Sunday School Open Mic

Sunday School, a new performance opportunity for singers, dancers, actors, orators and other artists, debuted in November at Barefoot Dance Studios in Rapid City, and the “school” is beginning to thrive.

Hosted every other Sunday evening by Barefoot’s proprietor Andrea Muehl, Sunday School’s MySpace page calls out to “all Rapid Citians that want to reach new levels of artistic achievement.”

Muehl got the idea to start Sunday School from a group in Albuquerque, N.M.

“There’s a group there that does this, and they call it Sunday School and everything. I asked them permission to do the same thing, and they said yes.”

Although Muehl enjoys teaching at her Barefoot Dance Studio and certainly likes giving people a forum for their art, she said she started Sunday School for purely selfish reasons.

“For me, as an artist, I need more than recitals,” she said. “Creating Sunday School was really a very selfish choice. I needed a place to perform and be edgy.”

Called “an experimental collaboration of artists” on promotional products, Sunday School really is more than an open mike or an open stage. A recent visit to Sunday School proved to be an eclectic evening of art, and with baked goods, tea and coffee available, the social aspect before the show and during intermission was something akin to a church potluck.

Before the performances began, the room was cast in low light with candles in paper bags. Rug squares and beanbag chairs were scattered around the floor; however, the majority of the audience sat on the floor against the walls. In one corner, a keyboard was set up and in another corner, a woman drew her sister’s portrait.

The evening began with an unnamed country/bluegrass band. Performances throughout the evening included poetry readings, dancing, standup comedy and even a child singing Christmas carols.

The highlights of the evening were difficult to determine, because all of the performers were highly skilled.
After the unnamed band played, several poets read.

As local artist James Van Nuys finished up a soulful set of songs on his guitar, he was even able get the entire audience singing along with his song “The Last Last Call.”

After a brief intermission, Muehl asked for donations from the crowd to help her keep the event running and passed a boot around the room.

Performers included another poet, a hip-hop dance routine and the comedic stylings of Amethyst Thorpe and Jessica Blake, who taught the crowd, “You know you’re a wino if …” Lief Hey Running treated the audience to his extemporaneous form of musical expression.

“This thing’s already acoustic,” Hey Running said after searching for an amp and cord for his guitar. “I don’t really need to amp it. I just like the power.”

The audience laughed as he spoke and sang through a mix of verses from familiar songs. His style was very percussive, and he was almost dancing in his chair as he played. The tall gangly young man, bent over his guitar, began to preach through his comedy, music and movement. “I hate this place,” he sang of Rapid City. He was met with cheers as he continued, concluding with the idea that “It’s time we got religious about our information.”

After Hey Running’s extemporaneous art, three more artists put on an impromptu performance. Justin Huntly read a friend’s writing as Muehl danced and Ben LeMay played the guitar.

To close out the evening, Lily Jelinek, 6, sang Christmas carols and danced.

Muehl said that Dec. 16 was the third evening that she had hosted Sunday School, and with about 30 people attending, it was their biggest crowd so far.

“We try to get a good variety,” Muehl said, “and we’ve never had a little girl do Christmas carols before.”
Because the performers change each week, the show at Sunday School is certain to never be the same. Furthermore, Muehl is reformatting the evening a bit. “We’ve been talking about having the kids until 8 p.m.,” she said. “We’ve had some kids performing, and we want to keep that going.”

Muehl also stressed that while monetary contributions are the most useful in keeping Sunday School running, any kind of contribution is helpful.

“If you don’t want to perform, bring baked goods, snacks, something like that,” she said.

If you go
What: Sunday School, an experimental collaboration of artists.
Where: Barefoot Dance Studios, 424 Quincy St., 415-1111
When: 7 p.m. every other Sunday night. Children are welcome from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.; adult material after the 8 p.m. intermission.