What: Lunchtime in the Studio
Where: Core Performance Studio, Decatur
When: Nov. 11, Jan. 17, May 5 from noon – 1 pm
Cost: Free

Lunchtime in the Studio offers a free “backstage pass” to audience members. It’s a wonderful opportunity to see dancers up close. The program is presented by CORE (formerly Several Dancers Core). It’s a series of five free dance and lunch events during CORE’s 30^th Anniversary Season in 2010-11. The series started on Sept. 30, but there are several more opportunities (listed above).

The event takes place at CORE Studios at 139 Sycamore St. on the Square in Downtown Decatur. A free lunch is provided by Eddie’s Attic, along with coffee from Starbucks, to the first 40 audience members. If you don’t get lunch, there are several great places in the Decatur Square. Although this is not strictly a kid-centered event, I can’t imagine any child that wouldn’t like seeing dancers up close and see how the company creates the dances.

A little about CORE: CORE Performance Company, professional contemporary dance company of CORE, focuses on the ongoing development of the artistic process through the creation of new work.  Made up of individual artists, the company performs new choreography that evolves through experimentation, improvisation, and collaborations with artists from different mediums.  Founded as a performance group in 1980 by Sue Schroeder and Kathy Russell, over 30 years CORE has grown into a multifaceted dance organization spanning two cities and generating connections throughout the world.  CORE has built a stable arts organization which provides opportunities, programs and support for artists, students and populations in isolation.  The philosophy of CORE centers on a commitment to fostering creativity and to experiencing the power of dance as a method of deepening the experience of the present and re-envisioning the future.  For more information about this and other upcoming events, please contact CORE at (404) 373-4154 or visit www.severaldancerscore.org.

Chelsea Viran is our lastest ticket winner (through random.org). Chelsea, email me at sue@fieldtripswithsue.com to confirm your tickets and let me know what performance you’d like to attend. Your tickets for the Georgia Ballet’s A Sleepy Hollow Story will be available at will call.

What: The Georgia Ballet’s A Sleepy Hollow Story
When: Oct. 24 at 7:30 pm and Oct. 25 at 2 pm
Where: Jennie T. Anderson Theatre at the Cobb Civic Center in Marietta
Cost: Tickets range from $15 to $32 but you can win a Family Four Pack here!

For a short time I lived in Kinderhook, NY, hometown of our 8th president Martin Van Buren. For those of you who don’t know Kinderhook (ok, everyone raise your hand), it is located in the Hudson Valley, near Sleepy Hollow, the setting for the classic American tale about schoolmaster Icabod Crane.

The Georgia Ballet performs this classic Halloween story this coming weekend at the Cobb Civic Center in Marietta (bonus: free parking). For a glimpse at the show, click here. The Sunday performance includes a pumpkin patch before the performance. There will be pumpkin painting and characters from the ballet. I met some of the dancers and the choreographer from the Georgia Ballet earlier this year. They are a world class troupe.

So how can you win tickets to this great show? Tell us about your favorite family field trip. You can leave a comment below, or let us know via Facebook by uploading a photo and leaving a comment on the photo or just leave a comment on this post. The FTWS Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/fieldtripswithsue. We’ll choose one winner through random.org on Friday and your tickets will be waiting at Will Call.