ARTS46/4 Continues In May With Dance Featuring Helen Hansen French

First Unity continues the launch of ARTS46/4 with the second of five special events: MOVEMENTS OF MOTHERHOOD, a Mother's Day afternoon of dance, with dessert provided by Village Inn, happening Sunday, May 13th at 1:30pm.

MOVEMENTS OF MOTHERHOOD begins with a screening of Helen Hansen French's dance film, Within the Bounding Line, which was made possible in part from a grant from Creative Pinellas, and features poetry by Maureen McDole, and original music by Elizabeth A. Baker. Within the Bounding Line is a cinematic exploration of the experience of being an artist and mother, which Helen began while pregnant with her second son, and completed after his birth. Then Helen performs live, alongside Rogue Dance member Jessica Ruddock, in "Songs Without Words," a multi-disciplinary experience originally presented at the Museum of Fine Arts in conjunction with Story Days. While photography is projected, Frank Wells improvises music on piano based on the images, and Helen and Jessica improvise dance based on the music. Featured photographers will include Sheri Kendrick, Brett Wells, Jacob Bailes, and Charlotte Suarez.

Helen Hansen French is a native of St. Petersburg who received her BFA from The Juilliard School. Upon graduation she was invited to join Buglisi Dance Theatre. In addition to BDT's annual New York City seasons she has toured nationally and internationally performing in such venues as the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Chautauqua Dance Festival, Vail International Dance Festival, Rishon LeZion International Festival in Israel, and the Oriente Occidente Festival in Rovereto, Italy. ? Mrs. French has also been a member of Karen Reedy Dance and had the pleasure of performing with Nilas Martins' Dance Company, participating in a residency at White Oak Dance working with choreographer Adam Hougland, and performing in the Guggenheim's Works/Process program with Brian Reeder and Pam Tanowitz. She has been awarded a 2015, 2016 and 2017 Individual Artist Grant from the City of St. Petersburg and she is also a 2016 Creative Pinellas Artist Fellow. Her work has been shown at The Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Clark Studio Theater, Kaatsbaan, Studio@620, and The Palladium, which has hosted her performance series for St. Pete, BEACON, for the past three years. She is a founding member of the St. Petersburg Dance Alliance, www.spdancealliance.com.

Frank Wells' musical career has included serving as Associate Conductor with Tampa Bay Opera, training choruses and conducting outreach programming for the Florida Orchestra and Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (Straz Center), and as Music Director of the Tampa Bay Concert Choir, in addition to being a composer and arranger whose works are performed nationally and internationally. These days, Frank is most often seen musically behind a piano instead of a baton, exploring cross-disciplinary collaborations with artists in the visual and performing arts, especially in long-form improvisational pieces that weave performers, images, text and audiences into intricate, responsive, spiritually-present musical tapestries.

This event will be held in the First Unity sanctuary space, which recently removed its pews in favor of chairs that allow for flexible seating configurations.

For more about ARTS46/4, visit https://www.arts464.org/

ABOUT FIRST UNITY SPIRITUAL CAMPUS

First Unity Spiritual Campus is a spiritual community who welcomes all, committed to teaching a positive, practical, and progressive approach to spirituality. The St. Petersburg Campus features a sanctuary which also serves as a performance venue, spiritual education classrooms, chapel, meditation garden, gallery and visual art center, bookstore, coffee shop, and is home to Spice Routes restaurant. In addition to weekly Sunday and Wednesday services, First Unity Spiritual Campus continually offers support groups and a variety of events, activities, and classes. This thriving community is under the leadership of internationally-recognized minister / author / speaker Reverend Temple Hayes. For more information, visit firstunity.org.

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