Barking Legs has a long history of bringing innovative performances to Chattanooga. The following chronological list will give you a taste of some of our best moments.

	Evening of Solo Work March 23 of ‘96 From New York City, Linda Austin offered an evening of experimental dance and performance. “She has a quiet way of shattering an action into unexpected slivers.” -Deborah Jones, Village VOICE -Community Outreach: Linda Austin taught a dance class at Phoenix III.
	Bridging the Gap: New Choreography from Atlanta March 29 & 30 of ‘96 Connecting Atlanta and Chattanooga, Sally Radell, Director of Dance at the Emory University, presented a showcase event of seven Atlanta-based dance/choreographers whose work was intense, vital, and vibrant. -Community Outreach: The Atlanta choreographers taught dance classes at both Baylor and GPS.
	Mod Lang April 26 & 27 of ‘96 A Southeastern music festival with Southeastern rock, improvisation and acoustic musicians. Live performances in both the front and back stages of Barking Legs Theater by some of the Southeast’s most talented musicians. It was a two-day, mind blowing festival event.
	1996 (fall) through 1997 (spring) Season Chris Aiken and special guests Patrick Scully and Cathy Young October 4 & 5 of ‘96 Chris Aiken is well known for exploratory work that combines a wide range of dance styles from jazz to contact improvisation. He brought an exciting evening of dance with two long-time collaborators Patrick Scully and Cathy Young to Barking Legs Theater. All three have performed throughout the USA and parts of Canada and Europe. Their work is a soulful mix of athletic muscularity that can only come from a love of dance and movement.
	Barking Legs 3rd Anniversary Blow-Out November 16 of ‘96 CoPAC invited the community to celebrate Barking Legs Theater’s third birthday. It was a brilliant, postmodern cabaret that promised to invigorate the audience with an extravaganza beyond comprehension. The master of ceremonies was a storyteller, painter, performance artist, and community activist, Normando Ismay, who created an unbelievable environment for twenty-five wild Southern performers.
	Paul Bonin-Rodriguez December 6 & 7 of ‘96 Paul Bonin-Rodriguez created a queer coming-of-age story for everyone. “Love in The Time of College” was a major work of gay performance art that both empowered and entertained. From the hilarious to the boisterously bittersweet, Bonin-Rodriguez found the complex feelings of each character and engaged the audience with his wit and knock-out comic timing. He has been performing this work throughout the country.
	Alice Lovelace February 7 & 8 of ‘97 Alice Lovelace is a folk poet, creative writing activist, conjurer of moods, narrative performer, myth maker, and word wizard. She is an award winning playwright and published author of poetry, prose, drama and fiction, who performs and teaches throughout the USA. Her performance style has been described as a cross between a West African Praise-singer and a black southern preacher. It promised to be an amazing evening.
	Changing Times Tap Dancing Company March 14 & 15 of ‘97 -Changing Time Tap Dancing Company blended tap dancing with witty, political humor and biting feminist commentary. This company, composed of Jane Goldberg, Sarah Safford, and Dorothy Wasserman, had been performing feminist oriented tap dancing since the early 80's. Their show, “The Rhythm Method”, was an exhilarating, entertaining, lively evening of theater, dance, politics and song.
	Mary Street Dance Theater April 11 & 12 of ‘97 This captivating company is one of the most expressive, risk-taking dance groups in the South, and features the work of Dale Andree, with special guest artist Ann Law. These dancers performed a repertory characterized by inventiveness, solidity, and emotional risk-taking. Andree is well known among dance devotees throughout Florida for her innovative work. Her style involves a natural, unpremeditated manner of movement.
	Fall 1997 Season Barking Legs Student Showing September 12 of ‘97 The students who were involved in CoPAC’s Fall 1997 class program, as well as some of the wonderful instructors, performed excerpts from some of our fabulous classes. These performances have always been popular, and the house was packed. It was a good opportunity to check out what the Theater was doing, meet the folks, and preview upcoming classes.
	Barking from the Body: Ann Law, Paul Bonin-Rodriguez and Patton White September 19 & 20 of ‘97 The fourth season opened with a concerts of dance pieces that blended text and the spoken word with the possibilities of explorative movement. Three multi-talented performers gathered to present their own individual pieces as well as collaborating with each other for the special weekend. Ann Law premiered Fragment, preformed to a poem by T.S. Eliot, and Blind Faith, inspired by Dennis Covington’s book, Salvation on Sand Mountain. Paul Bonin-Rodriguez presented his latest, specially created for the evening, solo performance. Patton White performed a solo piece centered around writing found on the street.
