Performances Catalog

HANDMADE BAND: I’M WORKING ON SOMETHING – CHILDREN’S SONGS FOR EVERYONE

A sharing of music, a collective performance, and a groovy show, I’m Working on Something is for children of all ages, featuring songs that make the mind think and the body move. Performed in both English and Spanish, and occasionally Yoruba and Mandarin, traditional stories, songs from the World Children Repertoire, along with original compositions, and learning about percussion and string instruments are all part of this interactive, audience participatory performance by the Handmade Band.

MEXICO BEYOND MARIACHI

This delightful program showcases the vast cultural expression of Mexico. Each region from the country has its own rituals, celebrations, costumes, language and music. The ensemble’s mission is to encourage students to look beyond stereotypes and into the fascinating story and history of the Mexican people. The concert will bring students on a journey that begins over 500 years ago, first with the Aztec civilization, then continuing in a chronological order showing how time, geography, climate and foreign influence have affected folk traditions to the present day.

INTRO TO THE STRING QUARTET

The West Village Quartet performs works by composers as diverse as Mozart, Scott Joplin, and Dvorak to illustrate the universal language of music.  Members of the quartet provided a glimpse into their lives as performers, and give historical information about their instruments, the music, and the composers.

SWING STREET ENSEMBLE: THE DIXIE RASCALS

Six dynamic musicians trace the origins of tap-your-feet, clap-your-hands, grin-on-your-face American folk music. They perform in period costume on traditional instruments: trumpet, trombone, clarinet, banjo, tuba and drums and focus on the role of each instrument in the ensemble. Emphasis is placed on the importance of listening to each other in the music as in every day conversation. Special attention is devoted to the cultural place of the music in “life events”, New Orleans traditions, and a celebration of the human spirit.

TAIKOZA

Taikoza, a Japanese Taiko drum group, demonstrates the powerful rhythms of the taiko drums. Students learn from master Taiko drummer Marco Lienhard about the role of the drum in Japanese culture, and experience the pounding rhythms of the taiko, a large, barrel-like drum that can fill the air with the sounds of rolling thunder.

JUAN USERA AND LA TRIBU DEL JUEY SAMBUCO (THE SAMBUCO TRIBE)

La Tribu del Juey Sambuco (Sambuco Tribe) is led by artist Juan Usera, whose trio invites students to experience the tradition of Bomba y Plena through an energizing and interactive performance of music and dance. Bomba is an Afro-Puerto Rican music and dance art form with origins in West Africa, the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.
La Tribu demonstrates a variety of instruments and percussion, demonstrating the relationship between drummer and dancer which create the musical conversations at the heart of this genre. The audience will see this in action and will be invited to participate in song and dance, experiencing an art form deeply rooted in joy, strength and community.

La Tribu also offers slightly modified performances focused on more of the Spanish speaking Caribbean, as well as a performance including Guaracha, Aguinaldo, Seis, Danza and Reggaeton, introducing songs in
English, Spanish and Creole.

PICTURES COME TO LIFE

Jeff Hopkins tells stories by quickly sketching, narrating, and acting out characters’ movements and sounds. Jeff draws on wall-sized sheets of mural paper, creating large-scale images that transform and develop over the course of the story. Interactive performances incorporate humor, history, and folklore. His subjects range from Greek mythology and Impressionist painting to baseball and tall tales of the Wild West.

THEATRESPORTS (in-person only)

Freestyle Repertory Theatre‘s masters of improvisation form competing teams to create scenes, stories, songs, and poems on the spot, based on audience suggestions from poetry, history and literature.

Performances by Anne Pasquale:

LIBERTY BELLES

They came from all parts of the world: Russia, Italy, China and Latin America. Some came to escape oppression, others just to seek a better way of life. Meet the women who made us Americans, and hear the stories from every point of Liberty’s crown in Liberty Belles.

THE REVOLUTION OF DEBORAH SAMPSON

The story of Deborah Sampson tells the story of America’s birth.  At the age of eighteen, when the young woman heard the cry of George Washington, she was prepared to fight and die for her liberty; she dressed as a man and enlisted in the Continental Army. See 18th-century America brought to life as Deborah Sampson joins George Washington’s Army for the Revolutionary War.

HELEN AND ME

Blind from the age of two and orphaned by the age of nine, Ms. Sullivan conquered seemingly impossible obstacles and revolutionized the teaching of the deaf and blind.  From her own perspective, listen as ‘Teacher’ relates the miraculous work that transformed the life of Helen Keller and has continued to inspire millions.

CALAMITY JANE: THE WOMAN AND HER LEGEND

This is the story of how a young girl from Princeton, Missouri became the legendary Calamity Jane. Martha Jane Cannary, a.k.a. Calamity Jane, was an orphan at the age of fifteen when she dressed as a man to earn a man’s wage. Calamity Jane was one of the Old West’s most colorful characters. Now you can hear her story from her point of view and learn about a time long forgotten.  Catch the pioneer spirit and travel the Overland Trail with Calamity Jane!

PERFORMANCES BY RON SOPYLA (new):

STORIES AND MYTHOLOGY FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Auditorium Performance, ages K-3

Ron Sopyla tells a multi-cultural mix of stories designed specifically for each class and age group. Stories for the younger children are participatory, with children joining in the storytelling by becoming characters in the stories, joining in dialogue, singing and movement, and improvising parts of the stories.

STORIES AND MYTHOLOGY FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Classroom Performance, ages K-5

Ron Sopyla tells a multi-cultural mix of stories designed specifically for each class and age group. Stories for the younger children are participatory, with children joining in the storytelling by becoming characters in the stories, joining in dialogue, singing and movement, and improvising parts of the stories. Props, story cloths and rolling story scrolls (“crankies”) may be used to illustrate the stories. More complex stories for older children are drawn from fairytales and mythology from around the world.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE JUNGLE

Classroom Performance, ages K-3

Ron Sopyla performs a mix of shadow puppetry and storytelling to tell folktales from around the world.  The stories are rich with participatory elements, where children can sing, speak, create sound effects and move like the characters as Ron illustrates the stories with shadow puppets.  There is an opportunity after the performance for the children to look at artifacts of the construction process, source material for ideas, rough sketches, and the finished puppets up close.

“Why Read” by Laine Barton

Why Read… is a solo show for schools, libraries and special events. (K-4th grade)

EBDBD is absolutely sure that she can learn what it takes to be a clown, without any help from a book or a teacher.  Reading is for “bookworms”. Come watch as EBDBD tries to reach the stars without a ladder. She’ll use bubble-sculpture, plate-spinning, magic and more as she discovers that reading is not only essential but fun. 

Why Read?

Will Lainey be able to reach the stars without a ladder?  Watch as she weaves bubble-sculptures, plate-spinning, magic and more into a raucous experiment where she discovers that reading is not only essential but fun. 

Why Read?

Will Lainey be able to reach the stars without a ladder?  Does she need books to help her perform her zany circus arts?  Watch as she weaves bubble-sculptures, plate-spinning, magic and more into a raucous experiment where she discovers that reading is not only essential but fun.