The Palladium Theater to Present BEACON: A PERFORMANCE SERIES FOR ST. PETE

On November 14, 2015, 8 p.m. co-producers Helen Hansen French and Lauren Ree Slone will present BEACON: A Performance Series for St. Pete at and in partnership with the historic Palladium Theater at the corner of Fifth Avenue N. and Third Street N. in downtown St. Petersburg. To purchase tickets, which includes admission to the performance and an after-party with the artists, contact the Box Office, 727-822-3590, or visit www.mypalladium.org.

Florida natives French and Slone received dance training in Florida, and went on to gain national and international prominence as professional dancers. Last year they began to envision a more vibrant dance scene in St. Petersburg. Creating BEACONas a fresh performance platform, is the first of many strategies they have planned toward bringing dance into greater eminence in the area. Audiences can expect virtuosic dancing, bold imagery, and multidisciplinary collaborations at this kick-off event.

BEACON will spotlight four professional choreographers all of whom call St. Petersburg home:

Michael Foley, a celebrated artist and scholar who teaches at University of South Florida, will present a solo work. Set on performer Jahrel Thompson (Sarasota Contemporary Dance), Joan is a lush portrait of the legendary figure Joan of Arc.

Choreographer/performer Helen Hansen French has created an original work featuring local artists Rebekah Eugenia Lazaridis (visual design), Roxanne Fay (actress), Jan Neuberger (writer/actress), Paula Kramer (dancer), and herself. A City of St. Petersburg 2015 individual grant winner, Hansen French offers this world premiere as a movement love letter to St. Petersburg.

Kellie Harmon's ROGUEDANCE presents Where thou art, that is home. The work features Harmon, Crystal DelGuidice Carleigh Gee, Colleen Hanlon and Sean McDonald. Inspired by Emily Dickinson's poem of the same name, this highly physical work explores the importance of the relationships we build to art personally and socially in the community.

Artist and grant maker, Lauren Ree Slone, who has worked collaboratively with Loren Davidson (Florida State University School of Dance teaching artist), together will perform an excerpt from a new evening-length duet, entitled for waking. The piece is a grand experiment based upon their admiration for each other as artists, and the idea that their bodies are the only homes they have