Wednesday, March 31, 2010

“Shen Yun Performing Arts Welcomed to Calgary - The Epoch Times” plus 3 more

“Shen Yun Performing Arts Welcomed to Calgary - The Epoch Times” plus 3 more

Shen Yun Performing Arts Welcomed to Calgary - The Epoch Times

Posted: 31 Mar 2010 12:15 AM PDT

CALGARY, Canada—Shen Yun Performing Arts' opening show in Calgary was well received by an enthusiastic crowd at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium on March 30.

Audience member Pamela Lukenoff, a performer and acting instructor, was impressed by Shen Yun's portrayal of China's rich history and culture.

"It's wonderful to see the culture," she said.

"To be able to be a part of this experience, of the dedication of the dancers and the performers is outstanding."

As a dance teacher and performer herself, Ms. Lukenoff said she realizes and appreciates the hours of hard work that go into making a show with this superb quality.

Ms. Lukenoff, who also does some writing, said she could also understand the "writing aspect" of the show.

"The time that it must have taken to do all of the whole production is outstanding," she said.

"And that there are that many performers on the stage; say bravo to the choreographer."

Commenting on one of the dance programs that shows the persecution of the peaceful meditation practice Falun Dafa in China, Ms. Lukenoff said that this program made her cry and was very "touching."


With reporting by Li Mei.

Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company will perform two more shows in Calgary on March 31 and April 1.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

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The Performing Arts - Edmonton Journal

Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:04 PM PDT

Madrid has a number of theaters, opera companies, and dance companies. To discover where and when specific cultural events are being performed, pick up a copy of Guía del Ocio at any city newsstand. The sheer volume of cultural offerings can be staggering.

Tickets to dramatic and musical events usually range in price from 4.20€ to 40€ ($5.25-$50), with discounts of up to 50% granted on certain days of the week (usually Wed and matinees on Sun).

The concierges at most major hotels can usually get you tickets to specific concerts, if you are clear about your wishes and needs. They charge a considerable markup, part of which is passed along to whichever agency originally booked the tickets. You'll save money if you go directly to the box office to buy tickets. In the event your choice is sold out, you may be able to get tickets (with a reasonable markup) at Localidades Galicia at Plaza del Carmen 1 (tel. 91-531-27-32; Metro: Puerta del Sol). This agency also markets tickets to bullfights and sporting events. It is open Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30am to 1:30pm and 4:30 to 7:30pm, Sunday from 9:30am to 1:30pm.

Champagne Entertainment on a Beer Budget -- Flamenco in Madrid is geared mainly to prosperous tourists with fat wallets, and nightclubs are expensive. But since Madrid is preeminently a city of song and dance, you can often be entertained at very little cost -- in fact, for the price of a glass of wine or beer, if you sit at a bar with live entertainment.

Major Performing Arts Companies

For those who speak Spanish, the Compañía Nacional de Nuevas Tendencias Escénicas is an avant-garde troupe that performs new and often controversial works by undiscovered writers. On the other hand, the Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico, as its name suggests, is devoted to the Spanish classics, including works by the ever-popular Lope de Vega and Tirso de Molina.

Among dance companies, the national ballet of Spain -- devoted exclusively to Spanish dance -- is the Ballet Nacional de España. Their performances are always well attended. The national lyrical ballet company is the Ballet Lírico Nacional.

World-renowned flamenco sensation Antonio Canales and his troupe, Ballet Flamenco Antonio Canales, offer spirited high-energy performances. Productions are centered on Canales's impassioned Torero, his interpretation of a bullfighter and the physical and emotional struggles within the man. For tickets and information, you can call Madrid's most comprehensive ticket agency, the previously recommended Localidades Galicia, Plaza del Carmen 1 (tel. 91-531-27-32), for tickets to cultural events and virtually any other event in Castile. Other agencies include Casa de Cataluña (tel. 91-538-33-00) and Corte Inglés (tel. 91-432-93-00). Both Casa de Cataluña and Corte Inglés have satellite offices located throughout Madrid.

Madrid's opera company is the Teatro de la Opera, and its symphony orchestra is the outstanding Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. The national orchestra of Spain -- widely acclaimed on the continent -- is the Orquesta Nacional de España, which pays particular homage to Spanish composers.

Mainstream Theatre -- Madrid offers many different theater performances, useful to you only if you are very fluent in Spanish. If you aren't, check the Guía del Ocio for performances by English-speaking companies on tour from Britain, or select a concert or subtitled movie instead.

In addition to the major ones listed, there are at least 30 other theaters, including one devoted almost entirely to children's plays, the Sala la Bicicleta, in the Ciudad de los Niños at Casa de Campo. Nonprofessional groups stage dozens of other plays in such places as churches.

Alternative Theatre -- Madrid offers a modest but fascinating choice of imaginative and original "alternative" shows -- ranging from sharp satires to esoteric sketches but -- unlike the more accessible mainstream theater where you can usually get by without a full command of Spanish -- a knowledge of the language and thought processes is essential if you decide on a visit to one of these venues.

English-Language Theatre -- The Madrid Players, with their combined troupe of American, English, and Spanish artistes, put on spirited performances throughout the year in a range of venues. A standout is the Christmas Pantomime for children of all ages, but they also do plays and musical shows, occasionally in alternative theaters such as the Triángulo, above. For details of performances and venues, call tel. 91-445-36-00 or 91-530-68-91. Also check www.madridplayers.org.

