Swing into Spring

Michael Andrew

UF Friends of Music hosts their annual benefit in support of the College of Fine Arts School of Music. This year’s benefit Swing Into Spring promises an entertaining evening with music, dance, drinks, hors d’oeuvres, friends and laughter.

The gala will be held on Saturday, Feb. 13 from 7:30-11pm in the Steinbrenner Band Hall on the northeast corner of Newell Drive and Inner Road on the UF campus. The UF Jazz Band, conducted by Scott Wilson will play the musical sounds of the Big Band era. Along with Wilson and the jazz band, international crooner and NYC Rainbow Room star Michael Andrew will croon to the tunes of Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Glen Miller and others. The event, designed by acclaimed local planner Keith Watson, will be catered by Celebrations Catering. Tickets are $100.

Click here for more information about Swing Into Spring! To order tickets, please call 352-846-1218.

--UF College of Fine Arts

Awards for the kids, refreshments for you

Sunset in the Garden,” Marianna Mancuso, tempera paint, crayon, black ink, pencil and charcoal, Archer Community School, 3^rd grade

Tonight, a free public reception and awards ceremony for the Alachua County Elementary School art exhibition will be held from 6:30 to 8:30pm at the Thomas Center Mezzanine Gallery. Awards will be given at 7pm followed by refreshments. Go and check out the work of the young artists in Alachua County! The exhibition will continue until the end of the month.

Wait, a Kid Did That?

“My Chicken,” Gabrielle Richardson, paper and fabric, High Springs Community School, 4^th grade

Check out the work of young artists in our community at the Alachua County Elementary School art exhibition starting tomorrow at the Thomas Center Mezzanine Gallery, and running until the end of the month. The exhibition is free, and includes a variety of 87 works of art that were created by Alachua County Elementary School art students who were selected from 26 participating schools.

“Space”, Christine Poole, oil pastel, Idylwild Elementary, 5^th grade

A free public reception and award ceremony will be held Thursday, January 21, 6:30-8:30pm at the Thomas Center. The awards will begin at 7pm followed by refreshments. The Thomas Center Galleries are located at 302 NE 6th Ave. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8am-5 pm, Tuesday 8am-7pm and Saturdays 1-4pm.

Sip Champagne with Sugar Plum Fairies

Explore the set of The Nutcracker while sipping champagne and devouring decadent chocolates at Dance Alive National Ballet’s Chocolate and Champagne Gala this holiday season.

“Last year was the first year we did it onstage, and people seemed to really enjoy that,” says DANB Director Judy Skinner.

Well, it’s back by popular demand along with a silent auction of holiday gifts, music by Gosia and Ali, Blue Water Bay catering and a scavenger hunt that takes you throughout the Phillips Center.
Each participant in the scavenger hunt will receive a passport, and once their passport is all stamped, it will be entered into a grand prize drawing, Judy says.

The gala coincides with The Nutcracker Festival, which features performances of the popular ballet, as well as the family-friendly Sugar Plum Tea. The tea follows each performance and provides the opportunity to meet the Sugar Plum Fairy and her court and have holiday photos taken by Johnston Photography.

“We’ve been doing it for a number of years now, and it’s really, really successful,” Judy says.

The Chocolate and Champagne Gala will be held this Saturday, Dec. 19, at 8pm at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $75 per person or $600 for a table. For more information, visit dancealive.org.

—Kate Ashby

Discover New Talent

You might not have heard Tori Sparks on the radio yet, but it won’t be long before this critically acclaimed singer/songwriter hits a speaker box near you. Tori’s folksy and ethereal sounds have been compared to the likes of Joni Mitchell and Ani DiFranco and her recent CD, The Scorpion in the Story, is up for six possible Grammy nominations. The Florida native (who now calls Nashville home) will stop in Gainesville this December, playing two benefit shows and showcasing her CD.

“This album is kind of a chronicle about the people I’ve met all over the country in 2008,” says Tori, who tours the country for most of the year. “One of the songs is even about someone I met in Gainesville.”

Despite her many performances nationwide, Tori is anxious to perform for her Gainesville fans.

“I’ve played in Gainesville before, but this year I feel very excited and very lucky to be doing this,” she says. “I tour so much, but I’m always happy to come back to Florida.”

Tori will play a Holiday Benefit Dinner at South Main Community Arts Center tomorrow (Dec. 17) at 8pm. She will play again on Dec. 27 at 3pm at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts to benefit the Lake Area Ministries, featuring catered desserts and drinks, photo portraits and raffles. Tickets for this second show are $125 a person or $200 for each couple.

