If you don’t know the difference between Alvin Ailey and Edward Albee or alban elved, the glut of performing arts scheduling in the Metrolina area next weekend is merely confusing. To those of us with an active interest in all three, it’s a dense jungle of cultural delights, too lush to be completely enjoyed. The latest delectation to be piled onto the super-heavy menu, never mind that Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is doing two different programs on the same dates, is the North Carolina Dance Festival at UNC-Charlotte, February 15-16.
They’re doing two different programs, too, showcasing 13 dance organizations from Wilmington to Asheville. alban elved, an audience favorite since the ancient days of Moving Poets Theatre of Dance, will represent Wilmington on Friday at Anne Belk Theatre at Robinson Hall. On the bill that night are visitors from Asheville (Nelson Reyes), Winston-Salem (Christina Tsoules Soriano), and Raleigh (Talani Torres) — and three Charlotte contingents (E.E. Balcos/EEMotion, Sybil Huskey, and the N.C .Dance Theatre Repertory Ensemble). Saturday night’s lineup includes emissaries from Greensboro (Heidi Godfrey), Winston-Salem (Cara Hagen), and Durham (Niki Juralewicz), with Charlotte’s Caroline Calouche, Alice Howes, and Martha Connerton/Kinetic Works.
Pricing puts you there both nights for less than a prime Ailey seat: $12 for general public on each of the two nights, $10 for faculty/staff, and $5 for seniors/students.
So host UNC-Charlotte and their N.C. Dance Festival managers, Greensboro-based N.C. Dance Project, get an A for Economics.
On quality, I’m just too booked at the Royal Shakespeare Residency at Davidson (where Albee keynotes Saturday morning) and the PAC’s Belk (where Ailey’s on tap) to even peep in on those performances. F for planning!
Didn’t mention Actor’s Theatre’s Gem of the Ocean or CPCC’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, did I? I’ll catch them sometime during their multiweek runs. But the Invasion of the 24-Hour Theatre Project at Theatre Charlotte? Not a chance. Same goes for Dances of India at JCSU, and Opera Carolina’s Love Notes.
There’s just so much love an arts lover can take in over Valentine’s Day weekend.
This article appears in Feb 6-12, 2008.
