RITUAL DANCE Comes to Prescott This Month

On Saturday August 18 things will be heating up in Prescott with two of the hottest entertainers in Arizona joining forces. Two world-class professionals originally from from Las Vegas and New York teaming up to create an unforgettable evening of entertainment in a show called RITUAL DANCE. The show features the music and guitar virtuosity of Anthony Mazzella and creative dancing of professional showgirl Myryka Nunyaz.

Myryka began her career at the age of 18 where she was contracted to perform in Bally's Jubilee and from there went on to work in several shows in Las Vegas at The Flamingo, The Stratasphere, and Caesar's Palace. Her desire to travel put her on cruise ships and stages in countries like Japan, Spain, Brazil, and the Caribbean. Her cultural heritage is heavy with dances like samba, salsa and capoeria but she began technical training with ballet at age 5 and was allowed to enroll as a special student at UNLV and take non-credit classes when she was only in the 9th grade. At that time, she spent her days at school maintaining a high grade point average and spent her evenings in college dance classes usually as the youngest in the class driven by the desire to dance.

She has studied with many top dancers and choreographers over the last 20 years including Tina Landen - Janet Jackson's famed choreographer - and the amazing belly dancer, Marliza Ponz, a classic belly dance legend and the shimmy queen of her time. Myryka has focused her training on bellydance for the last 13 years but has gathered techniques from dance arts such as latin ballroom, samba, hip hop, breakdance, Afro-Brazilian, Flamenco, Tribal Bellydance, ballet, jazz, modern dance, lyrical, circus aerial dance, Capoeria, Japanese Fan Dance, Fire Dance and so many others. Winning the 2006 Bellydancer Of The Universe People's Choice & Congeniality Award was another milestone this elegant woman achieved proving she could carry her own as a solo performer. Myryka has been featured on many television programs and has spent some time training and performing with Egypt's top Oriental Dancers such as Dina, Raqia Hassan, Sorraya, and the incredible Randa Kamal.

Guitar wizard Anthony Mazzella began his performance career as a concert guitarist in New York City. He quickly built up a strong following performing in most every live music club in Manhattan including:The Bitter End, CBGB's, Cat Club, Cafe Wah, Birdland etc. Anthony then landed a headlining spot at the BLUE NOTE NYC just one year after street performing in front of it and spent the following years touring colleges & universities all over the USA . He then went on to performing on stages all over the world as a solo artist and as the concert guitarist for world music master Omar Faruk. Anthony has opened for headlining artists, James Brown, Tower of Power, The Commodores, The Black Keys and others.

His original music is composed with a fusion of world influences consisting of acoustic fingerstyle, classical, flamenco, jazz, funk, R&B, celtic and rock and roll. In 1997 he recorded his debut solo CD titled"Electric Fingerstyle Guitar". In 2001 he recorded "BRIO" with platinum selling recording artist Chris Spheeris and was an awarded "best acoustic instrumental album of 2001" by NAV. In 2002 he recorded his second solo CD titled "Unity" where each song is diverse in genre to showcase all the styles Anthony is capable of playing. In 2006 he collaborated with three time Grammy nominated artist William Eaton, together they composed and recorded a CD for the Electric Harp Guitar Group. In 2009 Anthony recorded 12 new solo guitar compositions rich in spirit and appropriately entitled "Heavenly Guitar". His latest recording is a fusion of Spanish guitar and Exotic music titled RITUAL.

Mazzella began studying music on the violin at age five. He then proceeded to learn the rudiments of music on piano until falling in love with the guitar at age thirteen. Throughout his adolescence he studied with several private guitar teachers, but Anthony attributes the greater part of his education to ear training. His influences are many, but none more profound than the music and techniques of guitar masters such as Michael Hedges, Pat Metheny, Carlos Montoya, Eddie Van Halen, Andres Segovia and countless others. In the nineties Anthony shared his musical insights by teaching at Knopf Music (where he once took guitar lessons), as a private instructor, and at the Long Island School for Music and Arts. Anthony was also one of the few chosen understudies of world ­ renowned guitar master Stanley Jordan.

The show is on Saturday August 18 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $22-$19 and are available at the Prescott Center For The Arts box office 928-445-3286 or at the website PCA-AZ.net.

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