Song & Dance this weekend….

The show is Saturday & Sunday....

The show is this weekend…here’s more from Jan at the Theatre & Linda from Dance Workshop II – first, from Jan:

The Whittier stage will be overflowing with professional and island talents this Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm during the 2010 Winter Song & Dance Festival.

Dance Workshop II’s Linda Downes has gathered a stellar group to wow us!  She’s especially excited about a rare performance by baritone Erich Parce on Saturday night…he sang for the New York Metropolitan Opera for 18 years and directed last fall’s Carmen here at the Theatre. Erich’s wife, Jenny Knapp of Opera Pacifica, will also be singing on Saturday.

Here’s more of the lineup, full of island stars and off-island professional guests (in no particular order and there might even be some last minute surprise additions):

Jenny & Erich are singing on Saturday (that's them when they were here for Carmen in October).

Dance Gallery of Bellingham (professional modern dance company)
Devorah (singing in Hebrew)
Tenor Robert Corl of Opera Pacifica (Sunday only)
Artist Cynthia Church
Singer Roberta Leed (Saturday only)
Opa! Gypsy Band
Island musician Rhianna Franklin
Violinist Robin Lohrey
Enpointe ballet dancer Julie Hagn
Performance artist Catherine Dietzman
Dance Workshop II Ballet Dancers (Vivaldi’s Four Seasons)
Professional Tango dancer Montero
Pianist Stella Joh
Young island singer Mark Mazzarella (Sunday only)

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Here’s more from Linda, with background on the performers:

For an affordable and exciting entertainment event, bring your date and your family to the fourth annual Winter Song and Dance Festival at the San Juan Community Theatre this weekend, Saturday, at 7:30pm or Sunday, a matinee, at 2pm. The shows feature a wide variety of dance and song, from ballet to “Dancing with the Stars” ballroom, from opera to Broadway performed by off island professionals from Seattle and Bellingham joined onstage by our own professionals and emerging professional musicians, singers, songwriters and dancers.

Jenny Knapp, mezzo-soprano who often sings with Seattle Symphony and lead of the recent opera seen here “Carmen” , is performing Saturday night only, along with her husband and “Carmen” director Erich Parce, who sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for eighteen years and has recently been a highly regarded opera staging director who has worked with Seattle Opera and other USA companies as well as opera companies abroad. On Sunday, tenor Robert Corl, who played Don Jose in “Carmen” here and is co founder of Olympia’s Opera Pacifica, will delight us again by singing for us on our stage. Local favorite soprano Roberta Leed performs Broadway show vocals On Saturday night, and young up and coming singer songwriter Rhianna Franklin and professional singer Devorah, who will sing in Hebrew from her new CD, are sure to entertain us in both Saturday and Sunday shows. Talented boy singer Mark Mazzarella, who performed in the children’s chorus in  “Carmen”, will sing for us on Sunday. Musicians are also entertaining on both Saturday and Sunday; violinist Robin Lohrey, pianist Stella Joh, and the gypsy ban “Opa!” will round out the program.

Professional multi generational modern dance company “Dance Gallery” from Bellingham, one of the most noted modern dance companies based in Washington state, will perform new works choreographed on them by some of the nation’s leading modern choreographers.  Professional competition ballroom dance team Mary Evans-Simler and Eliot Scott will perform the waltz, and Dance Workshop II choreographers and dancers will also perform. Festival director Linda Downes, producer and choreographer for “Carmen”, will present her new work on performance artist Cynthia Church with DWII dancer Katherine Dietzman in a thought provoking piece entitled “Healing Ophelia” to music by Samuel Barber. Downes has also choreographed a solo for pointe dancer Julie Hagn to music by Erik Satie. Ballerina Elizabeth Clark choreographs on the DWII company  to music from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and jazz dancer and choreographer Melissa Mortensen will perform new work choreographed by her on DWII dancers.

Tickets are on sale now at the San Jujan Community Theatre box office, 378 3210, or online, at just $19. each for adults, $10. each for students, or student rush tickets available for only$5.! With these low ticket prices, families are encouraged to bring children to either performance for a captivating and culturally educational experience!

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