Les Slovaks Dance Collective

So what would it be like if you could play games and run around acting foolishly like you did when your were five? Would you even know how to behave? Would the social norms of adulthood ultimately restrict you from really having a good time? Les Slovaks Dance Collective in many ways has managed to take dancing virtuosity and mix it with boyish spunk and child-like imagination. This is not to say that their dance style is not full of serious themes and undertones. They are keenly aware of the social, political and gender implications of their art form, but they still communicate in a way that is reminiscent of childhood.

The five dancers come from Slovakia. Four of the five, Milan Herich, Peter Jasko, Anton Lachky and Milan Tomasik, started dancing at folk festivals when they were five and spent most of their lives together. Each watched as communism fell and gave way to the modern democratic country of today. They met the fifth dancer, Martin Kilvady who is also from Slovakia, in Belgium where they currently reside. Rooted in their folk dancing experience, their style is playful, energetic and sometimes comical. They call it “new traditional dance”. They have no choreographer. Their creative process is extremely collaborative with the result being highly diverse and at times what seems improvisational. The concern might be that their dance is considered too childish, but in a recent review, the company was referred to as “five supreme geniuses in movement”.

Opening Night features Simon Thierree on vionlin onstage playing music that is very influenced by Eastern European tradition. It is not traditional folk music, however. Along with the dancers, they attempt to create a new folk style that is rich in physicality, artistic themes and high energy. It will surely be one of the most memorable performances of the Ringling International Arts Festival.

Tickets are still available by calling the box office at (941) 360-7399 or visiting the Festival site.

Anne Plamondon of Rubberbandance Group pictured with Victor Quijada

Anne Plamondon, co-artistic director of Rubberbandance Group, has been called a “singular dance sensation” (BerkshireFineArts.com, 8/21/09). Her education in classical dance at the National Ballet School of Canada and experience with dance groups in Canada and Europe has prepared Plamondon for an exciting career. She has performed in works of over 30 choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Paul Lightfoot, Angelin Preljocaj, Johan Inger, Stijn Celis and Itzik Galili, to name a few. Although much of her focus is with Rubberbandance Group, she also works with other groups with entirely different styles and character, displaying enormous versatility and skill. She will be featured along with Victor Quijada and 4 other dancers in Loan Sharking at the Ringling International Arts Festival.

An image from Loan Sharking by Rubberbandance Group

It might not come naturally for most choreographers to combine the graceful beauty of ballet and the raw power of hip hop, but Rubberbandance Group’s (RBDG) Victor Quijada does it effortlessly. This peculiar union of classical and urban was on display recently at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC (read a review). “The piece never pauses to catch its breath, rushing nonstop through flips and rolls, turns and lifts,” says the Times Union of Albany, NY, “as elegant and beautifully composed as classical ballet but with all the ‘wow’ factor of hip hop.”

Quijada grew up in the rap culture of Los Angeles where he studied ballet starting in high school, and he has spent his career blending the two very disparate art forms. RBDG was formed in 2002 in Montreal where Quijada had been working with the Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montreal. After gaining success on international levels, Quijada choreographed Loan Sharking in 2008. The piece combines elements from earlier performances to offer a wide perspective on the different styles and techniques RBDG utilizes. The result is a frenetic and exciting work of art that is a perfect fit for the Ringling International Arts Festival.

Tickets are still available for Loan Sharking by calling the box office at (941) 360-7399 or visiting the Festival site.

There is an expanded section called “Around Town” that gives visitors information about the rich cultural heritage of Sarasota and Manatee Counties as well as accommodation information and soon-to-be-published schedule information for sARTée, an arts festival going on from October 8 thru 24 with performances throughout the two Counties.

Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the box office at 941.360.7399 from 10 am to 4 pm EST, Monday through Friday.

Historic Asolo Theater

Dwight Currie, the Associate Director of Programming at the Ringling Museum, and Stanford Makishi, the Executive Director of the Baryshnikov Arts Center, spoke to a packed house of supporters and press at the Historic Asolo Theater to tell them about the upcoming productions of the 2010 Ringling International Arts Festival. The Festival, like last year, will feature performances by emerging artists from all over the world, but this year, it will have so much more. There will be four opening night performances, three world premieres, three pieces commissioned for the Ringling International Arts Festival, two US premieres and a dance performance by a very well known ballet dancer.

You can find out details on the performances and how to buy tickets at ringlingartsfestival.org.

This success is even more poignant in the face of a poor economic climate. We are happy to share with you that 92% of the tickets were sold and 25 of the 36 performances were sold out and news outlets across the state, country and world took interest in the Festival and Sarasota/Manatee as an arts destination. 

The  energy and enthusiasm continues and we hope that you support the Museum and arts and culture in the upcoming 2009-2010 season. We’ve had many pleas to bring the Festival back in 2010, a full year earlier than planned. There is no decision on this matter but do let us know what you think.

On behalf of the Ringling International Arts Festival, the Ringling Museum and the Baryshnikov Arts Center, thank you for making this first Festival a sweeping success.  We look forward to seeing you at the next Festival!

Meow Meow crowd surfing at the Ringling International Arts Festival

I have seen several seasons worth of productions at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. I have seen musicals, trilogies, Shakespeare, farce and all sorts of other performances. I never thought, however, that I would one day see a stage dive. Last night, at the late-night performance of Beyond Glamour: The Absinthe Tour by Meow Meow, was a night of the unexpected.

She was characterized as a post post-modern showgirl, a talented singer who drags cabaret “kicking and screaming into the 21st Century” (Time Out New York). There was nothing that could be said about Meow Meow which could prepare Sarasota audiences for the performance. Using audience volunteers(or forced recruits) as bizarre stagehands, co-performers and props, the show was dynamite. The highlight was the stage dive that required everyone in center of the orchestra section to carry the singer from the stage to the back of the house and then back again. I imagine that there were quite a few pacemakers working overtime last night.

As for her singing, here is what Susan Rife had to say: “Meow Meow has a spectacular, smoky voice that wraps its way sinuously around cabaret standards…”