Ann Miller
Little Rock connection: Starred in national tour of Sugar Babies in Little Rock in April 1986. Celebrated her 63rd birthday while in Little Rock (today is her birthday)
Tony Awards connection: Received a Tony nomination for her starring role in Sugar Babies and appeared on the Tony Awards. She also succeeded Angela Lansbury’s Tony winning turn in Mame on Broadway.
The newly founded ACANSA Arts Festival accepted a $10,000 check from the Central Arkansas Planning and Development District (CAPDD) on Monday, February 24th. The distribution comes from CAPDD’s General Improvement Fund and is awarded through a grant process to qualifying organizations for the planning and implementation of economic and community development projects. The ACANSA application had the endorsement of Arkansas State Representative Warwick Sabin.
The CAPDD award adds to growing level of interest and support for the new arts festival to be held over 5 days in September. “Cultural enrichment opportunities that bring people together in Little Rock and North Little Rock both address the “quality of life” issues our board endeavors to support and generate viable economic opportunities in our community over their duration,” remarked CAPDD Executive Director Rodney Larsen.
Warwick Sabin and Rodney Larsen presented the check to Charlotte Gadberry, founder of the ACANSA Arts Festival and ACANSA Executive Director Renay Dean.
ACANSA Arts Festival is a southern celebration of visual and performing arts, premiering its inaugural event September 24-28, 2014, in Central Arkansas.
UALR springs into Spring (today is the first full day) by hosting a major regional conference this spring expected to bring more than 400 visitors from 28 different colleges and universities from 10 different states.
The 2014 south conference of The American College Dance Festival Association will be held March 21 through 24. Dance students and faculty from as far away as Baja, Calif., have registered to attend performances, workshops, panels, and master classes that will be taught by visiting faculty and internationally known guest artists, according to chair of the department, Dr. Jay Raphael.
The primary focus of the ACDFA is to support and promote the talent and creativity prominent at college and university dance departments across the nation. Raphael said the regional conference will also provide an opportunity for students and faculty to have their dance works adjudicated by a panel of nationally recognized dance professionals.
“The conference is a primary means for our students to gain exposure to the diversity of the national college dance world,” he said. “For our program to be only five years old at this point and to host a regional conference of this magnitude is a major accomplishment.”
UALR reinstated its dance major in 2009, and today it is the only Bachelor of Fine Arts dance performance program in the state. Hosting the ACDFA further solidifies the reputation of the dance program at UALR and helps to promote Little Rock as a beacon for performing arts professionals, according to Raphael. ACDFA has 12 regions throughout the country, which include the south conference. It also sponsors the National College Dance Festival.
Two works presented in Little Rock will be chosen for presentation at this event, which is scheduled June 5 through 7 at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. For tickets and more information, contact the box office at 501.569.3456.
Friday is only March’s SEVENTH NIGHT, but tis the appointed evening for the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre BARD BALL.
Join Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre at this year’s Bard Ball and travel back to the Big Band era for an evening of swing music, savory appetizers and a sneak peek at the upcoming theatrical season.
March 7th, 6:30 p.m.
Junior League Building
401 Scott Street
Little Rock, AR
Cocktail Attire
Dance the night away in the Junior League Building‘s enchanting ballroom to the sounds of Sinatra and his gang, as performed by John Willis. Bid on fabulous live- and silent-auction items while enjoying delicious hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer. Get a glimpse at the 2014 season when Jordan Coughtry, this summer’s Hamlet, plays original music he is composing for upcoming performances of Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Artist Steve Griffith will be doing a live painting at this Friday night’s Bard Ball, and the lucky highest bidder can walk away with this original piece at the end of evening. Special thanks to him and all the other artists who have donated INCREDIBLE work for this event!
Tickets for the Bard Ball–which can be purchased here–are $75 in advance or $650 for a table of 10. Admission is $90 at the door. All proceeds from the night go toward the AST 2014 summer season.
To put you in a mood – some Shakespeare quotes about dancing:
MERCUTIO
Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.
ROMEO
Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes
With nimble soles: I have a soul of lead
So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.
Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene 4
PROTEUS
For Orpheus’ lute was strung with poets’ sinews,
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones,
Make tigers tame and huge leviathans
Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act III, Scene 2
LORD POLONIUS
And let him ply his music.
Hamlet, Act I, Scene 2
For more information on the event, contact Liz Parker at 501-450-5092 or lizp@uca.edu.
On February 16, 1940, after three years of planning and construction, the Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium officially opened. It was a cold, rainy night, but those in attendance did not care.
Searchlights painting arcs in the sky greeted attendees. They were borrowed from the Arkansas National Guard. Newspaper accounts noted that only a few of the men who attended were in tuxedos, most were simply in suits. The work to get the building opened had been so harried, that it was discovered there was not an Arkansas Flag to fly in front of the building. Mayor Satterfield found one at the last minute courtesy of the Arkansas Department of the Spanish War Veterans.
