biculturally, she offers that she never really fit into either culture. “Underlying most of my work is trying to find my identity,” she says.

With support from the Office of Cultural Affairs, DGDG has found a place within the local cultural landscape. “I love making work in Dallas. This is my home and my creative home,” offers Georgiou. And the city is richer for her visionary contributions.

Danielle Georgiou in 9 cents per copy. Photograph by Alisa Eykilis.

MOTORCADE

Outside Studio Sounds included MOTORCADE in the October 2018 lineup. Photograph by Branton Ellerbee.

If you’ve been tuned in to KXT 91.7 in the last year or so there’s a better-than-good chance that MOTORCADE has already driven its way into your consciousness. The Dallas band has been in serious rotation since their first single, Recover, slipped into the hands and heart of Gini Mascorro, the station’s resident ’80s-era Anglophile. It was love at first hear. With echoes of early MTV staples like New Order, Depeche Mode, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and others, MOTORCADE’s self-titled first album (Idol Records) is an 11-song collection of original earworms that transports listeners to another time and place, a distillation that’s strangely familiar yet shining new.

MOTORCADE, comprised of bassist John Dufilho, James Henderson, guitar and keyboards, singer Andrew Huffstetler, and Jeff Ryan, drums, is something of a lowercase s supergroup: the quartet’s collective CV reads like a who’s who of local noteworthies, including Baboon, The Deathray Davies, The Baptist Generals, and St. Vincent, to name-drop a few. James Henderson is the primary songwriter, but all contribute ideas, lyrics, and the occasional middle

eight. Henderson cut his teeth on early MTV, admitting, “That was totally my wheelhouse. I just loved that style, the atmosphere that all those people achieved on their recordings. Those records are evocative, they put images in your head, and I just wanted to produce something like that.” MTV-weaned drummer Jeff Ryan enthuses, “This was a really fun record to make—it’s just right up my alley.”

This year has been a great one for the group, with national airplay and national acclaim. At 2018’s South by Southwest, Chicago critic heavyweights Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis happened upon the band’s showcase and promptly flipped. Kot named the album one of his top picks of the year, and both critics crowed on Sound Opinions, their syndicated NPR show. John Dufilho adds, “I guess we did something right at SXSW because they’ve been talking us up since then; it’s been a good thing.” And get your New Year in gear with MOTORCADE, The Tomorrowpeople, and Cryptolog in concert at the Kessler Theater on January 5, a KXT Local Show event. P

CHILDREN'S CHORUS OF GREATER DALLAS

Artistic excellence and diversity are the pillars underpinning

Artistic excellence and diversity are the pillars underpinning the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas. Now in its 22nd season, it draws students from across the economic spectrum, educational gamut, and North Texas area.

Enjoying his sixth season, Adith Srinivasan is among the more than 500 young singers currently participating in the CCGD. He says, “It is such a hard-working organization and it’s all about perfection.” Srinivasan, a homeschooled 11th grader, says the chorus offers a social connection as well as a sense of camaraderie. “Music is such a unifying force and it gets rid of cliques,” he says. And in an age when his peers are busy cultivating their individual brands, he sees the power of collaboration. “We all have a different sweet spot that we enjoy. When everyone combines ranges, together it becomes a unique whole. This creates a bond and trust with other singers.”

The CCGD is comprised of eight choirs, which are led by a team of professional music educators. And though there is a 95 percent acceptance rate of those who audition, these young artists are expected to comport themselves in a professional manner. According to Executive Director Megan Heber, “We are teaching these children to be musicians.” Since 2013, the CCGD has served as the official children’s chorus of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, which they accompanied in the fall performance of Carmina Burana. In December, the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra will feature the CCGD in their holiday concert. Winter and spring concerts will be devoted to showcasing each of the choruses. Most of the group’s performances take place at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. While demanding, an 80 percent annual retention rate suggests that these students enjoy the challenge. “I love all of it, from the rehearsal process to getting up on a stage, even if it’s just for 15 minutes,” Srinivasan says.

While music is the medium, CCGD offers broader life skills. Artistic Director Cynthia Nott says, “We are creating better human beings, who are creative. We give them a big project and then break it down to make it manageable. That is the theme of life.”