The Sultry Sound of Flamenco

The lights dim and the flamenco stars clatter rhythmically across the dance floor. Their lean bodies and hips shake and sway to the music. Accompanied by stylized guitar music, castanets, and the fervent clapping of the crowd, the dancers are filled with tension and emotion.

Flamenco dancing, with its flash, color, and ritual, is evocative of Spanish culture. The word flamenco has various translations, meaning everything from "gypsified Andalusian" to "knife," and from "blowhard" to "tough guy." Experts disagree as to where it came from, but most claim Andalusia as its seat of origin. Although its influences were both Jewish and Islamic, it was the gypsy artist who perfected both the song and the dance. Gypsies took to flamenco like "rice to paella," in the words of the historian Fernando Quiñones.

The deep song of flamenco represents a fatalistic attitude toward life. Marxists used to say it was a deeply felt protest of the lower classes against their oppressors, but this seems unfounded. Protest or not, over the centuries, rich patrons, often brash young men, liked the sound of flamenco and booked artists to stage juergas or fiestas where dancer-prostitutes became the erotic extras. By the early 17th century, flamenco was linked with pimping, prostitution, and lots and lots of drinking, by both the audience and the artists.

By the mid-19th century, flamenco had gone legitimate and was heard in theaters and café cantantes. By the 1920s, even the pre-Franco Spanish dictator, Primo de Rivera, was singing the flamenco tunes of his native Cádiz. The poet Federico García Lorca and the composer Manuel de Falla preferred a purer form, attacking what they viewed as the degenerate and "ridiculous" burlesque of flamenquismo, the jazzed-up, audience-pleasing form of flamenco. The two artists launched a Flamenco Festival in Grenada in 1922. Of course, in the decades since, their voices have been drowned out, and flamenco is more flamenquismo than ever.

In his 1995 book Flamenco Deep Song, Thomas Mitchell draws a parallel to flamenco's "lowlife roots" and the "orgiastic origins" of jazz. He notes that early jazz, like flamenco, was "associated with despised ethnic groups, gangsters, brothels, free-spending bluebloods, and whoopee hedonism." By disguising their origins, Mitchell notes, both jazz and flamenco have entered the musical mainstream.

Movies

There are 13 single-screen and multiplex cinemas with a combined total of over 50 salas (theaters) showing original-language movies in Madrid.

Independant or Art Houses -- French, German, Italian, and Brazilian cultural centers have regular V. O. (versión original) performances of their country's movies. The Casa de América, Paseo de Recoletos 2, often features offbeat Latin American films in Spanish or Portuguese.

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'The music quality was excellent,' Says Musician - The Epoch Times

Posted: 31 Mar 2010 01:27 AM PDT

CALGARY, Canada—Mr. Don Campbell, a musician and band leader, attended the premier show of Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company, on Tuesday March 30, not knowing what to expect.

After watching the show, he said, "I'm highly impressed with first of all the quality of the production and the performance, and the music performance—absolutely outstanding. That was very, very good," said Mr. Campbell who attended the show with his wife.

The music accompanying the dance performances played live by the Shen Yun International Company Orchestra was quite impressive for the musician.

"The music quality was excellent; the conductor was fabulous," he said.

"I wonder how they match the quality in the other two companies," he joked, referring to the orchestras accompanying Shen Yun Performing Arts' other two companies touring the world.

Mr. Campbell also praised the dancing in the show and awed at the skill of the dancers.

"The dancers amazed me; I didn't realize that in Chinese dance that the footwork, which is really intricate, is very gender specific," he said.

"The women have quite different footwork to do than the men, both very intricate, but quite quite different,"

The "athletic skills" particularly for the men, but also for the women, was "amazing", he said, and "seeing the men leaping across the stage and the women virtually floating, their heads were dead still as they went across the stage, it was just amazing how together they were and I was very very impressed."

The whole production, said Mr. Campbell, was "fabulous".

"it was wonderful," Mr. Campbell said.

"I'm looking forward to attending again next year."

Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company will be performing two more shows in Calgary on March 31 and April 1.

With reporting by NTDTV.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

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Good Morning Cedar Valley -- temps expected to reach 75 ... - Waterloo Cedar-Falls Courier

Posted: 31 Mar 2010 01:41 AM PDT

Posted: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 4:00 am

Good Morning Cedar Valley! It's Wednesday, March 31, 2010.

March is going out like a lamb.

Today's forecast:  Mostly sunny, with a high near 75. Breezy, with a south wind between 13 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 52. South wind between 6 and 11 mph.

Today in the Cedar Valley:

--- The Harlem Globetrotters will put on a show at 7 p.m. at the McLeod Center, Cedar Falls. For tickets, call 1-800-641-4667, ext. 118, or go to www.harlemglobetrotters.com, or get them at the door.

--- The Broadway hit "Avenue Q" kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, Cedar Falls. There are shows Thursday and Friday as well. For tickets, call 273-4849 or go to www.unitix.uni.edu.

--- The Northwind Quintet will perform at 8 p.m. at Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, Cedar Falls. Admission is free.

 

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