by Staff

The following acts will be featured on the acoustic stage of the Austin Jazz & Arts Festival, September 17-18, at Waterloo Park.

Ariel Dance Theatre with Golden Arm Trio

Since 1993, Ariel Dance Theatre has been dedicated to developing community programs and producing professional company performances for Austin audiences. Under the direction of Andrea Ariel, the company engages in collaborative projects bringing together dance with other artistic disciplines in innovative ways. The company takes an active role in the community by offering a wide range of workshops, residencies and special projects providing creative, cultural and educational opportunities.

The Golden Arm Trio is the constantly evolving project of pianist/drummer Graham Reynolds. Performing in Austin since the fall of 1995, Reynolds brings his 22 years of experience, combines it with the talents of other musicians, and produces a balance of sophisicated structures, improvisational freedom, strong melodies, and gleeful chaos. Live performance venues range from punk rock clubs to posh jazz bars, and the band's projects also include films, performance art, and dance.

Frontera @ Hyde Park

Frontera commissions, produces and presents bold new works by America's most fearless and innovative artists working in theater, dance, film and music in an environment that values community participation and openness. Their goals include exploring the space between absolutes, serving Austin as a popular arts center, promoting freedom of expression and a dialogue between citizens, partnering with organizations that support teenagers and making art in the streets and neighborhoods of Austin. By the year 2001, they hope to develop Frontera Arts, a versatile home for contemporary performance in Austin equipped with a 300-seat theater, rehearsal space, shops and classrooms.

Irish Dance Company

Developed a year and a half ago as the performance group of The Irish Dance Center, Director Eimir Ni Mhaoileidigh's dancers have begun to make quite a name for themselves here and abroad. Here in Austin the Irish Dance Company has performed for Texas' first lady Laura Bush as well as in conjunction with Tapestry Dance Company at the Paramount Theatre. In Ireland, the dancers captured the attention of the Chieftains and won accolades from senior officials in Country Cork and Dublin.

Kinesis Dance Theater Project

Kinesis Dance Theater Project expresses social criticism through modern dance, and a mix of theatrics post-modern techniques.

Chandra Washington

Most know Chandra Washington as a professional African dancer of the Ancient Mali Empire tradition. Lately, the Austin native has been showcasing her musical personality.

As a vocalist, her primary musical influences are instrumental styles of jazz masters and other music of the African diaspora. Chandra utilizes her rhythmic, melodic and harmonic sensibilities when interpreting original compositions and classic standards as well as vocal improvisations.

As a future project, Chandra envisions "an organic vocal performance ensemble."

Swingtips

The Swingtips are a group of lindy-hop performers who dance for the sheer joy of dancing, the thrill of performance, and to share lindy-hop with those around them. Lindy-hop is an original American dance created in the 1920s in Harlem and spread around the world. The Swingtips hope to preserve the original lindy-hop form and to instigate new ideas in swing dancing. This diverse troupe is composed of performers with various theater, dance, and art backgrounds but a common passion for lindy-hop.

ACC Guitar Ensemble

This five-electric guitar ensemble with bass and drums is directed by Russ Scanlon. They perform jazz, Brazilian and contemporary music. through a college-credited ensemble class at Northridge campus within Austin Community College. This is a part of ACC's Commercial Music Management and Music Department programs.

Woodwork

Woodwork is an eclectic quartet from Austin playing jazz-based rock and soul music on electric cello, acoustic guitars, drums and tabla (the traditional drums of North India). Songwriters Chris Downey and David Hess performed locally as a duo before enlisting avant-garde cellist John Pointer and drummer Jason McKenzie to form Woodwork. Woodwork recently released Viewfinder, a collection of 10 original songs featuring Ephraim Owens and the Grooveline Horns.

Austin Commedia Society

In the streets of Renaissance Italy, a brazen new twist to old theater conventions was born. This was Commedia dell'Arte, a theater style that was primarily improvised, based upon scenarios and stock characters. This art form evolved over a period of two hundred years, influencing such famous playwrights as Shakespeare and Moliere.

In March of 1999, a group of professional actors who earned their stripes performing at the Texas Renaissance Festival came together to form the Austin Commedia Society. Their goal is to revive and update Commedia dell'Arte. Future plans include expanding their web site (ACS Online) into a comprehensive database of information regarding the craft, and developing interactive workshops for children and actors. Currently, I Megalomani, the performance company of the Austin Commedia Society, is acquainting Austin with Commedia dell'Arte through performances.

Traditionally, Commedia is comprised of highly stylized movement and characterization, slapstick comedy, fast-paced wit, and bawdy humor.

The Blue Noise Band

Though the Blue Noise Band may find themselves lumped in the increasingly nebulous jazz bin, they are equal opportunity purveyors of fierce swing, demented klezmer, greasy funk, and riotous free-jazz assaults. Equally open-minded about where they purvey their sound, the Blue Noise Band has performed around Austin in punk clubs, jazz venues, and most any and everywhere in between, warming up crowds for The Roots and The Greyboy All-Stars.

Multi-Purpose, the Blue Noise Band's debut CD, captures the group performing live in the studio, treading an exciting middle ground between compositional rigor and wily improvising.

Nuance Section

Nuance Section supplies danceable grooves with a healthy dose of Latin rhythms, but that's only the beginning. Tap dancer and choreographer Nick Young provides movement that makes Nuance Section a complete performance experience.

Nuance Section was concieved in 1997 when Chuck, Nick, and Coutinho were brought together on a gig organized by local sax player, Brad Andrew. The concept was not only to create a show but also explore and shorten the gap between dance and music. A year later the CD was created and currently Nuance Section is developing in clubs around Austin while cultivating a full performance that will incorporate a full dance troupe and live music.

Nuance Section can be found on the Internet at www.mp3.com/nuancesection.

Dawi Forté

Dawi Forté is a dynamic ten-piece percussion, dance, and vocal ensemble native to Austin that performis "Rump Roasting" traditional and contemporary West African-influenced styles of music. That's right -- It's time to shake your Boo-Day!