—Michelle Profis

An Evening with William Shakespeare

“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?”

…not exactly. On Dec. 6, curtains will lift and stage lights dim as graduate students from UF's English department perform “An Evening with William Shakespeare” at the Acrosstown Repertory Theater, 619 S. Main St. From scandals to sonnets, “An Evening with William Shakespeare” will reenact vintage Shakespearean literature from old English to the youthful Western world.

“We will be doing scenes from various plays, as well as the sonnets,” says UF professor Sidney Homan, the director. “Scenes of romantic love, distorted love (the Macbeths), comic love (Pyramus and Thisby from a Midsummer’s Night Dream) and the loveless (Richard III).”

The performance includes 11 graduate students from the English department, who are currently enrolled in a Shakespearean literature course.

“We've been working on it all semester,” Sidney said. “We are expecting an audience where ages range from teenager, high school students to the very old.”

Attendees should be prepared for some daggers, poisoned wine and sword fighting during this one-night-only event. And if one thing is for certain, romance will be in the air.

“One audience member called a past production ‘a Whitman Sampler of Shakespeare,’ so if you don't care for one piece of candy (one scene) there are always other and different ones,” Sidney says.

The performance will begin at 8pm and tickets will be available to purchase for $5 at the door.

-Alisha Kinman

Celebrate African Song and Dance

Take a break from studying and check out the University of Florida’s School of Theatre and Dance's performance of "Agbedidi Dance and Drum" tonight (Dec. 4) through Dec. 6. Agbedidi, which means “long life” in the African language of Ewe, is a program that was created in 1995 to honor and celebrate African music and dance.

“Our show is one of the biggest on campus,” says Mohamad DaCosta, choreographer of the performance.

Founded by world-known musician Godwin Agbeli and part of the Center for World Arts, the group is mainly comprised of theater, dance and music students who share a passion for different types of music and culture. Although Agbeli passed away in the spring of 1998, his passion and commitment to African traditions continue to motivate and inspire local and international communities alike.

Members of the UF ensemble work weekly with dancers, visiting artists and master musicians, and perform throughout the semester both at festivals and community events.

“This year’s theme is “Griot,” which means storyteller,” Mohamad says.
The show begins at 7:30pm at the Constans Theatre . Tickets start at $13. Visit ticketmaster.com or call 352-392-1653.

—Michelle Profis; PHOTO: T.F. Guntrup

French Invasion at the Hipp

Prepare for some French flair this week at the Hippodrome Theatre. Tonight (Nov. 17) at 8pm, the Hippo, in conjunction with the FLEX Film Fest, presents a free, special 16-millimeter print of Masculin-Feminin, an iconic French New Wave film by director Jean-Luc Godard, along with several surprise short films. While Masculine-Feminine will be showing in the new Cinema Lounge downstairs, upstairs Francophiles can enjoy Paris, an ode to the city of lights.

Masculin-Feminin was chosen for the opening night from a collection of over a thousand 16mm films collected by Roger Beebe, a professor at the UF and artistic director of the FLEX film festival. 16 mm film offers a rare cinema experience that is hardly ever available in a regular movie theatre. This special presentation of Masculin-Feminin will have greater clarity and truer colors. Based on two stories by Guy de Maupassant, Masculin-Feminin is a cynical portrait of sixties culture, colored by the pop sensibility of the director. It co-stars French pop singer Chantal Goya and Jean-Pierre Léaud.

This special event marks the grand opening of the Hippodrome’s newly renovated basement, now known as the Cinema Lounge. A project almost a decade in the making, the Cinema Lounge will feature a new marble bar and cabaret-style seating. Tables and chairs will be set up in front of the screen, so that audience members interact as much with each other as with the film. “The benefit of this is that you are going to be sitting across from people in a way that represents the sort of dialogue we’re hoping to have about these classic films,” says Robert Matrone, cinema manager for the Hipp. “Plus, you can get up and go get a drink and popcorn without missing anything.”

If this first screening is a success, the Hippodrome hopes to feature other films from Beebe’s extensive collection in future Cinema Lounge screenings. “We could do this for quite a long time and never repeat a film. It’s an exciting prospect,” Robert says. To fund future screenings of free films, the Hippodrome will be asking spectators for donations of $3-$5.

