Arts reporter and critic Rosemary Ponnekanti keeps you in touch with the arts and culture scene with the help of other News Tribune writers, critics and editors.
Rosemary Ponnekanti is the arts reporter at The News Tribune, and has been a classical music nerd nearly all her life. Besides spending way too much time in galleries, museums and concert halls, she occasionally brings a whistle or double bass to Celtic jam sessions, and insists on singing "Happy Birthday" in four-part harmony.
Other contributors include:
> Arts & entertainment editor Craig Sailor
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Last night I was at the opening of Seattle Opera's "Ring" cycle: the four epic Wagner operas telling the story of "Der Ring des Nibelungen," the Norse myth of a cursed golden ring that causes mayhem and destruction. You can read my Sunday story about the whole thing here.
And the first opera, "Das Rheingold," truly lived up to the magic of the ring. Telling the tale of how Alberich the dwarf stole gold from the river Rhine, forged a ring and then cursed it as the god Wotan seized it from him to pay for his new castle Valhalla, the opera wove a magic of its own through beautiful sets and even, strong musicianship.
Three sets make up the location for "Das Rheingold." The curtain opened on one of the best: underwater in the Rhine, created by shimmering blue-green lights on a gauze scrim, with strangely coiled rocks at the bottom. Through this watery expanse "swam" the Rhine maidens, attached at the hips to trapeze lines (which didn't distract too much) and outfitted with stunning midnight-blue mermaid dresses, sparkling and finny. What's amazing is not so much that Woglinde (Julianne Gearhart), Wellgunde (Michele Losier) and Flosshilde (Jennifer Hines) executed such impressive front and back flips between their ropes but that they sang so fluidly and harmoniously at the same time. A bit too giggly, perhaps, but the scene was delightful.
For the upper world, set designer Thomas Lynch created a perfect Northwest forest, full of conifers and mist for the gods to act out their destiny in. (The production is recycled from previous Ring cycles in 2001 and 2005.) Valhalla was a far-distant promise. Even better was the set for Nibelheim, the underground mine caverns where Alberich forged the ring and dominated his minions. Making excellent use of darkness, the slopes of the woodland became black tunnels with shimmering jewels, extremely spooky and great for the special effects of Alberich's shape-changing.
But you don't just go to opera for the sets, and this year's "Ring" sees some sterling singers. Stephanie Blythe shines as the sexy, worried Fricka, Marie Plette is suitably light and young as the ransomed Freia, while Greer Grimsley as Wotan and Kobie van Rensburg as Loge make a dramatically tense pair, Grimsley fierce and full, van Rensburg lyrical and light.
Everyone looks like they come out of a "Lord of the Rings" set but it's all so atmospheric you don't really mind. About the only disappointing thing is the static, stylized blocking for all the gods - let's hope that things move more in the next three operas. I'll be going to "Die Walkure" ("The Valkyries") tonight to see and hear those loud ladies riding through the clouds.
Yes, it's hot - but by the time 6 p.m. rolls around, we're seeing the kind of balmy evening we can only dream about in Tacoma for 11 months of the year. And what better way to enjoy it than in the shade of a cool tree watching someone else sweat it out?
Tonight at 6 p.m. the dancers from Metropolitan Ballet of Tacoma are putting on "Summer Dance in the Park," a short, free presentation of contemporary choreography in South Park. Choreographers include MBT's director Damaris Caughlan, Yuka Ilno of Oregon Ballet Theatre and Artur Sultanov of LINES Ballet.
The show will be held near the gazebo in South Park, 4851 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma. Bring a picnic and enjoy the roses.
Information: 253-472-53592, www.metropolitanballetoftacoma.org
I went along to the Joel Show on Saturday night full of high expectations, with a bit of uncertainty thrown in. Joel Myers, as blogged above, is an incredibly powerful dancer (Spectrum, DASS Dance etc) with some choreographic talent that could go far. His Joel Show is a self-produced evening of his own dance and his own choreography with an eclectic mix of professional and student dancers of the ballet-contemporary type. This show, held at Tacoma City Ballet's ballroom, was the fourth of the annual shows.
The only trouble is, with a self-produced show there's not a whole lot of standard control, and what starts out as a cozy Tacoma-ish friends-and-family vibe can easily become an excuse for artistically dubious self-indulgence.
Myers, as the beginning, end and middle of the show, danced as terrifically as ever. "The War at Home," set to a violent Prokofiev piano sonata played with clarity and force by Monty Carter, showed Myers' phenomenal physical control. Alternating between extremes of slow tension and rapid muscle movement, Myers created a frantic ballet vocabulary, 10 fouettes becoming desperate staggers, or grand jetes becoming punches.
