Heidi Kulas, Dance Director!
Asheville Arts Center is proud to announce their new Dance Director, Percussive Dancer/Choreographer Heidi Kulas. Kulas formerly owned the Sole Impact Dance Studio which has been absorbed into the AAC. She will maintain her adult dance company of the same name. (Sole Impact).
Kulas has danced and taught around the world but never strayed too far from her WNC roots- where she has now decided to bring her talents to the Asheville Arts Center. Kulas has choreographed productions such as The Fantasticks, Little Women the Musical, Evita, Funny Girl. And she’s even danced in a private performance for Tipper Gore and as a guest dancer for Nickel Creek.
Kulas graduated from Mars Hill College with honors and has been awarded many times over for her clogging and general dance.
Type-A Mom Conference coming September 24-26, 2009!
Asheville Arts Center will be sponsoring portions of the Kid’s Conference whilst Michael Wilson (Director of PR) and Heather Taft (Owner) will be attending the conference! The event promises to be fantastic!
Here’s information about the event:
When: September 24-26, 2009
Where: Crowne Plaza Tennis & Golf Resort
Type-A Mom Conference is a unique mom blogging conference designed to help you take it to the next level. The conference will feature some of the most influential, admired and insightful mom bloggers talking about topics like power social networking, branding, blogging, finding your voice, and turning your passion for blogging into a real paycheck.
For bloggers:
- Improve your writing
- Lean how to earn real money from your blog
- Market your blog
- Connect with companies
- Boost traffic
- Encourage return readership and subscribers
- Learn from the best without leaving Asheville
For businesses:
- Understand Twitter and Facebook
- Use social media to market your business
- Encourage influential bloggers to spread the word about your company
- Learn how to blog to promote your business
- Mingle with influencers at a speed dating session
- Hear real company case studies on social media successes
- Sell at the Mom Market
Asheville Arts Center Blog readers can save $25 by entering code ASHEVILLEARTS when registering for the conference. Find out more at the Type-A Mom Conference site.
Official Press Release: Asheville Arts Center Introduces Four New Drama/ Theatre Educators!
The Asheville Arts Center (AAC) is excited to announce the hire of four new drama educators! They all come from hefty backgrounds of experience and will be a great asset to the center as the classes develop and grow each year. These four will redefine acting classes in Asheville! On the horizon we will be offering adult drama classes as the new teachers settle in. Below is a brief bio of each. For more visit our more detailed blog post, here.
- Andrew Gall has taught acting, voice, theory and movement at the college and high school levels as well as privately for most of his career. He is also currently the Producing Artistic Director of Burnsville’s Parkway Playhouse, the oldest professional theatre in Western North Carolina. Gall is one of WNC’s more prolific directors who has directed a wide variety of range of style of production on a regional level as well as nationally. His most recent work is producing “Esley.”
- Graduating from Greensboro College wit a BA in Theatre and then achieving her MFA from UCONN, Ann Mahoney-Kadar as lot of experience to offer students at the AAC, including elements from her training in the Suzuki Method. She has taught acting, movement, and voice for the University of Connecticut, Delgado Community College, and the Tulane Summer Shakespeare Festival. Kadar has directed, choreographed, and performed many a lead role regionally at Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Greensboro College, Delgado Community College, Southern Repertory Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Long Wharf Theatre and also has had leading parts in film and tv. She is a member of both the Actor’s Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild.
- Robyn Parnell recently moved to the vibrant artsy town of Asheville from Atlanta, Georgia where she taught Music and Drama for over nine years, as well as being a public school teacher and director of her own Performing Arts Studio in Peachtree City, Georgia. Being the mother of two young children, she has really made a home for her family within the setting of the AAC and Asheville.
- Under a rare and generous Merit Scholarship, Dominic Aquilino received his Masters of Music and Professional Studies from the Manhattan School of Music. This Baritone actor/ singer is highly regarded as a featured soloist in theatres across the country. He has performed with the with Dayton Opera Lyric & Opera Cleveland in Ohio; the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute, Cantiamo Opera & Dicapo Opera Theatre in New York; Washington DC; Virginia Opera; and the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program. Newly married, Aquilino has settled down the Asheville NC and already this summer performed leading roles at the Parkway Playhouse and the Asheville Lyric Opera. The singing actor is no stranger to Musical Theatre. Some of his favorite roles are El Gallo in The Fantasticks, The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, Javert in Les Miserables, Adam in Seven Brides and Seven Brothers and the Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods. He is often a featured guest on numerous Pops and Musical Theatre Galas across the nation.