The French extravaganza does not end with the Godard film. The Tuesday screening is followed by the showing of Cédric Klapisch’s film Paris on Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 18 and 19, in the main cinema room upstairs. “Part of the reason we ended up going with the Godard film is because we’re also showing Paris in our main cinema this week, and so Masculin-Feminin ties into that,” Robert says. Tickets for the general public to this event are $7.

—Allison Griner

Bear Creek Music and Art Festival

The Bear Creek Music and Art Festival was a three-day celebration of sight and sound at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fla. INsite was there to capture some of the most memorable moments. Check out our photo slideshow on our Web site!

—Photo by Sarah Hsu

Downtown Festival and Art Show a success

About 100,000 people attended this weekend’s Downtown Festival and Art Show in Gainesville. People, pets and children wandered through the packed roads, from city hall to the Hippodrome Theater, perusing the many white tents filled with various types of artwork.

Though each of the booths had beautiful pieces on display, the more eccentric artwork was the most fun to look through. The “silverwearable” jewelry, made entirely from the handles of old cutlery was cute, and the ceramic birdbaths looked too pretty to put in a yard.

Parents and kids took breaks from the heat and watched the music and dance performances in the shade by the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. The Gainesville Suzuki Players and dancers from the Gainesville Ballet Theater had great performances, and the Celtic harp and bamboo flute players were a big hit as well.

Ana Varela, a ceramic artist at the festival, says she saw a lot of interesting people of all ages in the crowd. This was her 20th year participating in the festival. “It’s a very predictable festival. The crowds always come out, and I see lot of friends because I’m local,” Ana says.

UF freshman Lynzee Marmor was a volunteer at the Imagination Station, where kids got to practice their creativity, and said she really enjoyed the fun and relaxed atmosphere of the event. “It’s fun to browse and they don’t make you feel obligated to buy, so it’s not uncomfortable,” she says.

—Elizabeth Behrman

28th Downtown Art Festvial

The pungent festival aromas of funnel cakes and popcorn waft through the streets, which are so packed with people it’s almost difficult to peek inside the white-tent booths lining the cobblestone streets. Kids play at the Imagination Station, where they make books, crazy hats and get their faces painted.

Saturday marked the first day of the 28^th annual Gainesville Downtown Festival and Art Show. Spanning from city hall to the Hippodrome Theatre, more than 250 booths displayed all types of local and national artwork, from paintings and sculptures to “silverwearable” jewelry and designer aprons.

“It’s just bigger and better than ever,” says Linda Piper, events coordinator for the city of Gainesville. According to Linda, the Downtown Festival and Art show is ranked the 27th best fine arts festival in the nation.

She says more than 600 artists applied to showcase their art in the festival and ultimately, artists were selected based on originality and technical expertise. In addition to the artwork, the festival showcases several local bands and entertainers on one of three stages set up in the area.

The free festival will continue today, Nov. 15, until 5pm.

—Elizabeth Behrman

Get Down Downtown

Kick off the Downtown Festival & Art Show weekend by checking out the Friday night Downtown Blues Festival tonight, Nov. 13. Performing this year is Janiva Magness, winner of the 2006 and 2007 Blues Music Awards for Best Contemporary Female Artist Of The Year., The free concert is at the Downtown Bo Diddley Community Plaza and will feature performances by local, regional and national musicians.

The next morning, attend the Downtown Festival & Art show—a nationally recognized event that Sunshine Artist magazine ranked the Festival No. 27 on a list of the best outdoor street festivals in the nation. Celebrating its 28th year, the 2009 festival (presented by the City of Gainesville Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs) offers visitors the opportunity to meet exhibiting artists, sample fine cuisine and enjoy live entertainment.

From 10am to 5pm, the streets of downtown Gainesville will be transformed into a celebration of artwork from more than 250 artists showcasing oils and acrylics, watercolors, jewelry, sculptures and photography. Children can spend the day in the children’s area, where they will be immersed in art and creativity in the Imagination Station. Near the Hippodrome Theatre, more than 30 non-profits will have booths providing information about the community. Dozens of vendors will offer food from around the world, including Thai shish-ka-bobs, Greek gyros, Cajun jambalaya and more. See gvlculturalaffairs.org for more.

—Kate Ashby

Be an Art Insider

One of the University of Florida’s best-kept secrets, Art Bash showcases some of the most exciting faculty and student art from the School of Art and Art History tomorrow (Nov. 13.) The event, although not heavily promoted, typically draws a crowd of more than 600 people, says Andy Howard, spokesman for the UF College of Fine Arts.