A while back, we announced the news that the BareFoot Dance Collective was moving in with Tacoma City Ballet in the Merlino Building, sharing space, classes and possibly performances. Well, the partnership has begun, and this Saturday you can see both companies working together and combining with local artists and musicians for the Tacoma City Ballet Studio Gallery evening.
TCB had a couple of these champagne art evenings last summer, and they were a hit. The light, airy ballroom space and smaller studios are ideal for showing art, and TCB doesn't take a commission - artists get what they sell. Both TCB and the BareFoot contemporary dancers will be performing a few vignettes, New York jazz guitarist Hui Cox (last heard with the Northwest Sinfonietta Jazz Quartet last October) will play with his group. MLKBallet will also make a guest appearance, and there'll be champagnes and desserts. Featured visual artists include Lia Craven, TCB design team Elwit, TCB director Erin Ceragioli, Julie Manhan, Ashley Martin, Sonya Morgan, Tammy Scarlett and Daniel Sebree.
Further down the track, Joel Myers of Spectrum Dance will be holding his annual Joel Show at TCB next weekend, the BareFoot 8@8 evenings start up on August 31, and both companies are holding classes. But the plans go further.
"I'm starting to collect dancers to make a dance center," says Erin Ceragioli, who says she got the idea when some BareFoot dancers came along to TCB adult classes and mentioned their current lease was ending. "The TCB studio is very pliable for performances: it can be in the round, or traditional. All it needs is a sound and light system. I think we can turn this space into something really nice."
The TCB Studio Gallery will be from 7-9 p.m. July 18 at Tacoma City Ballet, 508 6th Ave., Tacoma. Admission $5, 16 and over only. 253-272-4219, www.tacomacityballet.com, www.barefootcollective.org</div>
Big news for the BareFoot Collective: the contemporary dance company and its studio is moving into the Merlino Arts Building on the corner of 6th Avenue and S. Fawcett Street to share space with Tacoma City Ballet. The move will begin next week, and a farewell brunch to the old space at 1604 Center St.
It's a perfect fit. Tacoma City Ballet has a wonderfully large, airy studio with sprung wood floors, enormous windows and 19th-century atmosphere, plus two other rehearsal studios. But they, like most arts groups lately, have been feeling the pinch of the recession. BareFoot, meanwhile, have been producing great events (like the SiteWorks dance festival outside the Museum of Glass in June and regular cutting-edge contemporary dance concerts in the studio) but their Center Street location, near Party World and Tacoma Screw, wasn't exactly a happening arts precinct (or even easy to find.)
The companies will be sharing space and the upcoming 2009/10 season. While the move is happening, BareFoot will be offering just one class, an all-levels contemporary dance class at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Merlino, 508 6th Ave., Tacoma. Their usual busy teaching schedule will resume in fall.
Meanwhile, fans of the chartreuse-and-violet-painted Center Street studio get the chance to say farewell at a BareFoot Brunch this Sunday. At 1 p.m. Carrie Goodnight will lead a masterclass in modern dance, followed by a potluck brunch.
For more information, call 253-627-2273 or visit www.barefootcollective.org. For info on Tacoma City Ballet, call 253-272-4219 or visit www.tacomacityballet.com
Tacoma's newest public art, "Fluent Steps," by Martin Blank at the Museum of Glass (Photo by Janet Jensen, The News Tribune)
Seems like just a few months ago we were reporting Tacoma's inclusion in a national magazine for being a hip place to be. Now we're back on the list -- for the top 25 arts cities for American Style magazine.
The mag, which covers art, culture and travel from the collector's point of view, lists its city picks annually in three divisions. In the mid-size-city division, Tacoma came in at number 13, beating out St. Louis, MO and Athens, GA. Buffalo, NY headed the list. In the big city division, Seattle came 7th and Portland 11th, while New York, NY came top (no surprise there) and Santa Fe clocked in at the top of small cities (also no surprise.)
Way to go, Tacoma!
www.americanstyle.com
MLKBallet's going alternative. The tuition-free Hilltop ballet school and dance company is putting on its next couple of shows in some really funky venues: The Warehouse nightclub and the Robert Daniel art gallery.
This Saturday, the show is part of the MOVE! series of contemporary dance events that MLKBallet has put on for the last few years. They're part fundraiser (to keep the free tuition going for needy kids), part dance concert, part showcase for students--and they're always great to watch. Deciding it was time to move contemporary dance into alternative spaces, the folks at MLKBallet have set this MOVE! up in The Warehouse, collaborating with live musicians like Vicci Martinez, John Walker and the Hitchhikers and Travis Barker. There'll be dance alongside the music from the MLKBallet Company, including their piece "The Funeral" (see the photo,) and refreshments.
