BravoSLO!, a performing arts showcase featuring performances by Cal Poly and community art groups, will be held on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. “The great thing about BravoSLO! is not only do people get to come and see performances, but they get to actually talk to and interact with all of the clients that perform here,” Performing Arts Center outreach services specialist Melody Klemin said.
Kelly Trom
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The Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center (PAC) is opening its doors for the fourth annual BravoSLO! on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This free preforming arts showcase features Cal Poly arts groups — such as the music, dance and theater programs — and outside community art groups as well. These groups will be performing to generate excitement and interest in upcoming events for the 2013-14 season.
“Before, the PAC had outreach events that were more tied to open houses so we would take people throughout our building and show them how different elements of our building function,” said Melody Klemin, Performing Arts Center outreach services specialist. “But then we thought it would be really neat to have a showcase of performances that would serve as a preview for the upcoming season.”
Students and San Luis Obispo residents are encouraged to drop in for any part of the event or stay the whole time to get a feel for the community groups who will be performing this year.
“I don’t think students really realize the caliber of our local performing arts groups that we have right here in this town,” Klemin said. “We have first-class ballet, opera, symphonic music — and it’s right here in their backyard.”
Not only are there performances happening on the stage, but other community art groups will be in the lobby ready to talk to anyone who has an interest.
“The great thing about BravoSLO! is not only do people get to come and see performances, but they get to actually talk to and interact with all of the clients that perform here,” Klemin said. “Oftentimes it will be performers or artistic directors, the folks who are making the performances happen, that the audience often does not have chance to connect one on one with.”
There will be complimentary refreshments provided by Blackhorse Espresso & Bakery and door prizes contributed by the local performing groups, such as free tickets, dance lessons and gift baskets. Also, tickets purchased for one of the shows at BravoSLO! automatically enter the purchaser to win a $500 gift certificate to the PAC.
Some highlights of the performance are listed below:
Orchesis Dance Company
Orchesis will be performing for the first time at BravoSLO! at 12:45 p.m. with a number from its upcoming winter show, “I’ll Tell Ya Later,” choreographed by Damon Rago, chair of dance at Loyola Marymount University.
Usually, Orchesis does not have choreography ready to perform this early in the quarter, but a special circumstance allowed them to participate this year.
“We just happened to have a guest choreographer whose artistic residency was last weekend,” Orchesis Dance Company Director Diana Stanton said. “We had one dance completed already so I thought we should perform it in BravoSLO!”
The modern dance piece is seven minutes long and will be preformed to a blues song by Hugh Laurie.
Stanton said he enjoys BravoSLO! because it gives members of Cal Poly’s art programs a chance to interact and exchange ideas with each other.
“We like to think of our theater and dance program as artistically valuable, a community resource for the public and not just of this isolated box here at Cal Poly,” Stanton said. “Being in theatre and dance, we want to get out in the community and not just have it be for only Cal Poly people.”
Opera SLO
Performing between 11:00 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., Opera San Luis Obispo will be showcasing soloists picked by artistic advisor Jacalyn Kreitzer and director Brian Asher Alhadeff.
“They perform pieces they already know, or pieces from last year, to introduce the public to everything we do at Poly musically and community-wide,” Kreitzer said.
Many students have not been introduced to opera or classical music and BravoSLO! can do that for no cost to them, Kreitzer said.
“People need to expose themselves and stretch themselves by listening to all types of music,” Kreitzer said. “If they love country, that’s great, stretch yourself by listening to some jazz or classical. Expose yourself to different kinds of art and this is the perfect way to do that.”
Studio @-Ryan’s American Dance
Ryan’s American Dance is performing between 2:40 and 3:45 p.m via three different groups within the studio, the all-boys hip-hop group, the competition team and the local performing group. Almost all genres of dance will be touched upon, including jazz, ballet and musical theater.
The community dance studio has dancers of all ages, from age three to 70. The studio sees grandchildren dancing with grandparents as well as whole families that dance in the studio.
“We are actually going to be debuting a new dance this upcoming year,” studio owner Ryan Beck said. “You are going to see a couple of projects like our annual student showcases that will be in December. And our new ballet studio that we just started; they’re first place.”
The complete schedule of all the performances can be found on pacslo.org.