	New Work: Directed by Paul Bonin-Rodriguez September 27 of ‘97 Chattanooga’s most favorite performer/writer/director Paul Bonin-Rodriguez directed an exciting evening of new work by dance and theater students from the University of the South. Mr. Bonin-Rodriguez was the University’s 1997 Tennessee Williams Fellow and his work had been performed across the nation. The concert was co-sponsored by the Theater department of the University of the South and made possible by a grant from the Dakin Williams Fund.
	Brian Cagle’s “Work-in-Progress”: Private Viewing and Critical Response October 24 of ‘97 Brain Cagle, a then recent graduate from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Theater and English Literature, was the recipient of CoPAC’s first Young Artist Award. As such, he was commissioned by CoPAC to produce an original work for the stage based upon the last days of French actor and theorist Antonin Artaud. CoPAC’s subscribers and the local arts community were invited to preview Mr. Cagle’s work-in-progress, and to participate in a new approach to critical feedback and discussion called Critical Response.
	Daniel Moore: “This World” October 25 of ‘97 In the six years that he had been writing at the time of this performance, Chattanooga’s own favorite poet Daniel Moore had received both local and national acclaim through performances, publications, and contest awards. His work had appeared in such distinguished journals as Western Humanities Review, The New York Quarterly, The Hawaii Review and River Styx.
	An Evening of New Dances November 1 of ‘97 Some of the finest dancers in the country converged on the stage of the Barking Legs Theater to present an unforgettable evening of dance. Chris Aiken, a contact improvisation dancer, and Cathy Young, a jass and improvisation dancer, returned for a second visit. Scott Heron, a dancer and post-post-modern performance artist formerly from New York City, came for the first time. Sycamore Toffel, a pioneer in the South in contact improvisation, also returned for a second time. And of course, there was also Ann Law. The dancers spent three days together, moving and experimenting, and the results of their collective energy and intensity was presented to the audience in the intimate setting of the Barking Legs Theater.
	Barking Legs Theater’s 4th Anniversary Blowout November 15 of ‘97 Performers, dancers, artists, musicians, singers, poets, and supporters from all over let loose in an extended evening of revelry and raucous celebration.
	“An Evening of Antonin Artaud” by Brian Cagle November 21 & 22 of ‘97 Performing of the final presentation of his “Work-in-Progress”, Brian Cagle was the winner of CoPAC’s first Young Artist Award for supporting and recognizing emerging and promising young artists. Mr. Cagle first came to our attention when he successfully independently produced and directed Eric Bugosian’s subUrbia. This new piece, commissioned by CoPAC, was an original work based upon the last days of Antonin Artaud. It focused on Artaud’s never- produced final work, a text for radio entitled To Have Done With the Judgement of God, combined selections of Artaud’s poetry and the text for radio, along with biographical insights into his incarceration as a mental patient.
	The Shaking Ray Levis present: Chattanooga (“The FarQuar City”) December 5 & 6 of ‘97 The Shaking Ray Levis, the Chattanooga-based team of Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner, have performed extensively from New York to London and have received critical acclaim from the Village Voice, Keyboard, National Public Radio, The New Art Examiner, Tower Records’ Pulse! Magazine and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The duo uses storytelling, electronics and percussion in addition to handmade instruments of their own design to achieve their distinctive sound. With credentials like that, the night promised to be amazing.
	Christine Kane: CD Release Show December 13 of ‘97 Christine Kane returned to the Barking Legs Theater to celebrate the release of her new CD, “A Thousand Girls.” From Asheville, North Carolina, Christine has been playing to sold out crowds from all over the Southeast. She has done shows with Shawn Colvin, Nanci Griffith, Rosanne Cash and James McMurty. No stranger to Chattanooga, she performed at the Riverbend festival two years in a row and was a featured act in the Downtown Chattanooga Coffeehouse Series. Her writing is intelligent and emotional, the perfect mix of the heart. One critic called her “kind of a cross between Paul Simon, Shawn Colvin and the very best friend you’ve ever had and could stay up all night talking to.”
	Fall 1998 Season (Tennessee- The Real Movers and Shakers) Adora Dupree- “Future Traditions” September 19 of ‘98 The one-of-a-kind stories, songs and poems of this Knoxville-based performer unveiled the conditions and customs of women, especially those of African, African-American, and Native American ancestries. Her performance enlivened literature, illuminated past events, provoked thought, and kindled the spirit.

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