Dancers, Musicians, and Silk Transform Schuster Performing Arts Center on July 22nd

Blue Sky Project and Victoria Theatre Association present a live performance collaboration in the Wintergarden of the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center, Thursday, July 22, 2010.

On July 22, the three-story-tall glass Wintergarden of the Schuster Center will be transformed by a live performance installation, Of a River, featuring dancers, musicians and flowing silk. Of a River, a site-specific performance collaboration between Victoria Theatre Association and Blue Sky Project, features artists, musician Shaw Pong Liu and choreographer Rodney Veal. Two performances will occur on Thursday, July 22 at 7 and 9 p.m. Admission is free to the public.

The thirty-minute performance will take audiences on a journey exploring time, space, and the precious resource, water, in the magnificent multi-tiered world of glass and marble that is the Schuster Center's Wintergarden.

Shaw Pong Liu, current program director for Blue Sky Project, is a Boston-based, classically-trained violinist who performs internationally and creates innovative shows weaving improvised music with storytelling. Dayton native Rodney Veal is a choreographer and interdisciplinary artist whose work has been featured at the Ohio Dance Festival and has received numerous MCAD grants. Veal is on faculty at Stivers High School and Sinclair College, and serves as Board Chair of Blue Sky Project.
Both Liu and Veal are past Artists-in-Residence at Blue Sky Project, an international summer artists' residency that brings together five professional contemporary artists with 40 Dayton-area 14 - 18 year-olds for eight weeks of intensive collaboration.

Blue Sky executive director Peter Benkendorf says, "At its most fundamental values, Blue Sky Project is about three things: ambition; collaboration; community. Clearly, this original performance is a reflection of those values on so many levels. It is fulfilling for our program to be a catalyst for such exciting work in just our second season here in Dayton. We look forward to future projects with Victoria Theatre Association and other artistic collaborators."

"All of us at Victoria Theatre Association are excited about this unique collaboration with Blue Sky Project for Of a River. I think the use of the Wintergarden as a performance space is a tremendously engaging idea and I look forward to watching these world class artists create in this truly wonderful space," commented Ken Neufeld, President and CEO of Victoria Theatre Association and the Arts Center Foundation.

Tickets are not required for this free event. The public is also invited to attend Of a River's Open Rehearsal on Monday July 19, 7-9pm, for an inside look at the collaborative process.

For more information, please visit: www.victoriatheatre.com or www.blueskydayton.org.

For more information about Victoria Theatre Association's entire 2010-2011 season, visit www.victoriatheatre.com. 

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