JOY BOLLINGER

Joy Bollinger and Brock Henderson in My Heart Remembers choreographed by Bryan Arias. Photograph by Sharen Bradford.

As legacy is inherent in the dance world, it is fitting that Joy Bollinger has assumed the role of artistic director of Bruce Wood Dance. Bollinger, a long-time company member, succeeds Kimi Nikaidoh, who took its helm following founder Bruce Wood’s untimely death in 2014. Nikaidoh’s new role is as artistic advisor.

The company stays true to Wood’s original choreography as much as possible. It is one in which Bollinger is well versed. As a former company dancer, she has performed in over 50 of Wood’s works. Prior to becoming artistic director, she oversaw the restaging of his bold repertoire. One of the challenges, she realized, was that Wood often shifted the work during rehearsal based upon his dancers. In working through this, she realized, “Simple is better. Usually we can strip something down closer to what he would have wanted.” The company will follow this compass as it moves forward. “Whoever restages the work has performed it and ideally was in a cast with Bruce,” Bollinger explains.

In assembling his company, Wood looked beyond the stereotypical ideal of a dancer. “Bruce loved older dancers and those of different shapes and sizes,” Bollinger says. It is a tradition that continues among the roughly dozen company members. The current season welcomed four new dancers as well as one new apprentice. Eric Coudron, another former company member, succeeded Bollinger as the rehearsal director.

Bruce Wood Dance is clearly in good hands. They received widespread acclaim at the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow dance festival last summer. As part of their current season, they will perform at the SOLUNA International Music & Arts Festival. Plans are also afoot to commission new work in the coming year. And Bollinger, who has already choreographed several new works for the company, plans to create another one for the spring season. Through all this, Bollinger says, “The mission is still exactly the same. We want to keep our hands on Bruce’s work. There is a timeless character to his choreography that doesn’t date itself. Bruce was true to himself, the human and humane. It will always work because it was genuine.”

DAVID J. PIERCE

What do you call the guy who does it all, musically speaking? Arranging, composing, writing lyrics, trombone, accordion, leading bands, singing, producing, teaching, creating and developing musical events, all the while brainstorming his next project? In the case of Denton’s David J. Pierce, let’s just say Musician, with an accent on versatile. Best known to many as the musical mastermind behind little D’s annual Cirque du Horror and Holiday Lighting Festival extravaganzas, to others for his arranging alchemy for Ricki Derek, Tim DeLaughter, Elle King, Sarah Jaffe, and more, to others as the leader of his old-school Latin dance band El Nuevo Mi Son or his retro/“anachro,” genre-confounding The Hip Van Winkles, Pierce is a musical Renaissance dude, and it’s hard to pinpoint a greatest strength when he excels at them all.

Pierce’s musical omnivorousness dates back to his earliest years in Corpus Christi and his mother’s influence. Her eclectic taste embraced everyone from Willie Nelson to The Beatles, ABBA to Freddy Fender, mariachi, and Linda Ronstadt, and Pierce would

focus on “sweetening” the arrangements on those recordings. “I remember a London Symphony Christmas album we had,” he recalls, “and I listened to that cassette so much that I actually wore it out. I started listening to stuff like that; I didn’t listen to Top 40.” His ears were drawn to the big band sounds of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Maynard Ferguson, so it’s no surprise that he was attracted to University of North Texas’ College of Music. Pierce earned a degree in Music Education, but he owes much of his informal education to jam sessions with students from all over, a melting pot of international dimensions.

David J. Pierce rehearses Cirque du Horror. Photograph by Megan Gellner.

“I really got into different composers from all over the world,” he says. “I listened to a lot of the old Cuban and Puerto Rican greats like Cachao, Eddie Palmieri, and salsa stuff that was happening in the ’70s, like Héctor Lavoe, Willie Colón, Rubén Blades. Duke Ellington did change my life, but so did many other people.” Just around the corner, check out Pierce’s arrangements of yuletide classics, live, when A Merry Little Christmas Show with Ricki Derek hits venues in Grapevine, Fort Worth, and Dallas. P