By: Stephanie Tipple

The Intersections Arts Festival at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, sponsored by the Washington Post, offered many fun artistic events and performances in February and March. This annual event included more than 800 local artists, with a blending of free events and performances.

The Intersections Art Festival was inspired by three themes: “Discover the New America,” which is a deeper look at contemporary culture; “Travel New Artistic Avenues,” which includes performance of artists pushing the limits of what can be possible done on stage; and “Create Cultural Connections,” which calls for cultural expression and art that crosses the cultural boundaries.

There were many different forms of artistic expression, from interpretive dance to poetry and song. There were even some highly traditional cultural works from the artists involved in the festival.

I decided to see what all of the buzz was about with the Intersections Arts Festival, attending an interpretive dance performance titled, “Jane Franklin: Dance Double Take.”

This performance was a culmination of two choreographed dance pieces, choreographed by Jane Franklin, entitled “Cute Animals and Happy Endings” and “Double Take.” Each of the two pieces was a symbiotic blend of audio visual work and artistic dancing, to send a greater message about themes in modern culture like animal euthanasia, the stress and pressures of work, relationships in school and even how Bank of America tried to charge five dollars a month to use debit cards.

The piece was first done on stage before Franklin invited the attendees to view an on-site performance, which brought the dancers, Adam Buss, Amy Scaringe, Katie Tuebner, Emily Crews, Wayle Haynes, Brianne Barrow Little and Andrea Ligon, to each of the locations within the Atlas Performing Arts Center where the dances were choreographed, helping viewers to better understand the context and special confines that were involved in the creation of the dance.

For more information about the Intersection Arts Festival or other performances that will take place at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, visit atlasarts.org.

By: Stephanie Tipple

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