Great Performances: Miami City Ballet Dances Balanchine & Tharp

FREE Preview Screenings of MCB on Great Performances
Sunday, October 2, 2011
4pm & 7pm

Miami City Ballet Studios
at the Ophelia & Juan Js. Roca Center
2200 Liberty Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139

Free tickets are available in person Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm at Miami City Ballet Studios, or by phone at 305.929.7010 or toll free 877.929.7010.

Two free showings of the new PBS television program “Great Performances: Miami City Ballet Dances Balanchine & Tharp” at Miami City Ballet’s intimate Studio Theater, Lynn & Luis Wolfson, II Theatre.

WNET/THIRTEEN, New York’s PBS station, puts the spotlight on one of America’s finest dance companies, Miami’s own MIAMI CITY BALLET, in the new television program Great Performances: Miami City Ballet Dances Balanchine & Tharp.  This program – a trio of signature works by the renowned choreographers – will showcase the company’s critically acclaimed performances of Balanchine’s Square Dance (music by Antonio Vivaldi and Arcangelo Corelli) and Western Symphony (music by Hershey Kay) and Tharp’s “The Golden Section” (music composed and performed by David Byrne).

Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN in association with WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.“Great Performances: Miami City Ballet Dances Balanchine &Tharp” will air Friday, October 28 at 9pm on WPBT2.


This is a screening only -- no live performance.

WPBT2 premieres Craft in America: Messages on May 24th at 8:00 pm

Craft in America: Messages, looks at the ways many craft artists go beyond skill to personal and political expression. They use craft to tell a story, prove a point, or bring attention to issues. Often their work is passionate and provocative. The artists selected for Messages express many different interests and points of view, but they have one thing in common: their skill and creativity are of the highest level.

Wisconsin glass artist Beth Lipman explores the symbolism of 17th century still life paintings to express the fragility that exists in a world of excess. New Mexico santero Charles M. Carrillo uses authentic  materials to combine historic religious subject matter with contemporary culture. Baltimore bead artist Joyce J. Scott learned quilting and beading from her mother and draws from references as wide-ranging as Africa and comic books to focus on issues such as race and stereotyping. New Orleans jewelry artist and sculptor Thomas Mann is famous for his “Techno-Romantic” designs. He created Storm Cycle, a series of wall panels that document the untold stories in his beloved city after Hurricane Katrina.

 

Join WPBT2 for An Evening with Dave Grusin on May 12th at 8:00 pm.

 
 
 

Dave Grusin, 10 time Grammy Award-winning and Academy Award-winning composer, conductor and pianist has scored some of the most entertaining and enduring films in the past half-century.  An Evening with Dave Grusin, (available on CD, Blu-ray Disc and ROBA iPad App), is a groundbreaking live program that captures him conducting and performing with a host of stars and backed by the University of Miami Frost School of Music’s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami. 

The musical selections feature Dave’s award-winning film scores for On Golden Pond, Tootsie, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Goonies and more.  Additionally, Dave celebrates the music of great American composer George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Henry Mancini’s Moon River and Leonard Bernstein’s music for the Broadway hit, West Side Story.  Dave is joined by guest artists: Patti Austin, Jon Secada, Monica Mancini, Gary Burton, Arturo Sandoval, Nestor Torres and Sammy Figueroa. 

The concert was part of the 2009 JAZZ ROOTS: a Larry Rosen Jazz Series, conceived to be as much about education as it is about music.  As one of the Adrienne Arsht Center’s largest and most dynamic outreach efforts, the JAZZ ROOTS series provides an in-depth, behind-the-scenes performance and educational component to local jazz high school students during each show

Grusin’s album is, set for release on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, on April 26, 2011, is a collection of 12 songs from the performance. The groundbreaking ROBA Interactive iPad app for the project will also be available that day, and includes over 300 pages of photos, videos, audio options, artist interviews, “making of” footage, and more

 

Meet Award Winning Filmmaker, Ken Burns!

Join WPBT2 and award-winning filmmaker, Ken Burns for a night of gangsters, rumrunners, flappers and speakeasies as they host a screening for Ken Burn’s new film, Prohibition.  The screening will be held on Thursday, June 9 at 6:30pm at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts Amaturo Theatre.  Admission is $5 and tickets are available at www.wpbt2.org/kenburns or by calling 305-424-4025.

 

Burns will lead a discussion on the film with local experts on the broader topics of civility and democracy, which he explores in this project.  He will also answer audience questions following the screening.  Come dressed in your best outfit from the 1920s and enjoy music from that era prior to the screening.

Burns has been making films for more than thirty years.  Named as one of the most influential documentary makers of all time, Burns has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made including The Civil War, Baseball, The Tenth Inning, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Jazz, The War and many more.  

 

The new Ken Burns documentary, Prohibition, is scheduled to air on WPBT2 in fall 2011.  The three-part, documentary film series, directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, tells the story of the rise, rule and fall of the 18^th Amendment to the US Constitution and the entire era it encompassed.  The film raises vital questions that are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago – about means and ends, individual rights and responsibilities, and the proper role of government.

Local partners for the screening include: Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, City of Fort Lauderdale Centennial Committee and the Broward County Cultural Division, a service of Art Serve, Inc.

 

 

Miami-Dade Public Library System presents Art of Storytelling Festival on April 30, 2011 from 10:30 am to 4:00 pm.

Storytellers from around the world will take center stage in downtown Miami  
as Miami-Dade Public Library System celebrates its eleventh annual Art of Story Telling International Festival Day.

