BYU Dance Team is Coming to CSULB Saturday Oct. 17

Photos: Courtesy of CSULB Dance Department and BYU

BYU's Champion Ballroom Dance Team is coming to CSULB's Carpenter Center of Performing Arts to share their talent. The show is at 2 p.m. on Oct. 17.

The BYU Ballroom Dance Company performance will entertain an audience with a spectacular variety of dances, including gliding waltzes reminiscent of a royal ball, playful swing dances from the 1950s, and dramatic high-energy Latin-style dances.

Tickets for the Brigham Young University Ballroom Dance Concert on Saturday, Oct.17 are $27.50 for adults, and $17.50 for children 16 years of age and younger.

For more information or to purchase subscription or single tickets, visit http://www.lbcca.org/,

or call (562) 985-7000.

For information on BYU's Ballroom Company, click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYU_Ballroom_Dance_Company

Q and A with Jessica Oliver, Who Played Emily in Our Town

#1: What are your roles in My Town?
Emily Webb

#2: Did you enjoy producing and rehearsing for this play, and why?
It was a wonderful learning experience. Being involved in the process of the play from start to finish helped me grow as an actor.

#3: What obstacles did you face in your role(s) during the rehearsals?
It was challenging to incorporate contemporary views to a play that was written a long time ago that dealt with issues that may not be as important in today's society.

#4: Do you feel the audience would enjoy this play, and would this play be appropriate for all ages or for adults only?
This play is appropriate for people of all ages and will be enjoyable because it talks about different types of people and their lives, and hopefully they can relate to what they see.

#5: In the midst of mid-semester tests, etc, why should students bother coming to watch the play--what will they benefit from seeing this play?
Everybody can take something out of this play, whether it be for entertainment purposes or internalizing the characters' experiences and trying to learn from what the characters go through.

#6: What is the central theme and conflict in this play?
To cherish every moment while you can and not take it for granted before it's too late. To go out and live your life and make a difference/contribution in society.

#7: How would students and faculty relate to this play, if in any way?
The audience will be able to relate to the characters and see themselves in the characters in some way because it deals with issues that people experience throughout their lives such as dealing with school, families, being happy, love, death etc.

#8: Would you have anything to say to include in my story for students and faculty to hear?
My main concern is that a lot of students (especially those who have not been exposed to theatre) will not be able to experience all types of theatre styles with today's high-tech society. Hopefully the audience will be able to experience how different the director has approached this play that has been read and done so many times before. Sometimes the play will be realistic, sometimes it will be unrealistic but the audience will always be reminded that they are watching a play and that we are putting on a play for them, therefore instead of distancing themselves from the play, to personalize what the characters are going through, and to get a message or be provoked to make a difference in their lives!

Actor Who Played George Shares Experiences From "Our Town"

Jordan Laurence Digby, a third year CSULB Theater major, who played George Gibbs in Our Town shared his experiences as an actor. According to Digby, Our Town was his first play that he read and casted. He eventually fell in love with George. “George is my favorite character because I really see such a growth in him in such an ark in his emotional range,” Digby said. “George is definitely my favorite character.” George was 16 at the beginning of the play, but the play ended when he was 34, as Emily dies from childbirth, according to Digby.
Trevor Biship, Our Town’s director, according to Digby, “is a genius.” He taught Digby how to show the emotions that George was going through after his wife died, and having to care for an ill infant.
“Biship made it contemporary, as the play is set in 1938. I had a cell phone and a laptop. Very contemporary,” Digby said.
Digby won the part for George against 400 other people. Martial arts was what got Digby into acting, since he loved pretending. However, he finds the hours as a student actor grueling—the rehearsals are 6:30 pm to 12 am every day, and he still needs to do his homework and studies. “I am so tired and I do cry,” Digby said. “I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I love it. I'm married to the theater. This is my life.”

Read Long Beach Press Telegram's Review of the play here:

http://www.presstelegram.com/lifestyle/ci_13552936

Read the review in te Daily 49er here:

http://www.daily49er.com/diversions/university-players-bring-our-town-into-future-1.1994240

Amazing Chinese Acrobat Pictures Here from Oct. 2009

All photos Courtesy of Shangri La Chinese Acrobats



Performers were trained to do demonstrations like in this picture on the left.

Men dove through hoops like what you see below.

The hoops were not glued to each other, and easily could fall apart if touched. The hoops were made of cardboard.

Performers here dressed as Chinese Dragons, and they danced and balanced on the ball without falling.

The most memorable demonstration in the show at the end was the bike with performers waving fans.

"Do not try this at home," Carpenter Performing Arts Center's Director Michele Roberge said. "They started training very young."

This woman here only dropped one wine glass when she was on a see saw.

Having had performed at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the talented Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats amazed people of all ages at CSULB Saturday sharing their harrowing and death-defying displays with their extremely flexible bodies.

The worldwide experienced acrobats taught Americans that they can associate the fascinating Orient with acrobatic art, not just rice and sushi. The harmony of body and mind part of ancient Oriental tradition can be clearly seen in the acrobats, who easily could bend their bodies into angles unimaginable by the viewer.

