Arts on Stage

By Don Webb

Published: August 28, 2008

Danville Concert Association

Now marking its 56th season, the Danville Concert Association is celebrating the diversity of music and dance this season with four top-notch shows that feature old friends and new faces.
The season includes:
> Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at George Washington High School.
This dance troupe merges the grace of European classical ballet with the edgy contemporary dance styles of groups like David Parsons, earning a spot as one of the most respected dance companies in the nation.
“A twinge of wonderment that might charm the most cynical of New York dance fans …They raise the bar, and then they jump over it.” wrote Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times.
> North Carolina Symphony, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 7 at George Washington High School.
This 75-year-old orchestra is returning by popular demand, two years after its first concert in Danville.
> Suill Bailey and Awadagin Pratt, 7:30 p.m. April 3 at the North Theatre. “To the eye they’re as different as A and Z ... but to the ear, they were as one — a single sound of bowed and percussive components, balanced in unfailing beauty,” wrote Mark Estren of The Washington Post/.
Pratt returns to Danville ater a masterful performance in 2007 on the North’s Alice Grogan Steinway piano, this time with cellist Zuill Bailey, with whom he once played ping pong.
Bailey
>Smithsonian Jazz Masterworls Orchestra, part of the Danville Concert Association’s occasional
Called “the best jazz repertory band in the country” by The New Yorker, this troup is considered one of America’s greatest treasures.

The Danville Area Association for the Arts and Humanities will kick off its season in October with a family show about a boy who mails himself around the world and continue with hits including a revival of the Blues Brothers and Sally Struthers as Mother Superior in “Nunsense.”
The 2008-2009 season also features classics, including “Bye Bye Birdie.”
Shows include:
n “The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley,” 2:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at George Washington High School.
This show tells the story of a normal boy who longs to travel the world, then gets his chance when a bulletin board above his bed falls on top of him, flattening him so that he can slip himself inside an envelope and make his dreams come true.
n The Blues Brothers Revival, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 at George Washington High School.
This stylish show, officially sanctioned by the John Belushi estate and Dan Aykroyd, celebrates cool Chicago blues through the return of Jake and Elwood Blues, who are on a musical mission to get Jake out of purgatory and into heaven.
The show has earned rave reviews from critics, including Jeff Johnson of the Chicago Sun Times, who said the show’s “infectious and unbridled energy ... blows the roof off.”
!” ~ Jeff Johnson, Chicago Sun Times

“The Show’s non-stop, high-energy sense of barely-restrained mischief infected the sold-out audience” ~ Bonnie Stevenson, ‘The Petrolia Topic’, Petrolia, Ontario

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Danville Area Association for the Arts & Humanities

Thursday, November 13, 2008
7:30 p.m.
George Washington High School Auditorium

Direct from Spain, José Porcel and his company of drop-dead gorgeous dancers represent the best in traditional flamenco while flawlessly melding contemporary styles and moves.

Prepare for an evening of fiery footwork, brilliant costumes, evocative, sensual choreography, and brilliant musicianship from the onstage ensemble of instrumentalists and vocalists. The dances are evocative and exciting, blending traditional flamenco with some decidedly more contemporary music, moves and looks. The dancers are lithe and accomplished.

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Sunday, November 16, 2008
7:30 p.m.
George Washington High School

The Little Sisters of Hoboken discover that their cook, Sister Julia, Child of God, has accidentally poisoned 52 fellow sisters. Money must be raised immediately for burials! The sisters decide that the best way to raise the money is to put on a variety show. Featuring star turns, tap and ballet dancing, an audience quiz, and comic surprises, this show has become an international phenomenon boasting more than 5000 productions worldwide in over 21 different languages.

Nunsense is good old-fashioned comedy at it’s best: it is quick paced, generally raucous, occasionally touching and totally wonderful. Bravo! ~Backstage

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Tuesday, February 3, 2009
7:30 p.m.
George Washington High School Auditorium

When rock star and teenage heartthrob Conrad Birdie gets drafted, the nation’s teenagers go haywire and Conrad’s songwriter, Albert, faces unemployment. So Albert and his girlfriend organize a nationwide contest in which one lucky girl wins a farewell kiss from Conrad on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Kim McAfee turns out to be the lucky teenager and Conrad’s whole entourage moves into her quiet Midwestern home - much to the chagrin of her ever-irritable father and her jealous boyfriend. The result is chaos and a series of romantic complications.

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Mark your calendar now for May 02, 2009 for the best party of the year! The second running of the “Danville Downs”. A fund raising event for the Danville Association for the Arts & Humanities.

Be there as your sponsored horse competes to win. Cheer for your best girl or guy in the beautiful hat contest. Share the excitement of the actual running of the Kentucky Derby. Try some traditional Derby Delectables and sip Mint Juleps.

Special sponsorships for your business or group as well as individual tickets are available for exciting event.

For additional information call 434-792-6965 or email: .

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Danville Arts & Humanities
635 Main Street
Danville, Virginia 24541
434-792-6965
Monday - Friday 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.