A magical adventure awaits as celebrity storytellers, from around the world join the cast of the Bit’s ‘N Pieces Puppet Theatre, Mother Goose on the Loose, Niall de Burca, magician Robert Hermens, the Bahamas Junkanoo Shakers, Geeta Dias: Bollywood Indian Dancers, School of Rock, the Hip Hop Kids and many others! Also back by popular demand is the teen zone-an area just for ‘tweens and teens which features anime, manga and video gaming competitions, plus activities around popular books and lots of cool surprises!

This FREE event is open to people of all ages and takes place at the Main Library - 101 W Flagler Street in downtown Miami. It begins at 10:30 am and ends at 4:00 pm.

WPBT2 premieres Independent Lens: Wasteland on Tuesday April 19th at 11:00 pm.

Filmed over nearly three years, Lucy Walker’s WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his home country of Brazil, and to Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest garbage dump located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There Muniz photographs an eclectic band of catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, and works with them to “paint” their portraits using garbage. The resulting collaboration with these inspiring characters provides profoundly moving evidence of the transformative power of art and its impact on the human spirit.

A Night of Poetry Everywhere with Liam Callanan and Campbell McGrath is hosted by the Miami Dade Public Library System on Thursday April 14 at 6:30

A Night of Poetry Everywhere is hosted by Liam Callanan, executive producer of Poetry Everywhere, and award-winning poet Campbell  McGrath. The evening is dedicated to screenings, readings and discussions about poetry. The event consists of thirty different short animated poetry films from different poets including Miami’s own Campbell McGrath to the current Santa Fe Poet Laureate Valerie Martinez. Each film features every word of every poem, both onscreen and in the soundtrack. These films are screened on public television and in buses, libraries  and classrooms. The purpose of these films is to bring poetry into public life.

A Night of Poetry Everywhere is presented in collaboration with University of Wynwood, University of Wisconsin, and the Poetry Foundation as part of O, Miami (www.omiami.org), a county-wide poetry festival inaugurating in April 2011. Its goal is for every single person in Miami-Dade County to encounter a poem during the month of April.

The event A Night of Poetry Everywhere takes place on Thursday April 14, 2011 at 6:30 till 8:30 at the Main Library Auditorium at 101 W. Flagler Street.

WPBT2’s video sharing website, uVu, will cover this special night.  If you cannot attend, take a look at the event on uvuvideo.org, keyword “Night of Poetry”

WPBT2 and Independent Lens Premiere Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

WPBT2 and Independent Lens bring to life the story of a revolutionary artist in Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child premiering Tuesday, April 12 at 11:00pm on WPBT2.

Centered on a rare interview that director Tamra Davis shot with her friend and contemporary artist Jean-Michel Basquiat over 20 years ago, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radian Child is the definitive chronicle of the short but brilliant life of the young artist who revolutionized the New York art scene almost overnight.

Told through interviews with his fellow artists, friends, and lovers, the film recounts Basquiat’slightning-quick ascension from street kid to art world star.

In the gritty, crime-ridden city that was New York in the late 1970s, artists, punk rockers, and writers flourished in the grimy oasis of the East Village. Among them was Basquiat, a Haitian/Puerto Rican graffiti artist from Brooklyn, who covered the city with the tag SAMO. In 1981, he put paint on canvas for the first time, and by 1983 he was an artist with rock star status.

In 1985, he and Andy Warhol became close friends and painting collaborators; however, they soon parted ways, and Warhol died suddenly in 1987. Basquiat’s heroin addiction worsened, and he died of an overdose in 1988 at the age of 27, leaving behind an enormous body of work including thousands of paintings and drawings with the potential to sell for more than a million dollars today.

With compassion and psychological insight, Tamra Davis details the mysteries that surround this charismatic young man, an artist of enormous talent whose fortunes mirrored the rollercoaster quality of the downtown scene he seemed to embody.

 

 

Miami Dade Public Library System Celebrates 40 Years!

Join the Miami Dade Public Library System as they celebrate their 40 year anniversary on Thursday, January 20 at the Main Library on 101 West Flagler Street.  The celebration will kick off with the “Dancing through the Ages” dance party at 12:00 p.m.  Wear your favorite outfit from the past four decades and boogie down at the dance contest.  Enjoy music, giveaways, prizes and a performance by the Super Soul Steppers.

The celebration continues that evening at 6:30 p.m. with a reception and art exhibit featuring music from the Greater Miami Youth Symphony and a talk with Miami historian, Dr. Paul George. Assembling an Era, an art exhibit that commemorates the library’s history in the community, will open that night.

Both events are free and open to the public.

For more information, visit www.mdpls.org.

 

 

Discover New Music at the Miami Music Festival!

Have you ever caught yourself searching endlessly for new music to add to your library?  Do you want to discover new artists and tunes? Well, Miami has a treat for you.  The Miami Music Festival will be in town from Thursday, November 11 through Sunday, November 14.  The event will showcase all genres of music from hip-hop to jazz and will feature acts from all around the world including emerging local artists.

There will be a special showcase on Saturday, November 13 at Flavour in Coconut Grove from 9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.  This showcase will be hosted by Jessy Schuster, host of Pulse, a WPBT2’s original production.  New artists such as Mosiah, Honorebel, Mixed Culture, Jahfe and Fully Loaded Band will perform.

All access tickets to the festival are only $25 and can be purchased in advance.  For locations, times and ticket information, visit miamimusicfestival.org.  Isn’t it time you discovered that new tune you have been searching for?