Gem City Ballet will focus on the feminine


CELEBRATING LOCAL ARTS

Every week, arts writer Meredith Moss highlights accomplishments of arts groups throughout our region as well as arts-related news items.

If you have news, send it to Meredith: MMoss@coxohio.com

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The focus will be on women when Gem City Ballet presents its winter performance Feb. 7-9.

Springboro’s pre-professional ballet company has scheduled four world premieres — with music composed by women, ballets choreographed by women, and ballets performed by women. The concerts are slated for 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7 and Saturday, Feb. 8 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9. All performances will be held at the Stuart Sebastian Performance Space, 20 Commercial Way in Springboro.

The program includes “Zinc,” a ballet choreographed by Penny Freeh that abstractly explores how the metal “affects and is affected, and how the human body reacts to it.” Freeh is a former student of Barbara Pontecorvo’s and a former member of Dayton Ballet. She danced for James Sewell Ballet for 17 years, where she also served as Artistic Associate.

Molly McDonald, a Gem City Ballet alum, is a sophomore at Wake Forest College. Her ballet is titled “Circadian Impulses. Jacobee Buchanan, a former Gem City Ballet dancer, returns from NYC to develop a career in choreography as well as art. Her ballet is a study on a Victoria card game in which the four players act out their characters. Estelle Bean, a longtime Dayton teacher and choreographer, and Barbara Pontecorvo have created “Russian Variations and Nocturne.”

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children, students and seniors. Visit showtix4u.com or call (937) 550-9245.

Film Dayton will be featured at Mid-Day Arts Café

You’ll learn more about Dayton’s growing film community at the next Mid-Day Arts Cafe slated for Tuesday, Jan. 21, at the Schuster Center.

Megan Cooper, executive director of FilmDayton, will present “Film in Collaboration.” She’ll show an episode of FilmDayton’s original web series “Freak Club.”

Also on the program is Nicole Richter, associate professor and director of the motion picture program at Wright State University. Richter will screen excerpts from student films and talk about the partnership between FilmDayton and Wright State’s program.

The popular lunchtime series runs just an hour and includes a box lunch by Citilites. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. with the event starting promptly at noon. To attend, the $12 tickets must be purchased in advance. Order online at www.ticketcenterstage.com or call Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630.

Cincinnati Reds players to appear at Air Force Museum

Here’s your chance to meet members of the Cincinnati Reds organization including outfielder Billy Hamilton, minor league outfielder Jesse Winker, Reds Hall of Famer Tom Browning, broadcaster and former pitcher Jeff Brantley, broadcaster Jim Kelch, VP of Baseball Operations Dick Williams and mascot Rosie Red.

They’re all scheduled to appear at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force museum shop from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25.

The visit will begin with a question and answer session, followed by an autograph session and a chance to take photos of the Reds at the museum. Seating and autographs will only be guaranteed for the first 450 fans in attendance. Standing room access will also be available for additional guests who wish to listen to the question and answer session. Visit http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil for more information.

Are you a senior who likes to play music?

The University of Dayton’s New Horizons Music Program is looking for seniors who would like to play music during the spring semester, which starts Thursday, Jan. 23. People of all abilities and experience levels are welcome.

The New Horizons Music Program gives adults 50 and older the opportunity to learn to play or resume playing a musical instrument. The program includes beginning and intermediate concert bands, a jazz band and various small ensembles. Instruments taught include flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, French horn, trombone, baritone/euphonium, tuba and percussion.

Instruments can be rented or purchased from any local music dealer. Some instruments may be available to rent from the UD Department of Music. The per-term cost to participate is $90 for concert band, $90 for jazz band and $135 to play with both bands. Participation in small ensembles is included with membership. Individual music lessons are available for a separate fee.

Want to see how it’s done? At 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan 28, the oompah band will perform at the Burkhardt Branch of the Dayton Metro Library.

For more information about the UD New Horizons Music Program, contact Director Linda Hartley at (937) 229-3232 or lhartley1@udayton.edu.

Local artist featured in New York gallery

Local artist Michele BonDurant will join 62 artists from throughout the United States at the 6th National Juried Show at Prince Street Gallery in New York City. Her painting, “I Asked The Boulders Where They Had Been,” will be on display at the gallery from Jan. 28 through Feb. 22.

“This painting is a plein air painting done with oil paint on the Bruce Peninsula in Canada,” BonDurant said. “The coastlines have a history, memories in the same way that people do. There is the rigidity of rock formations against the fluidity of the water. The rocks, seemingly unmovable, untouchable. The water, sometimes still, almost unmoving, other times angry and powerful. I as the painter/observer place myself in this relationship.”

BonDurant has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Wright State University, and is a member of Dayton Visual Arts Center, and the Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors.

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