American Racket (Dance Company)

Lucky Duck Barndance - Friday June 13

Nothing to do on a Friday?  Well, what luck?! 

American Racket is throwing a send-off barndance on Friday, June 13.  The event will begin at 7:00 PM and will go until 10:00 PM.  The event is located in the rehearsal hall of Orlando Opera Company at 1111 N. Orange Avenue (Orlando, FL) in the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts.  The cost is $7.00 and funds raised go to help American Racket’s operating expenses, especially as they near departure for Festival Gigue En Fete on June 23.  

Live music by Barnstorm.  Clogging performances by American Racket and demonstrations of various percussive dances including buck dance, flatfooting, drag-slide clogging, precision clogging, tap, Canadian step dance, and waltz clog.   Community dancing—calling by Andy Howard.  

Your turn!  Come out and learn and dance Southern Appalachian Square and “Big Set” Dances, the rare Kentucky Running Set (made famous by Cecil Sharp’s documents), Contra, Mixers, and more.

What:  Lucky Duck Barndance, Hosted by American Racket (Orlando’s favorite noisy dancers)

Who:  All ages.  Family friendly event.  Come to dance or watch. 

When: Friday, June 13, 2008 (7 - 10 PM)

Where:  1111 N. Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL (Orlando Opera Rehearsal Hall)

Cost:  $7.00

Info:  (352) 494-0104;  andy@orlandoopera.org

Racket in Canada - Festival Website Updated

Greetings All!  Just wanted to share the Festival Gigue En Fete website.  It has been updated, announcing the participating groups, including American Racket.  The Racketeers leave June 23 and will return on June 30.  Stay tuned! 

http://www.gigueenfete.com/

Andy Howard to teach percussive dance at Turning Pointe (Longwood)

Andy Howard has announced that he will be teaching percussive dance (tap and clogging) at Turning Pointe studio in Longwood, Florida (Orlando), this upcoming year, starting August 2008.  

Andy started dancing at 8, enrolled in a clogging class as an afterschool program with his sister and cousin in LaBelle, Florida.  As a youth, he learned to enjoy clogging and performing as a member of the troupe, “Sidekick” which performed each summer as park entertainment for Dollywood in Tennessee and Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. Andy later expanded his interests into other forms of percussive dance—including tap (in its various forms), Irish, buckdance, and flatfoot.  Upon graduating from high school, Andy moved to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida and founded “SoundStage” which later become known as “American Racket”, recognized for high energy presentations of what Andy calls “America’s noisiest traditions”.  Under Andy’s leadership, artistic direction, and with his ability to choreograph fascinating stage presentations of both contemporary and representations of older, “traditional” forms of percussive dance, the troupe has performed for audiences in Brazil, Costa Rica, Wales, and Canada, American Clogging Hall of Fame, Gator Growl, Florida Folk Festival, Orlando International Fringe Festival, and as professional entertainment for corporations such as Hardrive Productions, Walt Disney World Resort, SeaWorld Orlando, HardRock Casino, Goodyear Tires, Home Builders Association and others.  They have performed with and/or opened for artists such as Bill Cosby, Sugar Ray, Dane Cook, Ted Koppel, Kenny Lovelace, and Wayne Brady.  Andy has been on faculty for the prestigious Florida Dance Festival in Miami, the National Clogging Conference, and taught courses in tap and clogging at Florida State University, while earning his Master’s degree in American Dance Studies.  He is a member of the Florida Dance Association and an inducted member of the All American Clogging Team by the American Clogging Hall of Fame.  Andy is thrilled to share his talents with the Central Florida community.

 For information or to sign up, contact:

Turning Pointe Dance Studio

3869 Wekiva Springs Rd

(407) 862-5500 

More information:  Click Here. 

American Racket in Canada - June 2008

American Racket has accepted an invitation to attend “Festival Gigue en Fete” in Sainte-Marie, Quebec, June 23 - 30, 2008.

The company is bringing 18 energetic dancers:

Andy Howard (Orlando, FL), Danielle Buice (Pickens, SC), Erin Hunter (Ormand Beach, FL), Dalita Diaz de Arce (Lake City, FL), Char’lee Pickens (Greer, SC), Dustin Presley (Valdosta, GA), Paul Melville (Palm Bay, FL), Stacey Coschignano (Orlando, FL), Nena Bryant (Morristown, TN), Ty Cannon (High Point, NC), Andrea Apple (St. Petersberg, FL), Erin Arnaud (Dunnellon, FL), Emily Silcox (Gainesville, FL), Kathy Williams (Tampa, FL), and introducing Gatsby Turknett (Melbourne, FL), Eric Highfield (Lexington, KY), Kristie Jackson (Waco, KY), and Shamus Riley (Suffolk, VA).

Musicians will also travel and perform with the group (to be announced at a later date).

For more information, visit:

http://www.gigueenfete.com/

American Racket is looking for sponsors and donations to help with launching this production for our neighbors to the north (including costumes, travel, etc.)

Feeling generous?     andy@orlandoopera.org

Stay tuned.  The Racketeers are planning several events in the next few months to help raise necessary funds, and have some fun in the meantime…   

Racket's Hughes is a Hunter...

Congratulations to long-time Racket entertainer Erin (Hughes) Hunter on “gettin’ hitched!”  Some cloggers were there to help celebrate Erin’s new family.  And, in true clogging-tradition, there was a little buck dance action to “Dixieland Delight”, and—speaking of delight—Erin’s new Canadian inlaws were not sure what to think of the situation… But, I think the final consensus was “Heck yea, Ay!” 

Rumor Has It...

Could it be true?!

I have heard buzz that Baby Blue Star’s SHEE-HAW could be returning this summer!  And a possible extension to Atlanta, Georgia!  

Remembering what Orlando Weekly’s Seth Kubersky said:  

VarieTEASE: Carnivale was the runaway hit of the 2007 Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival, earning the Patrons Pick award and an encore run at the Parliament House. So how do you top an avant-garde fable set to a blistering pop soundtrack? If you’re director/choreographer/performance artist Baby Blue, you return to your roots – which in her case are evidently Southern-fried and served with cornbread and sweet tea.

For VarieTEASE: SHEE-HAW, whose homespun feel is 180 degrees from the polished Carnivale, Blue’s regulars (like Lollie and Nick Gray) are joined by fresh faces, including guitarist Amy Mullens and the American Racket cloggers (whose parents probably didn’t have this in mind when buying that first pair of tap shoes).

Those old enough to remember the 1971 “rural purge” that wiped Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies off the airwaves will recognize the affection poured into parodying Hee Haw. Beyond the profane puns on Buck Owens and Roy Clark, there’s real reverence for the time-tested variety format and country music. Between cornpone comedy and stoner satire, Blue and company show off fine singing voices with soulful renditions of classics such as “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” Even those too young to get why Minnie Pearl (Miss Sammy) still has the price tag on her hat should appreciate the intentionally awful litany of “walked into a bar” jokes and single-letter Southern slang.

Blue presides over this white-trash wonderland as a shotgun-toting belle in her mama’s dress. If some bits bomb badly, she can always save the show with a wink, saying, “Y’all should’ve seen that in rehearsal!” By the fatally frantic finale, featuring a faux-Dolly Parton (Danielle Hunter) flailing to “Stairway to Heaven,” you have no choice but to surrender to the Confederate chaos. Go in with a gut full of white lightning (or a head full of herb), and you’re guaranteed a shit-kicking good time.