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Sights & Sounds: Kelly Atkins

Sights & Sounds is your weekly guide to the Bay Area arts scene. Kelly Atkins is a musician and member of  women’s vocal ensemble Kitka. She told KALW’s Jen Chien about three fantastic arts events happening around the Bay this weekend.

Vertical dance company BANDALOOP presents Dances from Thin Air, a multimedia evening of vertical dance at the Great Wall Oakland at Broadway and West Grand. The award-winning short film SHIFT, shot in Yosemite National Park in 2015 and recent footage of the new work Coyote Waltzes filmed as part of the National Park Service Centennial will frame the live performance on wall. General admission is free, but there are limited reserved seats for $20. 

KELLY ATKINS: The fact that they turn the whole dance floor on its side, and the audience just sits there in rapt attention and we just feel like we're on the edge of our seats...it almost feels disorienting like you're under water or something. It's really really cool.

This is the CD release of the eponymous Vegan Butcher album which is a six-song, nine-note, slow-core music from John Shiurba. Karry Walker (Ultralash) and Surplus 1980 will also be performing sets at the Starry Plough on December 3rd. Show starts at 9pm. 

KELLY ATKINS: [Ultralash] layers her music with ambient trip-hop elements, and lots of layers of sound, sound collage, and her voice is just this lush, intimate, beautiful thing.

Credit courtesy of Shotgun Players
El Beh as Hamlet, Cathleen Riddley as Horatio, Megan Trout as Laertes, David Sinaiko as Gravedigger

The Shotgun Players’ production of Hamlet is an atypical version of this classic - every actor of the ensemble learns every role of the play. Moments before show-time, the actors line up and pull their roles out of Yorick’s skull. They get 5 minutes to gather their wits and then they have to perform. This production of Hamlet runs through January 22nd. 

KELLY ATKINS: They're actually in a repertory season right now, which means that they actually have five different show each week...12 actors, five shows, so you can imagine how wonderful that must be to see.