Modern movements: The new BEACON performance series at the Palladium

BEACON comes to the Palladium Theatre, 253 5th Ave. N. in St. Petersburg, Saturday, November 14 at 8 p.m. Admission ranges from $20 to $30, with selected student discounts available. Contact the Palladium Box Office at (727) 822-3590 for details, or purchase online here.

For St. Petersburg-based choreographer and performer Helen Hansen French, collaboration is a natural component of art. So rather than lament the current shortage of local outlets for contemporary dancers, French teamed up with artist and grant maker Lauren Ree Slone and others to create opportunities and share a passion for movement.

“Ten creative brains in a room are better than one dictator,” French said. “We decided that if professional dancers need a place to perform in St. Petersburg, we’ll just have to make the platform.”

French and Slone launch their BEACON performance series this weekend with the goal of bringing dance into greater prominence in the Bay area. And it’s a far cry from the salsa, ballroom, or poi dancing that pepper the mainstream scene. BEACON audiences can expect contemporary movements, bold imagery, and multidisciplinary collaborations at the November 14 series kick-off event, spotlighting four strong choreographers with local roots during an evening showcase at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg.

“We’ve got a perfect stage for dance,” said Palladium Executive Director Paul Wilborn, pointing out the sprung floor, marley padding, and multiple entrances. “It’s the most beautiful art form, I get lost in it.”

The program includes three world premieres, including Kellie Harmon’s ROGUEDANCE company presenting "Where thou art, that is home," exploring the importance of relationships we build to art with a dance inspired by Emily Dickinson's poem of the same name.

Slone collaborates with Loren Davidson, a Florida State University School of Dance teaching artist, to perform an excerpt from an edgy duet entitled "for waking," and choreographer Michael Foley, an artist who teaches at the University of South Florida, will present solo work in homage to the legendary Joan of Arc.

French joins local visual artist Rebekah Eugenia Lazaridis, actor Roxanne Fay, writer and actor Jan Neuberge, and fellow dancer Paula Kramer for the premiere of her "Movement Love Letter to St. Petersburg," supported in part by an individual artist grant from the city.

“This is something that’s local, these people are first-class talents, and it’s affordable as well, not like bringing a company of 20 dancers here from New York,” Wilborn said. “This is a way to do some really first-class dance that we can build on.”

BEACON is expected to grace the stage at least once a year, though both French and Slone aspire to expand into multiple performances and eventually establish a longer program inspired by New York’s Fall for Dance Festival.

Both Florida natives, the two met while judging student dance programs at USF last year and hit it off immediately, sharing similar experiences traveling the world for dance and wanting to see more contemporary performance in their hometown. “We felt we had to move to other places to see it, and that’s kind of sad,” French said.

“I think dance is struggling nationwide,” Wilborn said. “This is a way for us to present it and get people excited. Our whole philosophy is to find the best local talent and put them on stage.”

French nods to Tampa for their stronger modern scene, citing Moving Current as a standout, and also to Sarasota Contemporary Dance to the south. And she knows we boast some outstanding alums, such as Calvin Royal III, interviewed in CL’s Fall Arts Preview about his successful rise from a talented high school junior at Pinellas County Center for the Arts to New York City’s world-renowned American Ballet Theatre, where Royal became a member of the corps de ballet in 2011.

But French said the overriding sense, especially in St. Pete, is that performers must go it alone and are forced to work in other cities to survive. “There’s no consistent platform here, and theaters aren’t always willing to take a chance with you,” she said.

French and Slone aim for BEACON to provide that platform and showcase regional professional dance that is both contemporary and accessible.

“I feel like the potential for dance here is huge, and with a little bit of support a company could actually thrive,” French said.

BEACON is the first of several strategies they plan to implement toward elevating the area dance scene. About a year ago, French also founded the St. Petersburg Dance Alliance in a strategic move to identify and bring together locally based dancers to help promote, encourage and develop professional dance in the 'Burg. Slone is an advisory member of the group, and several BEACON performers are active members.

Through a relationship forged with USF St. Petersburg, the Dance Alliance presents twice-monthly workshops exposing students to varied styles of dance, and they plan to expand into direct mentoring programs. The alliance is now reaching out to cultural anchors such as the Dai Museum and Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg to find ways that dance can be programmed into existing events.

“The common thread is that we have to come together,” French said.

This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2015.