"MOVE! Underground: A Night of Music & Dance" begins 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 25 at The Warehouse, 1114 Ct. E, Tacoma. Entry $5.
Then, next Wednesday, the MLKBallet Company will dance again at another fundraiser, this time at the Robert Daniel gallery in the warehouse district. Proceeds go not just to MLKBallet tuition but to company dancer Vorece Miller, who's going to New York this summer for the program at the esteemed Alvin Ailey dance company. (Miller is one of the upside-down dancers in the photo.) There'll be live music, a silent auction and raffle, wine and appetizers.
Says director Kate Monthy: "Vorece is an incredible performers and choreographer and will be performing two or three pieces she has choreographed herself. Also, members from the MLKBallet Company will be performing vignettes from 'The Funeral.'"
"On Her Way to Alvin Ailey" begins 6 p.m. on April 29 at the Robert Daniel Gallery, 2501 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma. Entry by donation.
And in other news from MLK: The school has decided to settle at Urban Grace Church on South 9th and Market Streets in downtown Tacoma, rather than the still-being-renovated former Swedish church on South 11th and J Streets on the Hilltop. The whole process was too much for the company, says co-founder Alexa Folsom-Hill, and they decided to "focus on what we wanted to do--education." The school now has 75 students, including a new adult class for parents who dance while their kids are in lessons and a Barefoot Beat class taught by Barefoot Dance Collective member Marla Sims. The school is expanding into the whole third floor at Urban Grace, including a large studio with a newly-installed dance floor.
For more information, call Kate Monthy on 253-906-2190.
Photo: Angela Sterling.
I know where I’m taking my kids this weekend--the ballet. It’s not often you get a high-quality ballet that’s designed for kids, barring “The Nutcracker,” but Pacific Northwest Ballet’s “Pinocchio” fits the bill completely. And yes, it’s in Seattle, but have you noticed there’s not much ballet on right now in Tacoma?
What makes “Pinocchio” special is that it’s a ballet danced for kids, by kids, at a time of day kids will be at their best—but designed by PNB’s resident choreographer and produced with their usual superb quality in McCaw Hall. It’s the third installment of PNB’s Family Matinee Series, and the one-hour story of the puppet who becomes a boy features nearly 60 students of the PNB school, rather than the company.
Bruce Wells, PNB’s choreographer, is the one-man-band behind the Family Matinees. As well as choreographing them, he adapts the story, directs and narrates the performances himself. Wells points out that the Matinees offer a great experience for both kids in the audience and kids on stage. While “The Nutcracker” only has limited roles for children, he says, the Matinees “inspire our students and allow them to experience the creation of a ballet from the audition process throught to performance...one that is tailored to meet their talents.” Plus, says Wells, “children love to see children perform on stage.”
The choreographer, who has worked around the world for companies such as the Boston Ballet, the Dutch National Ballet and the Australian Ballet, is a Tacoma native. He grew up in the North End during the ‘50s—a time where he himself loved watching The Mickey Mouse Club and Shirley Temple perform. While attending Jefferson Elementary and Mason Junior High School, he began learning dance with Patricia Cairns before getting a scholarship to the School of American Ballet and joining the New York City Ballet at just 17.
Wells’ “Pinocchio” follows not the Disney version but the original book by Carlo Collodi. The puppet runs away to the Puppet Circus, where Cat and Fox steal his money. The Blue Fairy helps him save his father Geppetto, who has been swallowed by a whale, and turns him into a real boy.
“Pinocchio” runs 1 p.m. Feb. 7, noon and 3:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., Seattle. Tickets: $22-$60 children/$25-$67 adults. 206.441.2424, www.pnb.org
“I.O.U.S.A.,” a documentary that examines America's crushing national debt, will be screened at 7 p.m. today in Room 100 of PLU’s Ingram Hall.
Directed by Patrick Creadon, who made “Wordplay,” the lighthearted yet gripping 2006 documentary about crossword puzzle devotees, “I.O.U.S.A.” features interview footage with such financial heavyweights as former Federal Reserve chiefs Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker, as well as Warren Buffet and Robert Rubin, Treasury secretary during the Clinton administration. Given the financial crisis currently gripping the nation, it’s particularly timely.
The screening is free.
Your mother always warned you not to take candy from strangers. Yet there was Angela Soper on Saturday, handing out caramels in Tacoma to people who didn’t know her from Adam. And you know something? Her mother surely would have approved.
That’s because Soper, a resident of Salt Lake City, is the co-producer of “Courthouse Girls of Farmland,” a documentary shown this weekend at the Tacoma Film Festival. Her mother, Eileen Herron, is one of its stars.
And the caramels? Made by Soper’s brother Jerome Herron and wrapped in brightly colored paper bearing the legend “The Treat’s on Us! Award-winning ‘Courthouse Girls of Farmland,’” they were sweet treats intended to tempt Tacomans to attend the Saturday afternoon showing of the movie.
