Shenandoah Conservatory has been awarded three grants to support Performing Arts Live, the conservatory’s premier guest artist series. The grants, totaling $21,000, were awarded by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and the regionally based Marion Park Lewis Foundation in support of campus and community engagement.
“The guest artists we are featuring this year are some of the best in the nation,” said Artistic Director of Performing Arts Live Courtney Reilly. “It would not be possible to have them on our stage or in our community without the generous support of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and Marion Park Lewis Foundation.”
In October, the Chicago-based multimedia art collective Manual Cinema will visit the region for the first time ever to present its award-winning “Frankenstein,” an original work that stitches together the classic gothic tale with Mary Shelley’s own life. The company is renowned for its innovative and creative use of film, shadow puppetry, live music and theatre to create an “exquisitely stylized, self-contained reality” (The New York Times). During its upcoming visit, Manual Cinema will conduct hands-on workshops, which explore the company’s unique storytelling techniques, and provide an opportunity for audiences to join it for an onstage tour after the performance on Wednesday, Oct. 9. The engagement is made possible through the ArtsCONNECT program of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Two additional grants will support a 2020 guest artist visit by Ballet Hispánico, the nation’s leading Latino dance organization. The company’s multiday residency includes a free community dance workshop, a public school visit and masterclasses exploring the unique blend of contemporary and traditional dance styles that have influenced Ballet Hispánico during its illustrious 50-year history. The company’s visit to Winchester culminates Friday, April 2, 2020, with a performance at Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre featuring a range of works that explore the diversity of Latino cultures. The visit also marks the homecoming for Christopher Bloom, a Ballet Hispánico company member and native of Frederick County. Bloom, who joined the company in 2013, began dancing locally at the Blue Ridge Studio for the Performing Arts and the Vostrikov Academy of Ballet before moving to New York to continue his studies. Bloom returns with the company, participating in workshops both on campus and in the community. Ballet Hispánico’s residency is made possible through the ArtsCONNECT program of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; and the Marion Park Lewis Foundation, a regionally based foundation that provides arts education opportunities to residents of the northern Shenandoah Valley.
Performing Arts Live presents five guest artists each year, including a range of award-winning masters and innovators from the fields of music, theatre and dance. Tickets for Manual Cinema’s “Frankenstein” and Ballet Hispánico are $28 (reserved seating), with discounts available for seniors, alumni, students, military and groups of 10 or more. For more information, visit conservatoryperforms.org or call the Shenandoah University Box Office at 540-665-4569.
