Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center to welcome Paul Taylor Dance Company
Great Barrington — The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will present performances by Paul Taylor Dance Company Friday, July 6, at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, July 7, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. After the Friday evening program, the company’s new artistic director designate Michael Novak will be interviewed by Walter Jaffe and Paul King, co-founders of the Portland, Oregon-based White Bird dance organization.
Paul Taylor recently announced the creation of a new artistic position at the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation, appointing Taylor Company dancer Michael Novak as artistic director designate effective July 1. Taylor will continue as the Foundation artistic director, choreographing new dances and preparing Novak to be the future artistic director of the organization.
Taylor continues to shape the American art of modern dance that he has helped define since becoming a professional dancer and choreographer in 1954. Taylor has choreographed 147 dances, many of which have attained iconic status and have been celebrated throughout the world. The Company has performed in some 524 cities in 64 countries. The Mahaiwe program will include three pieces: the New England premiere of “Concertiana” (2018), which is set to a violin concerto by composer Eric Ewazen and contrasts solos and duets with slower-moving groups in silhouette; “Gossamer Gallants” (2011), which, set to music by Bedřich Smetana, incorporates movements inspired by blue-bottle flies, dragonflies, and other insects; and “Company B” (1991), which evokes the rhythms of the 1940s through the hit songs of the Andrews Sisters, as well as the era’s grim and persistent shadow of war.
Tickets are $10–$95. For tickets and information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Mahaiwe box office at (413) 528-0100.
–E.E.
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July First Fridays Artswalk to feature diverse artist groups
Pittsfield — The July 6 First Fridays Artswalk will encompass a dozen art shows featuring over two dozen regional and student artists in Pittsfield’s Upstreet Cultural District from 5 to 8 p.m. The Artswalk will kick off with opening receptions and artists present throughout, plus a free guided walking tour at 5 p.m. at the BRTA Intermodal Center.
The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts will host Community Access to the Arts’ annual art show, “I Am a Part of Art,” featuring a collection of paintings and drawings by artists with disabilities. All works are professionally matted and framed, and all pieces are available for sale, with proceeds providing commissions for individual artists. The curated exhibit features a wide range of styles including abstract and representational paintings and drawings, printmaking, sculpture and collage in a variety of media including acrylic, tempera, watercolor, oil and chalk pastel, charcoal, clay and mixed media. “I Am a Part of Art” is on view Thursday, July 5, through Tuesday, July 31. An opening reception will take place Thursday, July 12, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Dottie’s Coffee Lounge will present “Pittsfield Better or Worse” in its Dot Gallery. Said exhibit curator Richard Britell: “This title implies that feelings about the city are extremely varied to say the least. Eight artists have been asked to create or display two works each, works that express their feelings about our town.” The show includes work by Daniel Karp, Chris Addams, Lucie Castaldo, Jade Roy, Sara Wallach, Diane Firtell, John Clark and Britell. The opening reception will take place Friday, July 6, from 4:30 to 7 p.m.
Artist Marita O’Dea Glodt presents “Moments of Light – Paintings of the Berkshires” through Friday, Aug. 31, at Hotel on North. Contemporary American landscape painter Glodt is inspired by the unlimited possibilities and spirituality of landscape painting. Painting in oil, she primarily uses landscapes near her homes in the Berkshires and Texas.
New shows from local artists will also be displayed at NUarts Studios and Gallery, Steven Valenti’s Clothing for Men, the Marketplace Café, the Funky Phoenix, Berkshire Paint and Sip, the Kinderhook Group Real Estate, Berkshire Museum, the Brothership Building and Berkshire Medical Center. For more information, contact Downtown Pittsfield Inc.at (413) 443-6501.
–E.E.
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Ventfort Hall to present ‘Louisa May Alcott and Concord’s Literary Luminaries’
Lenox — As follow-up to the recent PBS presentation of “Little Women,” historian Julie Agar will focus on its famous author when she gives the lecture “Louisa May Alcott and Concord’s Literary Luminaries” Thursday, July 5, at 4 p.m. at Ventfort Hall. The talk will be accompanied by a Victorian tea.
Born Nov. 29, 1832. in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Alcott was one of four sisters. In 1867, she accepted a job as the editor of a juvenile magazine. The next year she produced the first volume of “Little Women,” a cheerful account of her childhood. The heroine, Jo, represented Alcott herself. A second volume appeared in 1869. The financial success of the books over the following years gave her family enough money to live comfortably. Alcott died in 1888 in Boston.
Tickets are $26 for advance reservations and $32 on the day of the event. Reservations are recommended due to limited seating. For information or reservations, contact Ventfort Hall at (413) 637-3206 or info@gildedage.org.
–E.E.
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Waste oil and paint collection scheduled
Lenox — On Saturday, July 7, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., the South Berkshire Household Hazardous Waste Collaborative will hold a paint and oil collection for the 15 participating towns of Alford, Becket, Egremont, Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Monterey, Mount Washington, New Marlborough, Otis, Richmond, Sheffield, Stockbridge, Tyringham and West Stockbridge. The Center for EcoTechnology will coordinate the collections.
Acceptable materials are oil-based paint, oil-based stains, paint thinners, spray paint and turpentine as well as waste motor oil. No other type of oil or fuel will be accepted, nor will latex paint. Empty cans can be recycled with scrap metal. Dried-up cans of latex paint as well as empty cans of oil-based paints, stains and solvents can be disposed of with the regular trash.
Those wishing to participate in the collection must register online or contact Thomas Jakubasz at (800)-369-3333 x142 or Thomas.Jakubasz@cetonline.org by Friday, July 6. Residents from communities that are not participating should call their city or town halls for information about hazardous household product collections.
–E.E.
