ACANSA Arts Festival Of The South Presents COCKTAIL HOUR: THE SHOW

ACANSA Arts Festival of the South welcomes New York City-based Ballets with a Twist and its signature production, Cocktail Hour: The Show. This electrifying floorshow-to-stage-experience reinvents the excitement of classic entertainment through an original mix of choreography, music, and costume design. Watch as Bloody Mary, Manhattan, Hot Toddy, and more spring to life in a series of sparkling vignettes. You've never seen cocktails like these!

Slated for the final weekend of the festival, the event will take place Saturday, September 23rd at 7:30pm on the campus of the University of Arkansas — Pulaski Technical College CHARTS (3300 West Scenic Drive North). Single tickets are $35. Students 18 years old and younger receive free admission. To purchase tickets, go to http://acansa.org/ballets-with-a-twist-cocktail-hour. For additional festival information, contact info@acansa.org or 501-663-2287.

In keeping with its commitment to community outreach, Ballets with a Twist will offer a master class to North Little Rock High School dance students on Friday, September 22.

 

Created by artistic director and choreographer Marilyn Klaus, Cocktail Hour: The Show combines the glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age with a sleek, twenty-first century sensibility. Elegance and all-American energy combine in an evening of witty, spellbinding storytelling. It's high-style fun for all ages.

 

Program highlights include

• “Champagne” — A glittering ballroom bubbles to life in this silver-screen dream.

• “Shirley Temple” — A daring damsel frolics through her soda pop-fueled imagination to an after-school hip-hop soundtrack.

• “Boilermaker” — Beware the twist ending in this film noir homage. Best not to test a ticking time bomb!

 

Marilyn Klaus, whose choreography has been seen internationally, formed Ballets with a Twist in association with Grammy-nominated composer Stephen Gaboury and costume designer Catherine Zehr. Her company — lauded by The Huffington Post for “blasting the boundaries between high art and entertainment” — has appeared in a wide range of venues throughout the country, from Cleveland's Playhouse Square and New York City's Beacon Theatre to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Tribeca Film Festival.

 

Stephen Gaboury's compositions have been performed by celebrated musicians nationwide. As a pianist, he has collaborated and toured the world with pop/rock icon Cyndi Lauper for more than a decade, most recently joining her alongside the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at its historic home venue. He has also accompanied such artists as Patti LaBelle, Norah Jones, and Sarah McLachlan, and has performed at internationally televised events such as the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony and the New Year's Eve Times Square Ball Drop. Gaboury's music has been heard in concert, on television, and in films (including Boyhood and American Beauty).

 

Catherine Zehr is the artistic force behind the company's costume design. Her creations evoke the origins and essence of each dance with dazzling colors and ornamentation. Zehr honed her skills while working at major American fashion houses, then by designing and manufacturing attire for her own label. She studied art and design at Washington University and New York City's Fashion Institute of Technology, where she and the company delivered the presentation “Designing Costumes for Ballets with a Twist” as part of The Museum at FIT's Fashion Culture series.

 

Craving more Twist culture? Visit balletswithatwist.com.

 

 

ACANSA Arts Festival of the South is a visual and performing arts festival dedicated to building a more dynamic and engaging community through the arts and enriching the cultural vitality of the region. By fostering creative collaborations among artists, patrons, businesses, and community institutions, ACANSA facilitates the creation and presentation of more compelling art that encourages public dialogue, economic innovation, provides access to a wider array of artistic experiences, and makes our community a stronger, more vibrant place to live. 

A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, ACANSA was founded by Charlotte Gadberry with the help of hundreds of dedicated volunteers throughout the central Arkansas community. The first ACANSA Festival was held in 2014. The Festival's name, ACANSA, is borrowed from the Quapaw word for “southern place.” 

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