ELEVATE Public Art Festival Kicks Off Next Weekend

ELEVATE: Enlighten will present two evenings of live entertainment during this year's public art festival. Join us for a night of music, dance and spoken word at the Friday Night Performance Showcase on Friday, October 20th, and a high-energy Block Party on Saturday, October 21st, presented by MailChimp.

Both events will take place in Woodruff Park, 91 Peachtree Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30303, and are free and open to the public.

Bring a blanket and a picnic and prepare to relax and unwind at the TGIF Performance Showcase on Friday, October 20th from 7-10 pm.

Yumi Kurosawa and Rockwell Dance Academy's Brittany Smith and DeWayne Jamar Brown will perform at 7 pm. The collaboration will blend the mesmerizing sound of Kurosawa's music on traditional 16th century stringed koto with contemporary Hip Hop dance in a unique performance transcending genre and cultural stereotypes.

Ailey II will perform excerpts from two new works at 8 pm. Ailey II is universally renowned for merging the spirit and energy of the country's best young dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today's most outstanding emerging choreographers.

Touch & Agree features Choreography by Atlantan Juel D. Lane. Touch & Agree explores what it is to be in love and how we commit to another person without losing our own identity. To do this, Lane brings his personal experiences as a black gay man to the stage, using such wide-ranging musical sources as Sam Cooke, James Blake, H.E.R., and Byrell the Great. His unique style fuses contemporary, African, and hip-hop - bringing a fresh choreographic perspective to the ups and downs of relationships today.

BREAKING POINT showcases Choreography by Renee I. McDonald and music by Audiomachine, in an intense depiction of the fight for our heart's desire. Whether it is love, friendship, forgiveness, or a secret longing - these things can take us to our limit. Suitably paired with the bold and pulsating sounds of Audiomachine, McDonald's high-powered, modern choreography captures the willpower and frenzy it takes to keep up "the fight" until you hit your breaking point.

Spoken Word hosted by Queen Sheba and featuring top spoken word artists at 9 pm.

• Two-time National Poetry Slam Champ Queen Sheba was a performer on season two of "Verses and Flow" on TV One, and featured poet on "Lyric Café" on BET. She has six albums, two of which were nominated for Grammys.
• NFared was the 10-Year-Resident Host at Urban Grind Thursdays in Atlanta and is a National Poetry Slam Champ.

• Jonathan Samuel Eddie is a spoken word comedian. He represented Atlanta at the National Poetry Slam competition as a member of Art Amok and Java Monkey Poetry Slam Teams in 2012, 2014, & 2015.
• Telesa Hines is a nationally touring poet featured on FOX TV's "Star," and is a performer for Team Poetry on the national poetry show, "Poetry vs. Hip Hop."
• Nate Mask has been a member of the Java Monkey and Art Amok Slam Teams, and has competed and performed at the National Poetry Slam, Southern Fried Poetry Festival, and LEAF.
• Tamika "Georgia Me" Harper is an 18-year veteran in the spoken word community who was featured on all seven seasons of "DefPoetry."

On Saturday, October 21st, we're bringing DJs from WERC CREW, Morph, and Choloteca to Woodruff Park for a one of a kind dance party, presented by MailChimp. Grab your friends and come down for the party from 6-11 pm.

Jeremy Avalon and Xavier BLK represent WERC CREW. Over the past three years the talent collective and event production crew have utilized grassroots efforts to give a jolt to the Atlanta nightlife culture. In 2015 WERC was recognized by Creative Loafing as the city's Best Party Planners. Together, Jeremy and Xavier bring global riddims every month with the underground bashment party WHINE. Percussion and bass heavy afrobeats, dancehall, reggaeton, reggae and soca tunes radiate from the speakers all night.

JSPORT is a product of multicultural upbringing, and is heavily influenced by the sounds of new millennium R&B. As a DJ, he wants listeners to have an encyclopedic trans-temporal experience that transports them to a space and time that is as varied as he is.

Night Slugs' DJ and producer, HELIX displays a signature morph sound with his blend of techno, R&B, Rap, dancehall and reggaeton. Helix curates sounds with no boundaries which has caught the likes of high end fashion brands like Moshino and Opening Ceremony.

"Anónima" is a DJ hailing from Orlando, based in Atlanta. Specializing in house/ballroom vogue music, Anónima's selection stems from her Afro-Latina background, growing up in Florida's bass culture and appreciation for dance. She's a resident DJ to Latinx event "La Choloteca" and others on the scene.

DJ Esme (Kenneth Figueroa) is a first-generation Peruvian-American living in Atlanta. As one of the founders of La Choloteca: Ley de Latinx, he believes that the intersections of identity are what make the city of Atlanta a beautiful place and that spaces need to be created in which those are more explored, accepted, and celebrated. In his style of music, he loves to flirt his Latin roots with darker textures and dissonant sounds.

Sponsors for ELEVATE: Enlighten include The City of Atlanta Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs, The City of Atlanta Department of Planning, MailChimp, Atlanta Convention & Visitor's Bureau, Hand-Picked Atlanta, Central Atlanta Progress, Creative Loafing, Area 51, Bicycle Tours of Atlanta, and Newport.

ELEVATE is a program of the City of Atlanta Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs. For more information, visit: ELEVATEATLART.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.