“I do know it’s something people look forward to every year,” he says. He explains that each department plans different events, and is very secretive because it has become somewhat of an “unofficial competition.” In past years, departments have done parades, interactive activities and even do-it-yourself art projects, he says.

Andy describes Art Bash as more of an art-making show, versus an art showing. The event focuses more on the process of the artists in fields such as painting, printmaking, sculpture, drawing and more, also in addition to displaying art. “It’s a glimpse of inside life of what [the artists] do every day,” he says.

Art Bash is from 6pm to 9pm throughout the School of Art and Art History Fine Arts Complex on campus. Visit artbash.blogspot.com.

—Kate Ashby

Become a Book Worm

Chris Bachelder, author

This month, MFA@FLA—the creative writing program at UF—presents the 2009 MFA@FLA Writers’ Festival and features talks and readings from a variety of authors and poets in local libraries. Chris Tusa, who earned his MFA in poetry from UF and debuted his poetry collection Haunted Bones in 2006 and his novel Dirty Little Angels in 2009, will speak tonight, (Nov. 12) at 7:30pm at the Alachua County Public Library downtown.

Chris Adrian, pediatrician and author

Along with the novels Bear v. Shark and U.S.!, Chris Bachelder authored the e-book Lessons in Virtual Photography, and will speak tomorrow (Nov. 13) at Smathers Library East at 8pm with C.D. Wright, whose poetry collection includes Deepest Come Shining, Tremble, Just Whistle and String Light (and is the only one without a degree from UF). Writer and pediatrician Chris Adrian, author of Gob’s Grief, The Children’s Hospital and the story collection Better Angel, will be joined by them at 1pm on Saturday at Smathers Library for an informal talk, and will read solo there at 8pm.

The festival, more than 50 years old, is free and runs Nov. 12 to Nov. 14. For all the details, visit www.english.ufl.edu/events.html.

—Kate Ashby

Puppet Show NOT Child's Play

The adult-themed, Sesame Street-inspired puppet show, Avenue Q, will play at the Phillips center tonight (Nov. 9) and Nov. 10. Despite some obvious parallels with Jim Henson's Sesame Street, the show is in no way affiliated with the classic children's show. Avenue Q trails the lives of a handful of young adults trying to find themselves on the rough streets of NYC.

We caught up with Avenue Q’s wardrobe supervisor Heather Yerrick, who gave us the scoop on what being head of wardrobe is all about, and why you will be peeing your pants during this coming-of-age comedy.

What is Avenue Q all about?
It’s a fun and light-hearted show. It’s not your everyday musical — it’s quirky. The story follows a lot of 20-somethings who are just looking for where they belong in the world, why they’ve been put here and what they can do to make their lives better. They’re struggling with jobs, lovers, friends, relationships and paying rent.

Why would someone enjoy coming to see the show?
It’s completely irreverent and enjoyable show with catchy tunes. It’s not like Oklahoma. It’s not another cookie-cutter musical. The show is for them if they have a sense of humor and can laugh at life. If someone wants to enjoy a good solid laugh, Avenue Q is probably the place for him or her to be.

How did you become involved with the show?
I had been working on a Spongebob Squarepants show in Asia with the costume director who would later be hired for Avenue Q.

What exactly does a wardrobe supervisor do?
There is nothing huge about wardrobe with this show. There are only three human characters that change clothes. It’s certainly a smaller show for me, and it’s more about getting the laundry schedule right than anything else. So few people in the world want to hear about day-in and day-out of doing people's laundry.

What is it like working with puppets?
The puppets don’t change clothes, which is nice. We just have several puppets in different pieces of clothing. Rather than running off stage and doing a quick change with a puppet we just switch the puppet. It certainly makes life a bit easier because there is a lot of puppet swapping in our show.

Avenue Q runs at the Phillips Center, 315 Hull Road, Nov.9 and Nov.10 at 7:30pm. Tickets available at the Phillips Center box office and online at Ticketmaster.com.

--Victoria Phillips

Journey Through Eastern Civilization Art Show

Journey Through Eastern Civilization, showing now through Jan. 10 at the Thomas Center Main Gallery, is an exhibition of more than 100 rare Asian artifacts and documents. The pieces were borrowed from William Earl Hutchinson's Theatre of Memory in High Springs. The collection introduces audiences to ancient sculptures, tools, furniture and historical documents, bringing a taste of Asian culture to Gainesville.