AAC offers performing arts education for all ages, starting with newborns! The Asheville Arts Center in unique in its curriculum in that, based on student (and also parent) feedback, they adapt and create their programming to fit the community’s needs. The AAC has a huge variety of programming in three locations in Asheville and is celebrating five years of success at being a leader in performing arts education this August!
Along with Kindermusik, theatre classes, private music lessons, Rock U (Asheville’s school of rock), the Gallagher School of Irish Dance, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap and plenty of fun summer camps; AAC is also active in the local theater community. AAC produces a variety of musicals and plays throughout the year, so far some of this year’s favorites have been “Into the Woods” and “The Who’s Tommy”. Stay tuned for more news about upcoming shows throughout the year, including this fall’s musical revue, “The Songs”!
If you are interested in being updated on a more regular basis please check out the blog www.ashevilleartscenter.wordpress.com AAC is also on Twitter www.twitter.com/AVLArtsCenter and Facebook www.facebook.com/AshevilleArtsCenter
The Asheville Arts Center
308 Merrimon Ave.
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 253-4000 Office
www.ashevilleartscenter.wordpress.com
2009 Fall Schedule Available for Download
Not only do we have our fall schedule listed on our website, we also have a handy dandy brochure! Here it is.
Be sure to click on the image to get a closer look!
Matemai Mbira Group coming to Asheville Arts Center on August 22!
Spirit Music from Zimbabwe | Matemai Mbira Group
Concert at Asheville Arts Center, Saturday, August 22
Show time: 7:30 to 9:30 PM | Tickets: $15 advance, $18 at door
Possessed of a pure, silken voice, Matemai’s soaring spirit-filled vocals capture the heart of all who hear him. This will be an amazing and electrifying show! Dancing Welcome. For more info and to listen to Matemai’s music, go to http://www.myspace.com/matemaimbiragroup.
Matemai Mbira Group is one of the top mbira ensembles performing currently in Harare, Zimbabwe and the surrounding townships. Based in Chitungwiza, the group takes its name from the totem of leader and featured vocalist Newton Cheza Chozengwa (also known as Newton Gwara or simply Matemai). American fans of mbira music know Matemai, former leader of the Nheravauya Brothers Mbira and Marimba ensembles, from his many recordings for MBIRA.org (see http://www.mbira.org) and Mhumhi Records (see http://www.mhumhirecords.org/Newtongwara.htm). The 2009 tour lasting from mid-May to August will be the long-awaited first visit to the U.S. for Matemai.
Considered one of Zimbabwe’s finest living mbira players, Matemai is a multi-talented instrumentalist, equally adept on marimba and electric guitar. Born in 1952, Matemai learned to play mbira while at school in Mangwende, in Mhondoro Reserve and moved to Dande in northeast Zimbabwe as an adult, where he became knowledgeable in traditional Korekore music. He has adapted a number of Korekore songs for the Zezuru mbira (mbira dzavadzimu), and is well versed in several mbira styles. For this reason he is much in demand to perform at a wide variety of mapira spirit possession ceremonies, often called to Dande to play mbira for Ambuya Nehandaone of Zimbabwe’s most powerful spirits. He is also a self-taught instrument maker who builds mbiras for sale.
Touring with Matemai will be Tinirai Jonathan “Simboti” Mazura (b. 1975), a virtuosic young member of Matemai Mbira Group. Mazura plays the kushaura or lead mbira, while Matemai plays the kutsinhira or following mbira, interweaving intricate counter-rhythms and bass lines into the mix. A respected elder gwenyambira (mbira player), Matemai may choose to perform on the large, deep-voiced bass mbira that he plays when the full band is present. The duo offer instruction in mbira, Shona vocals, and mbira-style arrangements for marimba ensemble or guitar.
The Mbira is an ancient melodic instrument played by the Shona People of Zimbabwe, traditionally used for spiritual/religious ceremonies to communicate with the Ancestors as well as a form of prayer and healing. The cyclical nature of the music combined with interwoven polyrhythm and trance inducing melodies creates a captivating sound experience.
**We are trying to sell out before the show, so act early for tickets and contact Christy Clavio, wombbaba@hotmail.com 828-777-0922.
***Also these Artists will be teaching a full weekend (August 20-24) of Zimbabwean Music workshops including: MBIRA, SINGING, MARIMBA, GUITAR, PERCUSSION, and STORYTELLING.
Montreat College event is TONIGHT at Asheville Arts Center
Montreat College Continuing Ed. Seminar for Parents
Main location of the Asheville Arts Center.
