Ballet Vero Beach wasn’t expecting to start its season until January. Then wheels started turning – literally – at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, with the installation of “Kinetic Sculpture: The Poetics of Movement” an exhibition of sculpture in motion. Curator Jay Williams got the idea to invite the young ballet company to perform in the museum’s Leonhardt Auditorium in conjunction with the exhibit.
Wednesday, Nov. 19, Adam Schnell, Vero Beach Ballet’s artistic director and Camilo Rodriguez, ballet master, will present “Kinetic Sculpture Personified,” three pieces inspired by sculptures in the exhibit. Rodriguez will perform along with two young dancers, Shannon Maloney and Zachary Tudor, who apprenticed with Riverside Theatre’s Summer Dance Festival last summer. Both are currently studying in Orlando.
A video component will introduce each piece, says Schnell.
Schnell admits his first reaction was skepticism when he got an email from a museum staffer with the subject line “interpretive dance possibility.”
“Right away, I was skeptical,” he says with a laugh. “You know I’m a classical guy; I don’t want to talk about feelings or anything like that. Then I sat down with them and looked at the artists’ work on YouTube. I liked the idea of taking art that is already in motion and putting that on bodies; that was really appealing. It’s not like looking at the Mona Lisa and telling the story behind the smile.”
Schnell opted to set his choreography with sculptor Anne Lilly in mind using the music of Vivaldi. An architect and engineer, it was Lilly’s sense of order that inspired Schnell, he says.
Rodriguez used Japanese music as a backdrop to movements inspired by Lin Emery’s work. A second piece was inspired by Pedro de Movellan, danced to a Tchaikovsky adagio.
“I just saw the trio in rehearsal,” Schnell said last week. “The exhibit represents kinetic sculpture in a lot of different guises. I can’t believe Camilo got such different pieces with similar movement vocabulary.”
Working with the museum has been “great cross-pollination,” he says.
“Collaborations always sell better, whether they’re writing grants or trying to get press,” says Schnell. “In terms of two professional arts organizations putting on something together, people have really bit. It’s the same with Riverside Theatre reaching out to Dancing with the Vero Stars and Ballet Vero Beach.”
The performance, which lasts less than an hour, begins at 5 p.m. with a reception following. Tickets are $25 for museum members or BVB supporters; $30 for the general public. Go to www.verobeachmuseum.org, and click on programs, then adults, then “Kinetic Sculpture Personified,” or call 772-231-0707.
And if the dance performance piques your interest about the exhibit – which is incredible – the museum is holding a “Lunch and Learn” event the next day. The group meets at noon for a docent guided “slow looking” experience, focusing on one sculpture for 30 minutes or so, then heads to the museum café for lunch. The docent tour is free. To RSVP, and to see the rest of the Lunch and Learn opportunities in the coming season, visit the museum’s website or call the number above.
At the Sunrise Theatre, Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam comes to town again, though the traffic jam never really materialized when he and his band played in stormy weather two years ago at an outdoor benefit for Indian River Charter High School. Next Thursday, though, the show is indoors, a more secure environment weather-wise. Mason, the English singer/songwriter, founded the rock band Traffic in the 1960s along with Steve Winwood, and is best known for his song “Feelin’ Alright.”
Mason, who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has a phenomenal C.V.: he performed with the Stones on “Beggars Banquet,” and played 12-string on his friend Jimi Hendrix’s cover of “All Along the Watchtower.” He also played with George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac and Michael Jackson. Now 68, he still tours heavily. Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam performs Nov. 20 at the Sunrise Theater in downtown Fort Pierce. Tickets are from $49 to $75. Go to www.sunrisetheatre.com or call 772-461-4775.
And the traffic jam for tickets at the Riverside Theatre for the annual benefit Friends Luncheon next week has been eased with the scheduling of two extra performances of the entertainment that day: a revue of the music of Lerner and Loewe, put together by executive director Allen Cornell and music director Ken Clifton.
To say the show is full of all-time favorites is understatement: “If Ever I Would Leave You” from “Camelot”; “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady”; and “I Remember It Well” from “Gigi” are etched into the memories of everyone who grew up dancing in the living room to their parents’ Broadway albums.
The idea to do a revue came to Cornell last year. Prior the Friends luncheon typically involved a one-woman show of some sort. Instead, Cornell decided to do a revue of the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and called in a few actors from past shows at Riverside.
“The luncheon sold out so quickly and there was a waiting list, so we decided to add an evening performance,” says Oscar Sales, marketing director.
This year, with the promise of a Lerner and Loewe revue, the same thing happened with an even longer waiting list, so they added a second night, Saturday (Friday is the children’s theater benefit, Festival of Trees.)
The revue stars Richard Todd Adams, a Juilliard graduate who has performed on Broadway as well as in starring roles in regional theater; Jeremiah James, who has performed in London’s West End as well as on Broadway; and Jennifer Hope Wills, who performed last year and for four years played Christine in Broadway’s “Phantom of the Opera.”
The show will be performed at 8 p.m. Nov. 20 and Nov. 22 on Riverside’s main stage. Tickets are $45. Call 772-231-6990 or go to www.riversidetheatre.com.