ART VIEWS
Summer is a Time for the Arts in Our Community
Published June 7, 2024
Summer is a Time for the Arts in Our Community
by Rosine Bena
It is June and our community is already bubbling with exciting summer arts events!
Sierra Nevada Ballet (SNB) kicked off the month with the free Grand Opening Performance of the Northern Nevada Performing Arts Collective (NNPAC) at 500 East Moana Lane in Reno. Hundreds of people in our community came out to attend the event on June 2, 2024. They enjoyed refreshments; viewed the lovely visual art pieces by the Latimer Arts Club; shopped for dance apparel at Satori’s dancewear booth; visited with Performing Arts Physical therapist, Carrie Cameron; toured the fabulous brand new state-of-the-art facility with grand studios and offices; and then sat down in the large SNB Monarch studio to watch exciting performances by the Sierra Nevada Ballet Company and Academy (SNBA), Sierra School of Performing Arts, and the Steinway Society Music School. The eclectic program featured both the educational and the professional components of the NNPAC partner arts organizations and included music, dance and song.
The NNPAC Grand Opening Performance event opened with SNBA’s Creating Tiny Dancers Program (ages 3 and 4) accompanied by Steinway’s Music for Little Mozarts Program and culminated in the large lobby of the Steinway Piano Gallery with SNB’s professional company dancing in a circle of 10 accompanying Steinway pianists. The community attendance was spectacular and there were so many excited audience members that a third performance had to be added at the last minute. This was a grand beginning to what promises to be a fabulous future for this new NNPAC arts center.
From June 17th to July 26th, the SNB Academy presents a summer Ballet workshop of master classes, Dancing with the Stars, for intermediate and advanced ballet students. This workshop features daily ballet classes at our brand-new facility taught by top professional dancers from throughout the US. Dancers from many different professional companies including the Joffrey Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Theatro Municipal de Rio de Janeiro, San Jose Dance Theatre, Oakland Ballet, Atlantic City Ballet, San Diego Ballet, Eugene Ballet, and Ballet Hispanico, along with the Artistic and Associate Artistic Directors of SNB, will share their expertise with young dancers in the community. Students are encouraged to reserve their space by June 10, 2024.
On July 6th at 8pm, the SNB Company presents a free concert at the Robert Z. Hawkins Amphitheater at Bartley Ranch in Reno as part of Reno’s month-long Artown Festival. This eclectic program, Dancing at Bartley, includes live music, song and dance and features the SNB professional company performing the choreography of six different choreographers: the fabulous international Tap star Sam Weber; singer Cami Thompson, and the music of three talented professional pianists.
On July 13th at 7:30pm, SNB presents the new full length ballet production of Sleeping Beauty -A Fairy’s Tale at the Pioneer Center for Performing Arts in Reno as part of the Artown Festival.
Associate Artistic Director Ananda Bena-Weber and I have reimagined the classic tale of The Sleeping Beauty for a contemporary audience through developing the character of the evil fairy, Maléfique. In mythology, there is always a character with a sinister nature. In a sense, the character is bad, but for a reason: in order to be beaten. The hero or heroine must rise to the occasion to win the fray; to conquer him or herself. Drawing inspiration from the many versions of this tale, this new interpretation of the story carries a universal message that defies the passage of time.
This classic love story told in dance to the music of Tchaikovsky will be performed by the full company of SNB professional dancers led by Ananda Bena-Weber and guest dancers Hikari Jacobson (Oakland Ballet), Juan Magacho (Theatro Municipal de Rio de Janeiro), Domingo Rubio (The Joffrey Ballet), Dave Naquin (Eugene Ballet), and augmented by dance students from the northern Nevada community.
In addition to the Pioneer performance, Sleeping Beauty - A Fairy’s Tale will be performed at 7:30pm at the Sand Harbor venue at Lake Tahoe on July 29th as part of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Monday night series, and at the Carson City Community Center on August 4th.
Our Northern Nevada Performing Arts Collective partners Steinway Society Music School and Sierra School of Performing Arts also have great plans for the summer.
The Steinway Society has ongoing summer music classes for all ages and will present several music recitals at their recital hall at 500 E. Moana Lane and will collaborate with SNB for our Dancing at Bartley program.
NNPAC partner Sierra School of Performing Arts will present musical theater classes at 500 E. Moana Lane and several performances of the fun musical filled with catchy songs and energetic dance, Bye Bye Birdie, from August 9th through August 24th at the Robert Z. Hawkins Amphitheater at Bartley Ranch in Reno.
As always, Reno is filled with fabulous arts events each day of the week during the month of July as part of Reno’s popular Artown Festival.
Summer is a very exciting time for the arts in our community!
For more information about Sierra Nevada Ballet and the SNB Academy or the Northern Nevada Performing Arts Collective call SNB at 775-360-8663 or visit sierranevadaballet.org
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