Thanks to each and every one of you we have managed to meet our fundraising goal with time to spare! Words cannot express how much your gratitude and support mean to every individual involved in this project. We'll be contacting you after the official deadline to make arrangements for all of the various rewards. We have some fun things planned. I've gotten to see the initial t-shirt designs as well as the posters and promotional images and they are fantastic. I'm also busily editing photo and video footage for our behind the scenes site (including the increasingly infamous Bacon Dance - words cannot begin to explain this one. You'll simply have to check it out).

Please know that your monetary support is deeply appreciated, and yet the faith inherent in that support means even more. We can't wait to show you the end result of this journey in January!

Remember that we still have 13 days in our Kickstarter campaign. If you know of anyone who has considered donating, let them know their contributions are still welcome. We set our goal at our minimum number. As always in an endeavor of this sort, every cent makes a difference!

We had a wonderful time meeting many of you at our Meet and Greet last weekend. We're now less than $500 away from our target number with 19 days still to go. This is all so wonderfully exciting.

We're also making incredible progress with the production itself. This week alone we finished the stories Mr. Fox and Baba Yaga. Both still need some smoothing and refining, but I can watch video footage of rehearsal and see the stories begin, blossom, and resolve - each with their own unique style. Ice Queen is only a few rehearsals away from being at the same point. After that its just a matter of cleaning and honing everything. Its looking like we'll have a solid two months devoted to that. We are blessed enough to have three different local choreographers interested in coming into rehearsal to give us feedback on everything - from the cohesiveness of the stories to the precision of the technique. That is an incredible asset for any production and I feel very blessed that we will benefit from their fresh eyes and their expertise.

In the last two weeks I've been able to have in depth conversations about sets with the talented Christan Vick. We've also acquired the talents of Tanya Drehmel and Bethany Farmer to help us costume these heroines and villains. Everyone is working so hard to maintain a singular vision. Its fascinating seeing each element start to tie together. It truly feels like its all starting to come to life.

We are also busily editing our video footage and scoring it. I'm so excited to see this trailer, to see these characters through a different medium. My hope is that we'll have something for everyone to see very soon and that the trailer will spark even more interest in the show itself.

We couldn't be doing any of this without your support. Thank you to each and every one of you for helping us create something special.

We are working on a filmed trailer for Into the Dark Wood and its been an incredibly fun process thus far. Last weekend we went out with cast members from both Mr. Fox and Baba Yaga to capture something of the essence of those stories. Our goal is to create a short, engaging trailer that will draw in an audience and raise excitement for the production. Hopefully we'll also get across that this isn't necessarily the dance show you might be expecting!

Joanna Brooks and Louis Puster went to work on script treatments with Louis directing on site and reworking the treatment as we needed. The wonderful Will Day, who has covered most of our productions, was behind the camera again, but this time as a videographer. Our narrator, Angela Pearl, is multi-talented and ran make-up for us. We even had an array of volunteers acting as grips, assistant directors, and general helpers. Many thanks to Justin Brown, Katherine Manfre, Jennifer Mines, and Veaya Stembridge! 

There is no dance at all in the footage we shot and I love that. Not that I want to downplay the choreography, but I felt like we were able to really see these characters. That the dancers could explore them more without the safety of set movement and musical cues. I think that will enrich their final performances. Plus the idea is to whet your appetite, not give away the end result. Speaking of that, I felt a little cruel for the way I asked one of our heroines to portray her character. Sally O'Grady is the heroine in the Mr. Fox tale. I coaxed her into taking the role by telling her what a strong, powerful woman this is. She is brave, she's confident, she's a fun role. Yet twice now I've had to ask her to play the role much more timidly. First for our preview performance at this past year's Shorts 6 and then again for the filming. In order to tell just a snippet of the story, we needed to see a smaller, more frightened character. I promised her though that on the stage she'll be the character I first offered her. I've gotten to see that character coming to life in rehearsals and she is captivating! We're just keeping her under wraps for now. You'll have to catch a show in the theater to see her for yourselves.

Next weekend we film the scenes for the Ice Queen. Then there’s editing and scoring. We’re excited to see how it all comes together.

One quick reminder – we’re having a Meet & Greet on October 8th for anyone who is local. The dancers have a few surprises up their sleeves for it so it should be a lot of fun. We’d love to see you there!

October 8th, 7pm
57th Fighter Group
3829 Clairmont Road
Atlanta, GA 30341

Photos by Katherine Manfre featuring Stephen Loch, Angela Pearl, and Louis Puster

I am both humbled and deeply grateful for the initial outpouring of support. It was so wonderful to walk into rehearsal today and tell everyone that we raised $750 in our first 24 hours. Please know that your support, whether monetary or by sharing our information with others, means the world to us.

We are looking forward to hopefully meeting several of you at our upcoming Meet & Greet. We'd like to invite you to share a relaxed evening with us, learn a little more about this project, and get to know us a little better. We'll be gathering on October 8th at 7pm at the 57th Fighter Group located at 3829 Clairmont Road, Atlanta, Ga. We'll be on the back porch where food and drink will be available for purchase. We hope to see you there!

We've had photographer Larry Jerome in our rehearsals for the last few days. There are several lovely movement shots, which we'll make available through our behind-the-scenes website soon. I wanted to go ahead a share a few with you now though. These pictures capture for me why I so enjoy working with these dancers, the laughter and joy they bring into rehearsal along with all of their hard work and dedication.

Enjoy!