Tuesday, August 4th from 6:30 – 7:30 PM
Montreat College School of Professional and Adult Studies and Asheville Arts Center Pair Up to Help You Explore Educational and Arts Opportunities!
In today’s economy it is becoming more important than ever for working parents to lead through example by continuing their educational journey and encouraging their children to continue to learn, grow and express themselves. Montreat College School of Professional and Adult Studies can help busy, working parents achieve this goal while balancing work and home activities. Our adult students attend class just one night per week in Asheville and can earn their degree in about two years. Master’s, Bachelor’s and Associate’s degrees in business and education are available. Want to learn more? Join us at an information session / application workshop on Tuesday, August 4th from 6:30 to 7:30 at the Asheville Arts Center to get all of the exciting details about our program as well as learn more about how the Asheville Arts Center can help your children to explore their interests in music, dance and drama.
Call (828) 667-5044 or email Sarah Yerkey at syerkey@montreat.edu to RSVP.
Meet Our New Drama Teachers!
In preparation for our exciting fall semester, we are proud to announce our four new drama educators. All four of them are extremely talented and experienced, coming from a diverse array of backgrounds.
At the Asheville Arts Center, our mission is to cultivate well-rounded performers. The knowledge and creativity of these new teachers will enable us to continue raising the bar of performing arts education in Asheville!
In no particular order, here they are!
Andrew Gall, Asheville Arts Center Drama Educator
Andrew Gall is currently the Producing Artistic Director of the Parkway Playhouse, the oldest professional theatre in Western North Carolina. Mr. Gall is one of WNC’s more prolific directors and has directed a wide variety of productions across a broad range of styles and genres at a number of venues regionally as well as nationally. Mr. Gall has taught acting, voice, theory and movement at the college and high school levels as well as privately for most of his career.
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Ann Kadar, Asheville Arts Center Drama Educator
Ann Mahoney (Kadar) received her B.A. in Theatre Arts from Greensboro College, and her M.F.A. in Acting from UCONN, and is a member of both Actor’s Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. During her graduate studies she focused on the Suzuki Method of Actor Training, as created by Japanese theatre master Tadashi Suzuki. Regionally, she has played the title roles in Hamlet, Sweet Charity, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, all for Connecticut Repertory Theatre.
For the Berkshire Theatre Festival she originated the role of Indra’s Daughter in Strindberg’s A Dream Play. Other favorite roles include Harper Pitt in both parts of Angels in America (CT Rep), Thomasina in Arcadia (CT Rep), and Ophelia in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead for Long Wharf Theatre.
Selected film and television credits include a leading role in the locally shot A Dance for Bethany, and supporting roles in Big Momma’s House 2, Frankenstein (USA Network, Opposite Parker Posey & Adam Goldberg), Snow Wonder (CBS), The Madam’s Family (CBS, Opposite Ellen Burstyn), and Not Like Everyone Else (Lifetime).
Ann has taught acting, movement, and voice for the University of Connecticut, Delgado Community College, and the Tulane Summer Shakespeare Festival. She has directed and choreographed regionally at Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Greensboro College, Delgado Community College, and Southern Repertory Theatre. Ann is excited to be joining the team at Asheville Arts Center!
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Robyn Parnell, Asheville Arts Center Drama Educator
She looks forward to her new adventure and noteworthy productions!
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Dominic Aquilino, Asheville Arts Center Drama Educator
This past summer Dominic M. Aquilino returned to Parkway Playhouse to perform the leading role of Curly in Oklahoma! to rave reviews. The rest of the season the singer made his debut with Asheville Lyric Opera and performed such roles as Belcore in Elixir of Love, Monterone in Rigoletto and Gregorio in Romeo and Juliette, all the while, settling into is new home with his new wife in Asheville, NC.
Recently the baritone reprised one of his favorite roles as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance at Virginia Opera and also returned to Ohio, where this time he was heard as Captain Corcoran in Dayton Opera’s H.M.S. Pinafore and as the Second Phillistine in Samson and Dalila.
That same spring, audiences in Utica, NY enjoyed the baritone as a featured soloist in a recital series at the prestigious Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute. Some other recent reprisals include Marcello in La Boheme, a role for which he is widely recognized, in Washington D.C., and again in New York City with Cantiamo Opera, while simultaneously returning to the role of Shaunard in La Boheme with Dicapo Opera Theatre.
