Celebration of Dance is a Community Collaboration
Tom Netherland/Special to Bristol Herald Courier
Published: April 3, 2008
Updated: April 3, 2008
We can dance. We can sing. Published: April 3, 2008
Updated: April 3, 2008
But odds are not with excellence.
Participants in this year’s Celebration of Dance, presented by the Bristol Ballet, won’t sing but they sure will dance – with excellence. See them on April 5-6 at the Paramount Center of the Arts in Bristol Tennessee.
As in years past, this year’s event features a conglomerate of dancers from regional dance companies.
One of them is, of course, the Bristol Ballet.
“The Celebration of Dance is a production we’ve done for five years,” said Michelle Plescia, artistic director of the Bristol Ballet. “We thought it would be a great way to promote the Bristol Ballet and dance as a whole.”
Styles of dance will vary greatly. Plescia said they purposely invited dance companies with the intent on gathering as many different styles as possible.
“We invited dance companies to bring what would be their best examples of what they do best,” she said. “We asked them to bring two numbers.”
Dance styles on display will include classical and modern ballet, hip-hop, jazz, modern, belly dancing, salsa and Scottish Highland. Pleschia said participating companies hail from such locales as Bristol, Abingdon, Johnson City, Greeneville and Knoxville.
Companies include the Bristol Ballet, Appalachian Center for Ballet, Circle Modern Dance, Contemporary Dance Theater of Virginia, HIPnotik: The Gypsy Queens, Misfit Gypsies, Mountain Movers Dance Company, Watts Dance Studio and XTreme Dance Company.
Dozens of dancers from about age 8 to well into adulthood will take to their heels to entertain.
Challenges relative to staging such numbers of dancers are considerable, Plescia said. She wants the shows to flow seamlessly, to rotate one company after another to and from the stage such that there are few if any pauses in the performance.
“It’s challenging,” Plescia said. “We try to figure out where everybody goes, and it’s difficult trying to figure out how to get everybody on stage on time.”
Perhaps Plescia’s most obvious hurdle relates to the product. Offering dance as entertainment may seem a daunting task, regardless of the ages of the dancers.
“It’s like when you hear someone say they don’t like opera,” Plescia said. “You ask them, ‘Have you ever seen the opera?’ And it’s like, ‘Well, no.’ ”
Music and primarily bluegrass and country reign supreme as the most obvious entertainment available in the Mountain Empire. Dance suffers from afterthought status.
Therein lies Plescia’s constant and most significant challenge.
“Unfortunately, the dance community is relatively small here,” Plescia said.
So an ambitious event like Celebration of Dance essentially binds dance companies through strength in numbers. Singly, their ability to reach large amounts of people is perhaps lessened. Together, chances of success are heightened.
“We felt it was a good thing to do this,” Plescia said. “Sometimes, it is difficult to get people to come out. But a performer’s first goal is to entertain the audience.”
To that end, Plescia said she plans to compose the program as something of a rollercoaster ride. For example, high-energy hip-hop dances may follow more nuanced and laid-back demonstrations of ballet or modern dance.
Toss in spicy salsa dance. Shake things up with belly dancing. Click heels to Scottish Highland dancers. Celebration of Dance promises not to be a snoozefest.
“With the wide variety of dances some things will be slow and some of things will be upbeat and all things will be fun,” she said.
Entertaining?“Extremely,” Plescia said.
IF YOU GO
What: Bristol Ballet’s Celebration of Dance
When: April 5, 7:30 p.m., and April 6, 2:30 p.m.
Where: Paramount Center of the Arts, 518 State St., Bristol Tennessee
Tickets: $12 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, $6 for children under age 12
Info: (423) 274-8920
TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .
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