From start to finish, “Courthouse Girls” has been a family affair. It’s the story of how Eileen Herron, an 86-year-old resident of the small Indiana town of Farmland and six other senior lady members of her bridge club – the youngest was 77, the oldest 94 – posed nude in 2005 as part of a campaign to save the town’s historic 19th-century county courthouse. The building was slated for demolition, and Mrs. Herron and and Jerome Soper and Jerome’s business partner Larry Francer wanted to derail the effort. Inspired the story of a group of middle-aged Englishwomen who took it all off in the late ‘90s to pose for a charity calendar (the 2003 movie “Calendar Girls” was based on the incident), the four decided that a similar calendar would be just the thing to draw attention to their crusade to save the courthouse.
Did it ever.
“It created such a ruckus in town that these women were posing provocatively,” said Soper. Actually, the photos were quite tasteful, with porcelain replicas of the courthouse placed in such a way as to conceal any naughty bits. Still, some folks got their backs up. Someone even called the whole thing “geriatric soft-core porn,” Soper said.
But the campaign rallied supporters and the courthouse was ultimately saved. Along the way, Soper, Jerome and Francer decided to produce a film about the brouhaha. They hired filmmaker Norman Klein to direct it.
When it was done, Jerome, the owner of a gift and candy store in Farmland, came up with the idea of making homemade caramels to be help promote the picture. The siblings taste-tested the idea earlier this year at a film festival in Breckenridge, Colo. They persuaded five of the calendar ladies to go forth and hand out the candies, and by the time they were done, the women had become local celebrities. And the picture wound up winning the festival’s top audience award.
Sweet!
Looks like Seattle Symphony music director Gerard Schwarz is stepping down after the 2011-2012 concert season.
This story just moved on the AP wire:
SEATTLE (AP) — Gerard Schwarz, music director of the Seattle Symphony and the longest serving in that position at a major orchestra, is stepping down in three years.
The 61-year-old Schwarz announced Wednesday he will become the symphony’s conductor laureate after the 2011-12 season.
He has been music director of the Seattle Symphony since 1985. During much of that time he also was music director of the New York Chamber Orchestra and of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in New York.
Under his baton the Seattle Symphony has built its audience from 5,000 subscribers to 35,000 and has boosted musicians’ salaries by 500 percent. Ten years ago the symphony opened a glittering new downtown performance center, Benaroya Hall.
Joel Myers Moves it for MLKBallet
Move!, the fundraising series for tuition-free Hilltop school MLKBallet, stars contemporary dance wiz Joel Myers in the series’ ninth show on Saturday. 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Aug. 16, Great Hall at Annie Wright School, 827 N. Tacoma Ave, Tacoma. $14/$10 in advance. www.brownpapertickets.com
New Theater at “Play Buffet”
Japanese students stage new Northwest plays in this annual collaboration between Northwest Playwrights’ Alliance, Japan’s Academy of International Education and the Broadway Center for Performing Arts. 7 p.m. Aug. 16, Theater on the Square, 915 Broadway, Tacoma. Free. 360-754-2818, www.broadwaycenter.org
Traver Gallery Hosts Women’s Glass Show
Glass may seem like a guy’s world, but it isn’t. Check out work from artists like Marianne Buus, Amy Rueffert, and Northwesterners Jan Elek and Cappy Thompson. Reception 3-6 p.m. Aug. 17. Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 12-5 p.m. Sundays, through Sept. 7. Free. 1801 E. Dock St, Tacoma. 253-383-3685, www.travergallery.com
Do the Monkey
August’s 100th Monkey art community party features $4 art tiles by Jim Francis (buy the 100th one, and organize the next party!) plus theater/art/dance by Lynn and Doug Mackey, Dayton Knipher, Lisa Fruichantie, Joel Myers and Claudia Riedener. 7:30-9:30 p.m. Aug. 20. Theater on the Square, 915 Broadway, Tacoma. Free, but bring a plate of food or a beverage to share. 253-732-3460, www.100thmonkeytacoma.com
Photographs, Paintings and more at ArtWalk
This month’s ArtWalk includes The Helm Gallery’s first photography show, Mindy Barker’s layered photo/paintings at Fulcrum, and the TNT’s own illustrator Fred Matamoros at Gallery Madera. 5-8 p.m. Aug. 21. The Helm Gallery, 760 Broadway, Tacoma. www.thehelmgallery.com. Fulcrum Gallery, 1308 MLK Way, Tacoma. 253-520-0520, fulcrum.oliverdoriss.com. Gallery Madera, 2210 Court A, Tacoma, 253-572-1218, www.maderawoodworking.com