The two preceding summers Dominic returned to Cleveland where he had a very successful run as the Pirate King in Opera Cleveland’s The Pirates of Penzance, a role that, à la Captain Jack Sparrow, made him a huge audience favorite with its debut at Dayton Opera. There the singing actor also portrayed the unctuous Kodaly in She Loves Me with Lyric Opera Cleveland, and again last summer with the Parkway Playhouse, to rave reviews.
In his debut season with Dayton Opera he also sang Marullo in Rigoletto. Due to the success of his performances in Dayton, he was contracted later that summer with Cincinnati Opera, where he was a featured member of the Young Artist Program and covered the roles of Don Giovanni, Escamillo in Carmen and the Loudspeaker in The Emperor of Atlantis.
The preceding season, Mr. Aquilino was a member of the very prestigious Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program, and in a production specifically mounted with him in mind, at Lyric Opera Cleveland, he made his debut in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni to great acclaim.
The baritone last portrayed Shaunard in La Boheme with Central City Opera, under the baton of Maestro John Moriarty. There he was also cover to Lord Mountjoy in the American Premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Gloriana. That same year, the baritone had the privilege to sing Dancairo and cover Escamillo at Orlando Opera to Denyce Graves’ Carmen.
Mr. Aquilino created the role of Jaffrey in the World Premiere Production of Scott Eyerly’s The House of the Seven Gables in New York City and again portrayed the villain on the opera’s Albany Records release. Of his portrayal of this lago-like character Opera News said: “Dominic Aquilino conveys both the power and menace of Jaffrey- his outward righteousness and his interior villainy through purely vocal means.”
Some of his other favorite operatic roles include Silvio in Pagliacci, Lescaut in Manon, Valentine in Faust, Count Robinson in Il Matrimonio Segreto, Dimitri in Richard Wargo’s The Music Shop and Pavayokyasi in Henry Mollicone’s Coyote Tales.
The singing actor is no stranger to Musical Theatre. Some of his favorite roles are El Gallo in The Fantasticks, The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, Javert in Les Miserables, Adam in Seven Brides and Seven Brothers and the Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods. He is often a featured guest on numerous Pops and Musical Theatre Galas across the nation.
Under a rare and generous Merit Scholarship, Mr. Aquilino received his Masters of Music and Professional Studies from the Manhattan School of Music.
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Register for Fall Classes and get a $10 Gift Certificate to The Hop!
Register now for Fall classes at the Asheville Arts Center and receive a $10 gift certificate to The Hop Ice Cream! Offer good through our birthday party on Saturday, August 15th.
Enroll now for Fall Classes!
Our Dance Programs, Drama Programs & Private Music Lessons begin Monday, August 17th for the Fall semester.
Rock U Rock Band Conservatory begins a new year on Tuesday, September 1 (Year-long program)
Creative Arts Preschool begins Tuesday, September 8.
Kindermusik begins Monday, September 14.
It’s a fact that music, drama & dance lessons aid your child’s cognitive skills hugely as they develop. Whether you are putting your newborn into our Kindermusik program or your 7 year old in private music lessons, you’re raising a smarter kid. We can help!
The Asheville Arts Center is a school based on unlimited opportunities for students of all ages to explore their interests in music, dance and drama. We foster a love and appreciation for the arts through student-teacher relationships, which encourage and help you excel at your dream. We offer high-quality instruction and educational experiences because we are committed to the art of teaching and the teaching of the arts. It is our hope to build art and awareness in the community and provide a “home” for families to pursue their dreams.
Adult classses offered as well!
View & Register for Classes here:
http://www.ashevilleartscenter.com/classes.cfm
Also, don’t miss our 5th year anniversary parties!
Friday, August 14 from 5-8 PM. (South Location)
Saturday, August 15 from 10 AM – 3 PM (Main Location.)
Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social on Thursday, August 6, 6:30pm-8:30pm!
Ice Cream Social – Presented by Asheville Arts Center & The Hop Ice Cream Cafe
Thursday, August 6 | 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm at the Asheville Arts Center on 308 Merrimon Avenue
There is absolutely nothing like an old-fashioned ice cream social! Come join us for some delicious ice cream, courtesy of our friends at The Hop Ice Cream Café and take a tour of the Asheville Arts Center.
Suggested donation of $2 to benefit the Asheville Arts Center’s scholarship program, whose mission it is to offer quality performing arts education to all.
And don’t miss our 5th birthday parties on August 14 (5-8pm, South Location) and August 15 (10am-3pm, Main Location). Help us celebrate Asheville’s growing performing arts community!
ASHEVILLE Arts Center 