The weather delayed arrivals, so the program started fifteen minutes late. Following a performance of Sibelius’ Finlandia by the fledgling Arkansas State Symphony Orchestra, Mayor J. V. Satterfield, Mrs. Joseph T. Robinson, Mrs. Grady Miller (the Senator’s sister-in-law and a member of the Auditorium Commission) and D. Hodson Lewis of the Chamber of Commerce participated in a brief ribbon cutting ceremony. Mrs Robinson cut the ribbon on her second attempt (once again proving that nothing connected with getting the building open was easy).
The ceremony was originally set to be outside of the building but was moved indoors due to the inclement weather. The ribbon cutting took place on the stage with the ribbon stretched out in front of the curtain. The opening remarks were broadcast on radio station KGHI.
Though he had previously discussed how he had voted against the auditorium in 1937 before entering public life, the mayor’s remarks that evening were appropriately gracious, statesmanlike and a testament to the effort he had invested to get it open upon becoming mayor. “We hope you have a very pleasant evening and hope further that it will be the first in a long series which you will enjoy in this, your auditorium.”
Tickets for the event, advertised as being tax exempt, were at four different pricing levels: $2.50, $2.00, $1.50 and $1.00.
The estimated attendance was 1700. Following the ribbon cutting, the main performance took place. The headliner for the grand opening was the San Francisco Opera Ballet accompanied by the new Arkansas State Symphony Orchestra (not related to the current Arkansas Symphony Orchestra). The featured soloist with the ballet was Zoe Dell Lantis who was billed as “The Most Photographed Miss at the San Francisco World’s Fair.”
At the same time that the gala was going on upstairs in the music hall, a high school basketball double-header was taking place in the downstairs convention hall. North Little Rock lost to Beebe in the first game, while the Little Rock High School Tigers upset Pine Bluff in the marquee game.
LANTERNS! Festival, Arkansas’ only deep-winter outdoor festival, will light up the night at Wildwood Park for a sixth year of family fun and illuminating entertainment! Travel paved paths illuminated with fire pits and thousands of luminaria to enjoy unique entertainment, authentic food and beverages for all ages at eight cultural vistas from around the globe!
LANTERNS! runs from 6pm to 10pm on Friday, February 14, Saturday, February 15 and Sunday, February 16.
Open Intermediate/Advanced Ballet Master Class with
Houston Ballet Principal
MELODY MENNITE
Where: Shuffles Studios – 1521 Merrill Drive, Little Rock
Class Fee – $25
Observer Fee – $15
Both participant and observer numbers are limited; advance reservations are required.
(Participants need to be at least 12 years of age.)
Email info@balletarkansas.org to reserve your spot.
MELODY MENNITE
A native of Santa Cruz, California, Melody Mennite trained at Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre under Robert Kelley and Diane McLarty and at Pacific Northwest Ballet. She also attended summer intensive programs with Suzanne Farrell. At the age of 13, Ms. Mennite began her training with Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy and also attended three consecutive summer intensive programs with the academy. In the 2000-2001 season, she spent one year in Houston Ballet II on full scholarship and stipend. Ms. Mennite also won a scholarship award from Regional Dance America in 2000. She was invited to tour with Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre through Tansonmer, Austria. Prior to joining Houston Ballet, she performed numerous leading roles with Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre: the Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker; Kitri in Don Quixote and Odette in Swan Lake. She has performed a number of featured roles with Houston Ballet including: Olga and Tatiana in John Cranko’s Onegin, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Neopolitan Princess in Stanton Welch’s Swan Lake, the Spring Fairy in Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, Swanilda and Dawn in Coppelia, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Cio-Cio San and Kate in Madame Butterfly, and Cinderella in Stanton Welch’s Cinderella. Ms. Mennite has also been featured in contemporary roles including the white pas de deux in Jirí Kylián’s Forgotten Land, and Petite Mort; Stanton Welch’s Velocity, Indigo, Wildlife, and Brigade; Christopher Bruce’s Ghost Dances, Rooster and Hush; Harald Lander’s Etudes; Paul Taylor’s Company B; William Forsythe’s In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated; George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments and Serenade; and Mark Morris’ Sandpaper Ballet.
Created the role of Marie in Stanton’s Marie, Rosie in The Core, Nikya in La Bayadère, Odette/Odile in Swan Lakeand Spring in The Four Seasons, Divergence, Falling, Carmina Burana, Velocity; The Sylph in August Bournoville’s La Sylphide; Lise in Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée; Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free; Principle Roles in Balanchine’s Rubies, Emeralds, and Ballo De Regina; William Forsythe The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude; Principle role in Christopher Wheeldon’s Carousel; Younger Daughter in Christopher Bruce’s Hush,Rooster, Sergeant Early’s Dream; Jiří Kylián’s Falling Angels, Petit Mort; Manon in Sir Kenneth McMillan’s Manon; Blue Bird in Ben Stevenson’s The Sleeping Beauty. Frequently appears as a guest artist in galas and with companies nationally and internationally. Also performs in Seattle with Whim W’Him, where she originated roles in Cylindrical Shadows by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Monster by Olivier Wevers.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 