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APAG 2012-2013 Season Opener - The Passion of Spanish Dance, Ole!
AIKEN, SC - The Aiken Performing Arts Group’s 2012-2013 season opener is Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater, presenting its spectacular dance style at the URS Center for the Performing Arts on October 11 & 12 at 8:00 PM. It promises to be a sensual and breathtaking dance event with gorgeous costumes and soaring music.
The company, founded in 1976 by artistic director Dame Libby Komaiko, is comprised of forty dancers, singers, and musicians representing a mosaic of cultures from around the world.
According to a recent Chicago Times review, this world-class company never ceases to bedazzle its audiences with the variety, precision, beauty and heat of its performances. One would be hard-pressed to find the breadth and range and sheer brilliance of dance -- from folkloric to flamenco to balletic riffs.
Ensemble Español appears in a broad range of television, opera, film, and symphonic formats, including with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and works in cultural and educational arts programs developed with state, national, and international government agencies. It has performed throughout the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Poland and at every major university in Chicago and Illinois.
It was the first Spanish dance theater in the United States to gain in-residence status at a university and is celebrating 36 years of residency at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago under the auspices of the department of music and dance.
Cathy Traver, the APAG Arts Administrator, said this is the fifth dance troupe hosted by APAG since its inception. With the many dance studios and schools in the CSRA, dance has become a growing entertainment and participation activity. An outreach demonstration program for students at South Aiken High School will be offered as part of the company’s visit to Aiken, and for the first time APAG is offering special ticket prices for dance students.
Tickets are $40.00 and are available online at www.apagonline.org, or by calling the box office at 803-648-1438. Ask about special prices for dance students.
Aiken Performing Arts Group will present six shows in the 2012-2013 season, with most shows being performed at the URS Center for the Performing Arts on Newberry Street in downtown Aiken. In past seasons, APAG has also been instrumental in bringing in such high profile groups as the National Symphony Orchestra to the USC Aiken Convocation Center and occasionally offers concerts at The Etherredge Center and other smaller, more intimate venues. APAG is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization with an all-volunteer Board of Directors and part-time Arts Administrator. One of APAG’s most important contributions to the community is its educational outreach from visiting artists with Aiken County’s public schools as well as the College of Music at University of South Carolina, Columbia and the Music Department of USC Aiken.
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