The exhibit is located at the Thomas Center, 302 NE 6th Ave, and is free and open to the public.

—Photos by Timothy Carswell

The Ten Tenors at the Phillips Center

Internationally acclaimed singing sensation The Ten Tenors sang, danced and entertained nearly a full house at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts last night (Nov. 3) as part of their Nostalgica World Tour 2009.
The Australian-bred singers, dressed in black suits, sang a variety of pieces, including some opera, a medley of Australian folk songs and American classics like the rock-‘n’-roll hit “Great Balls of Fire,” “Danny Boy” and “Stand By Me,” which had the audience clapping and singing along. Live musicians and spotlights featured the Tenors individually as each intermittently sang solos throughout the night.
Following the first few songs, tenor Stewart Morris gave a brief introductory speech in which he said, “Forget about our suits and the fact that we’re so good-looking. Pretend you’re at a Gator game and have a good time tonight.” The atmosphere was a lighthearted one as the Tenors captivated the audience with the rich tones of their harmonious blended voices, as well as their many hand gestures, facial expressions and dance moves.

It was evident they were having fun on stage. In between songs, they told jokes and encouraged audience members to participate in their performance. Scattered chuckles could be heard as one Tenor said, “Clap. Cheer. Run around naked in the room if you want.” No one got naked, but applause and cheering certainly were abundant, as the singers were well received. At one point, a couple Tenors sang a line from “We Are The Boys From Old Florida,” which gained even more applause and whistling from the crowd.

The Tenors were also sporting mustaches, or at least the beginnings of them, to which Morris explained that that was not how they normally looked, but that they were participating in Movember, a mustache-growing charity event during the month of November, created to raise money and awareness for men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer.

—Story and photos by Sarah Hsu

RISK-y Film Experience at the Harn

Why settle for one film projector when you can use eight? Tonight (Nov. 3) at 7:30pm, filmmaker Roger Beebe will screen his Films for One to Eight Projectors as part of RISK Cinema season at the Harn Museum of Art. Locally, Roger is known as a UF professor of Film and Media Studies and the owner of Video Rodeo, but he has an international reputation for his experimental filmmaking. His works have been shown everywhere from the Sundance Film Festival to Times Square in New York City. His newest composition, Films for One to Eight Projectors, is a compilation of his earlier works: “The Strip Mall Trilogy,” “TB TX DANCE,” “Money Changes Everything” and “Last Light of a Dying Star.” We talked with Roger to find out what inspired him.

Your films are described as “expanded cinema.” What does that mean?
We have an imagination of the movies as a thing where you turn a projector on and you sit there and consume it. For about four decades, there’s been a certain movement that’s been called “expanded cinema,” which just means doing things that are different from that standard experience, trying to figure out what it is to renew the movie-going experience... Cinema doesn’t have to be just one thing that we’ve come to know from the multiplexes. It can be bigger than that in a lot of ways, so this is part of that tradition.

Did you always want to be an experimental filmmaker?
I started making films about 15 years ago. I was in grad school, and I sort of backed into it. My first films were more narrative and I just got tired of the hassles of making narrative films... and that’s when I really think I became an experimental filmmaker in a proper sense. It’s much more like being an artist in any other medium where it’s much more of a direct form of expression, and much more personal and immediate. I don’t have an MFA, and I didn’t go to art school, but it’s exciting discovering a form. It’s so much more rewarding.

What have been some of your cinematic influences?
If I rattle off the list, it would be a list of films that no one’s ever heard of, unfortunately. Even the most famous experimental filmmakers labor in the shadows. In some ways that’s a self-willed thing; none of these people are trying to get rich. That’s what makes experimental film a hard sell. I think people have a kind of caricature of it in their mind but have not really ever seen any of it. It’s not some scary austere, totally abstract, boring thing. It’s often very funny and pretty.

What do you feel RISK Cinema brings to the Gainesville community?
RISK Cinema is, for me, one of the greatest things that exists in this town. It is really a kind of cinema that would be totally absent otherwise. People will go out to art museums and look at abstract canvases and all sorts of modern and contemporary art. These kinds of films are exactly the equivalent of those kinds of things, but people just don’t know about them or somehow they’re not on people’s radar screens. RISK Cinema is the only place in Gainesville that’s making a case for this kind of work.

