Newspaper Page Text
HIGH MUSEUM OF ART ATLANTA I HIGH.ORG
se S8nDAYS
Free admission and special programs every month
Photos by Joe Earle
In front center, Patti Kunkle. Behind left to right,
Cheryl Stauss, Julie Bookman, Donna Palmer,
Ro Denham, Barb Tucker, Frani Green and
Marie Bosler
show at the Candler Park pool on the
Saturday before Labor Day.
Each dancer individualizes her own
costume, but long strings of beads and tiaras
are universal accessories. “We try to make it
hoity and toity,” Palmer said.
And it seems that just about everybody
in the company has been bestowed some sort
of title. “Everybody deserves a title, just like
everybody deserves a tiara,” Nolan said.
In recent years, on July 4, members
of the company have staged “splashmob”
performances, in which theyd drift into
various nearby pools in ones and twos
pretending to be regular holiday swimmers
and then gather as a group and start dancing,
astonishing onlookers. They’ve also performed
at parties. “We perform for anybody who asks
us,” Palmer said. “We usually don’t charge a
fee, but we do ask for a cocktail.”
Elitting the pool in a tiara and fake pearls
is reward enough, they say. After all, it gives
them a chance to strut their stuff. “An older
woman is supposed to have certain flaws,”
Kunkle said. “We accentuate them. We’re
proud of who we are.”
Besides, she said, “it’s a hoot.’ nn
The Candler Park Water Ballet Company
prepares to take to the water.
Candler
Park’s Water
Ballerinas
By Joe Earle
On a sunny June afternoon, a line of
women wearing black bathing suits, sparkling
tiaras and long strings of pearl-colored beads
strutted along the edge of the swimming pool
at Candler Park.
“Girls Just Want to Elave Fun” blared
from a poolside boombox. Waving colorful
swimming noodles over their heads, the eight
ladies from the Candler Park Water Ballet
Company danced their way into the pool
and began twisting, shimmying and paddling
through routines set to songs such as “Roll
Out The Barrel” and “The Stripper.”
Artistic Director Patti Kunkle called out
moves and shouted encouragement to the
dancing women. “Elave your hands on your
hips, like you’re a hoochie coochie girl,” she
yelled at one point.
For about a decade, the return of summer
has brought the return of the water dancers
of Candler Park. They call themselves “deep
people in the shallow end” or “the watery
tarts.” They range in age from 50 to 70.
“It’s a good group of women,” said Laura
Nolan, who calls herself “co-founder and
team philosopher” of the company. “Anybody
who wants to show up for water ballet in the
shallow end is going to have a good sense of
humor.”
Designed for little kids, big kids, and the whole family, Second Sundays are
for everyone. Visit us each month and experience new interactive, innovative
family activities inspired by our collections and ever-changing exhibitions.
Second Sundays are sponsored by the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation.
at the Euclid
Avenue Yacht
Club, a venerable
watering hole in
nearby Little Five
Points, as Nolan
tells it.
She worked
at the Yacht Club
then, and one night
after work, she said,
several employees
who were dancing
in a booth joked
they should found
a water ballet. “We
were always in the
water, anyway,” she
said. “I think it was just another way of being
silly.”
They mentioned the idea to their friend
Donna Palmer, who started recruiting others
to join in. Kunkle, who calls herself “Queen of
Little Five Points” and who had experience as
a tap dancer, agreed to choreograph.
“I’m just a dancing fool,” Kunkle joked
before admitting that her tap-dancing
background offered little guidance for water-
ballet choreography because the audience can’t
see the dancers’ feet under water.
But stylish steps aren’t the reason this
company hits the water. Why do they it? “To
get together and do something different that
reflects this part of the world, our ability to let
our freak flag fly,” Palmer said before pointing
out that an ability to swim isn’t a prerequisite
for joining the water ballet.
“It’s fun,” Palmer said. “It gets me out of
the house. It’s something to look forward to,
to seeing my friends. And my grandchildren
love it. I want to show children that when you
get older, you don’t have to sit at home and
watch Oprah. It’s great to show the world I’m
still here. I’m still crazy after all these years.”
The company now claims from 12 to 14
to 20 members, depending on who’s counting.
They get together on Thursdays at the
Candler Park Swimming Pool to practice their
routines. They do a couple of performances
each year, ending with their Grand Finale
And there’s a lot of laughing out loud in
this group. Their motto: “Wetter is better.”
“It’s completely goofy. Otherwise we
wouldn’t do it,” water dancer Julie Bookman
said. “It’s just about comedy in the water.”
The idea of a community water ballet
troupe was born during an after-hours confab
14 August 2017 \m
AtlantalNtownPaper.com