See more pictures of the show here: http://www.sroartists.com/artists/shangrilachineseacrobats/index.php

See other reviews online here:

http://www.iaipresentations.com/sgl.php

See videos of this show here:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=EE1510EA52A39001&search_query=shangri+la+acrobats

Nat King Cole's Music Visited CSULB

As the audience sat relaxed with wine at their tables, vocalist Allan Harris intermittently allowed his colleague take over the stage with his saxophone, while he closes his eyes, dancing to the music. “This is the life for me,” Harris said to the audience after he opened his eyes.








Allan Harris. Photo courtesy of Carpenter Performing Arts Center



Harris then impersonated as a rapper for a moment, and the room filled with laughter. Snapping his fingers and dancing to the beat of the drums behind him, with his invitation, the audience joined him clapping hands. Then at times out of the blue, he stops moving and stares at the audience in silence. “But I love you...” Harris begins singing again.


“Please do not forget to please..” Harris sang on. Harris was a black man dressed in black with a married ring who was ready to entertain. “My love? My tears? Or Forever?” Harris asked the audience which of Nat King Cole's songs to sing. On stage, men of two different races (Black and Caucasian) performed together in harmony.





“Racism is simply a fact of life in America - even though there are times it can be very subtle,” Harris said. “However, if you want to be creatively successful in this life, you've got to reach above and beyond any kind of discrimination and use it to empower you. It's not easy but success never is.”

Learn more about Allan here: http://www.allanharris.com/.

Our Town was a hit at CSULB

George Gibbs (Jordan Laurence Digby) and Emily Webb (Jessica Oliver)

Jordan Laurence Digby (George) and Avery Henderson (Rebecca Gibbs)

All photos above courtesy of University Players taken by Keith Ian Polakoff

Theater Department's Our Town was a big hit among CSULB students on its opening night Friday which gave everyone a glimpse of what simplicity is—such as love and finding your own life path.

Managing to find a spot in the packed studio at the Theater Arts Building, you'd be sitting with cast members as they sing when the play opens up. Trevor Biship, the play's director, had an objective of modernizing Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer-Award winning 1938 play Our Town to the year of 2009.

“Our production is imagining this 1938 play for a contemporary audience by setting it in 2009,” Biship said. “In making the specific choice of seeing how Wilder's language, characters and conflicts resonate with a contemporary America, I hope that all audience members will be affected in a new way by the seminal American play.”

As you may be aware of, iPods, laptop computers, Blackberry devices, cell phones, Bluetooth and the Internet has led to less face to face interaction between people. However, the characters in Our Town face the same issues as today's young people do—finding first love and finding a life path, according to Biship—which was his main reason for bringing this 1939 play to life today in 2009.

After cast members in the audience stop singing, they help the audience to get acclimated with whereabouts on stage, such as the grocery store, home and the park—which are the main elements that you see in a small town.

The the play moves on reflecting common desires that young people have, such as seeking the first kiss, being a teenager, fighting with parents for more independence and self-identity, getting married and finding a life path.

Yet, during the majority of the play you will watch the evolution of the love relationship between George Gibbs and Emily Webb, a teenage couple in love. “What changed? Will you have a shake with me before you go?”

George asked Emily for their date which eventually led to marriage. However, at the end, a tragedy is waiting to happen. You'd discover what it is with George and Emily.

Running until Oct.24, performances are from Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and on Saturday at 2 p.m. For tickets, call (562) 985-5526.

BeauSoleil and Iris DeMent Visited CSULB Sept. 26

Michael Doucet and Iris DeMent at California State University Long Beach. Photo: courtesy of Carpenter Performing Arts Center.

Two Grammy-winning country-folk musicians, Michael Doucet and Iris DeMent, came to CSULB Saturday to entertain an audience of mostly middle-aged folks who were merrily clapping hands and snapping fingers along with the tune.

Right on the nose at 8 p.m. sharp, Iris DeMent, a middle-aged woman with red hair, a polka dot dress and cowboy boots came on stage with a guitar. She was not a typical Hollywood singer, but she was someone who wanted to share with the audience a handful of her songs, even about God. Her presentation on stage made sense because she came from a family of 14 children originating from “The Belt” ( Arkansas ) with typical parents who had very strong religious morals, according to her website, http://www.irisdement.com/.

DeMent left the stage with a wave of goodbye, then entered was the BeauSoleil band, starred by Michael Doucet and his entourage. Trying to draw a younger audience, this band is on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/beausoleilcajunband), twitter and FaceBook(http://www.facebook.com/pages/BeauSoleil/74771399015) —especially to show their new Jan. 2009 release of Alligator Purse. “My duty was to bring this music back to the younger generation because it was so vastly disappearing,” Doucet said.

Photo logo: BeauSoleil's Facebook

Doucet was someone casually dressed in jeans with a white goatee, and he cheerily shared his duets, presented with a combination of zydeco, Tex-Mex, wesetern swing, blues, New Orleans , traditional jazz and Caribbean calypso, with the audience snapping, clapping and even dancing along with his tunes. BeauSoleil is different from other Cajun music because of Doucet’s emphasis on the fiddle. Fans can stay in touch with this band here: www.rosebudus.com/beausoleil/.