Can you describe Films for One to Eight Projectors?
The program progresses from some two- and three-projector pieces to the eight-projector pieces, [which is] the finale of the show. It’s somewhere between a normal theatrical experience and something a little bit more performative, in that there’s a sense of peril as I run from projector to projector and try to keep everything running. The subject matter varies from studies of post-modern, sprawling cities to Las Vegas to African Americans with Irish surnames to the final piece, [which] is about outer space. It’s not just a space-out experience. It works much more like a regular film; it just happens to be going through two projectors or three projectors or eight projectors.

—Allison Griner

The RISK cinema series is weekly screening at the Harn Museum showcasing up-and-coming filmmakers and the groundbreaking work they do. For more information, visit the Harn's Web site.

Dance Alive National Ballet presents Dracula

Dance Alive National Ballet has been bringing beautiful performances to North Central Florida for years. The company’s 44th season opened last Friday (Oct. 30) with Dracula.

Dracula, with all its lore, drama and—dare I say it? sex—is a whole new realm of dance. It’s beautiful, yes, but it’s also gripping and a little frightening in the best possible way. The company of internationally recognized dancers gave a moving performance, all while making their complicated steps look easy.

As the curtains opened to show us the imposingly large set of Count Dracula’s estate, the narrator, Dr. Van Helsing (Ric Rose) gave us the backstory: lawyer Jonathan Harker (Rostislav Dzabraev) travels to Transylvania to meet the rich, mysterious (and bloodsucking) Count Dracula (Andre Valladon.) Harker is met by the count and his three vampire brides (Carla Amancio, Reka Gyulai, Beth Ann Maslinoff).

Dracula comes spinning on stage, whirling around so quickly it makes my head spin. But it’s awesome. He is definitely a powerful dancer. When he’s on stage it’s hard to take your eyes off of him. And the music matches perfectly—the sounds are vibrant at times, ominous at others.
I’d like to live in this world—where people don’t speak; they dance to show their passion, sadness, happiness, fear. Dracula and his mortal victim Lucy’s (Michele Incollingo) duet after their first encounter is particularly compelling. You can hear every word their dancing is saying.
The production takes a turn in a different direction when the graveyard vampires come on stage. They are all dressed in ethereal white skirts, and the group of about 15 dancers move beautifully in unison, as one graceful, undead mass. I am amazed at how everyone seems light as air.
After the performance, the stage became a dance floor of another kind. The Dance Alive Halloween costume gala began about half an hour after the ballet. A small crowd gathered on the stage to eat food catered by Buddha Belly, mingle with the company and dance to Halloween classics. The same set from Count Dracula’s castle was even more beautiful up close.

The dancers mingled with each other and bounced from table to table, greeting friends and strangers. The DJ, dressed in his own Dracula garb, played Halloween favorites like “Monster Mash” and the theme to “Ghostbusters.” A rousing version of “Mambo Italiano” brought the stars of the show onto the dance floor. It was great to see them dance to just cut loose. Dance should be fun, and, for these people, it truly is.

—Amelia Marty; Photos by Sarah Hsu

Dance Alive presents Dracula, tonight!

Last night, we were lucky enough to be invited to catch a preview performance of Dance Alive National Ballet’s Dracula at the Phillips Center. As choreographer Kim Tuttle called queues from stage right, the lights went down, the curtain went up and we entered the diabolical world of Count Dracula, performed by the versatile Andre Valladon.

With vampires captivating pop culture recently, Dracula is an appropriate title this Halloween; however, Dance Alive’s ahead of the curve—they’ve been performing the eerie Victorian tale for 18 years. In it, it’s amazing to watch as about 30 company dancers (who only moments before joked about their white fang teeth or acrylic talons) become at turns gypsies, Brides of Dracula, pious English men and women, and more.

The set and lighting change often, and the intricate costumes and dramatic music contribute to every scene as we follow Jonathon Harker (played by Rostislav Dzabraev) from Transylvania to England in the nearly two-hour performance. Although we knew it was only make-believe, we were captivated in this ultimate tale of good versus evil—a definite Halloween treat.

Catch Dracula tonight (10/30) at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts at 7pm. It is preceded by a Dracuween Kids’s Party at 6pm, in which children can enjoy a safe trick-or-treat ($15), and is followed by Dracula’s Halloween Costume Ball ($35). Call the box office at 352-392-2787 for tickets.

Photos by Sean Kelly