Guys and dolls dressed in Prohibition-era attire attended Sacramento Artists Council's Speakeasy Fundraiser at the Antiquite Maison Privee on Saturday, May 18. The fun-filled event included casino-style gambling for guests. Winnings could be used to purchase art donations scattered throughout the Antiquite Maison Privee's main entrance room. The Sacramento Artists Council continues to support local artists, musicians and others through fundraisers such as the annual masquerade. This year, the SAC celebrated the 3rd Annual Masquerade Gala/Speakeasy Fundraiser and raised several thousand dollars to keep music and art in local schools (the final tally is not yet complete). Spiffy dealer

Instead of looking back, as one might do when celebrating a 25th anniversary, Ron Cunningham of the Sacramento Ballet seems always to look forward. The latest ballet company production is Modern Masters Proteges, in which Cunningham invited three former dancers with the Sacramento Ballet to create new works for it. Jared Nelson, a Yuba City native who, after a stint with the local company, has danced for about a dozen years with the Washington Ballet; Ilana Goldman, who danced several seasons in Sacramento before moving on to the Trey McIntyre Project and then to the University of Washington where she’s soon to graduate with an advanced degree; and Amy Seiwert, who became resident choreogr

Families enjoyed a Mother's Day celebration at the 4th Annual Vida de Oro Folk Art Festival. The festival was held at the Good: Street Food + Design Market building located at 1409 Del Paso Blvd. Vida de Oro (which means “golden life”) was a free, family-friendly event held Saturday, May 11. This was the first year that the event was held at this venue. Artists, vendors and performers were on hand to help celebrate the event. The Good warehouse building has a high ceiling, and for most of the day it helped keep things somewhat cool, bringing relief from the hot weather. Delicious food and drinks were sold at the back of the building, providing a picnic-type setting. Vendors and ar

Besides giving you the opportunity to sip an adult beverage and sit hardly more than inches from the dancers, the Sacramento Ballet's "Beer & Ballet" lets you see how creative these dancers are at making dance, not just doing it. All the pieces on the program are new works created by members of the troupe, and, for the most part, they show a solid command of dance vocabulary and syntax and a maturity of style. "Beer & Ballet" opens Saturday after a couple of recent private performances, one of which I saw for review. Of the 11 dances, there probably are half a dozen really fine ones. Take, for example, the wonderful duet "Scars Never Seen" created by Nicole Haskins and danced by Ava Ch

Tutus and brews are meeting again for the Beer & Ballet program at the Sacramento Ballet. The yearly program combines an informal look at the intricacy of ballet with the laid-back atmosphere of a quiet lounge. Many of the ballet company’s biggest fans discovered their love of dance through these personal performances. The performance pieces were choreographed by the dancers themselves, and sponsor Ruhstaller will be providing the beer.  The Sacramento Ballet dancers will perform live at the Sacramento Ballet Studios on May 23rd and 24th at 7:00 p.m. There will also be a matinee show on May 26th at 2:00 p.m. Beer and Ballet continues into the first week of June, but ticket availability

The Sacramento Ballet returned to the Mondavi Center at UC Davis on Thursday to star in one of only a handful of "events" in the inaugural season of the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre's Studio Dance Series. The program, "An Evening of Solos, Duets and Trios," will be repeated at 8 tonight (Friday) and Saturday. Co-artistic directors Ron Cunningham and Carinne Binda have assembled a program of 10 dances representative of the company's breadth and depth. They chose four dances choreographed by the brilliant George Balanchine (from among 18 in the company's repertory); one by former company member Nicole Haskins, currently dancing with the Washington Ballet and recently selected for the prestigi

     It’s never easy to say goodbye, especially to the legendary band who helped get this country through some of the roughest times it has ever seen. Lou Coppola and the Nor Cal Big Bands Preservation Society will say goodbye to the public on May 19 by holding a farewell ball in Sacramento.       There have been many leaders of the bands in the past, but Coppola, 85 and executive director of the Nor Cal Big Bands Preservation Society, has witnessed his band perform during difficult stages in American history. From the Great Depression to World War II, the vibrant and uplifting tunes of the big bands have helped bring light into the American people and always kept a positive tune in the he

April's Second Saturday Art Walk drew the highest attendance of the year. More visitors and vendors enjoyed warmer weather as they visited the various art galleries and events in Midtown. Sacramento law enforcement made its presence known as they patrolled Midtown on foot, bicycle, horseback, patrol car and I even saw a helicopter flying in the 20th and J Street area, The added security made some people feel safer. “I like to see the police out here. I've heard about people getting robbed and assaulted the past few months around here and I do feel safer walking the streets,” said Grant Martin. Other people walking with Martin's agreed with his comments as they nodded. 20th Street betw

Sacramento's outdoor festivals and events increase during the spring and summer. The Xipe Colores Ceremony is one of these festivities that has been celebrated for the past 37 years. The annual ceremony recently took place once again at Southside Park. The April 13 event began a little later than expected but brought a good size crowd of supporters to the event. The Xipe Colores Ceremony was organized by the Maquilli Tonatiuh Aztec Dancers and dancers from Kalpulli Itzkuauhtli also participated. Xipe Totec was, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Aztec god of spring and new vegetation and also the patron of goldsmiths. The Xipe Colores Ceremony held at Southside Park celeb

Last year brave marchers participated in the annual Cesar Chavez march under rainy skies. This year it did not rain on their parade and a larger number of marchers participated on Saturday, April 6. Participants gathered at the Southside Park Amphitheatre, near the corner of 7th and T streets. Marchers eventually paraded towards the Capitol Mall and advanced to Cesar Chavez Plaza that remains closed due to renovations. This was the 13th year the march has taken place in Sacramento. This year many of the marchers also marched to demand legislation to give undocumented residents a path to the always controversial issue of citizenship for illegal immigrants. A White House Presidential P

Emcee Dennis Mangers promised the “Sacramento Has Talent” show audience that they would leave saying, “That’s entertainment!” His prediction proved true, as a lineup of talented local dancers, bands, musicians, comedian, filmmaker, singers and a spoken-word artist delighted the crowd. The April 4 show at the Crest Theater was presented by Access Sacramento as a benefit for a neighborhood youth reporter program. Guest artist Lisa Daggs and her five-member band opened the show with a rocking performance of her hit single “Forgiveness is a Powerful Thing.” An energetic Daggs connected with the crowd as she moved about the stage and let her raspy, powerful voice soar. Daggs’ musical career

Nonprofit, non-commercial media Access Sacramento, offers paid stipends to young journalists ages 16-21. To raise funds for the stipend program, on April 4, you can sample local, diverse and enteraining talent – 12 acts in all – set to perform at 7 p.m. at the Crest. Click here and judge for yourself.  Funds raised help pay stipends to the two-year media project "Neighborhood News - Youth Correspondent Stipend Program". As social media grows, especially with younger generations, traditional mass electronic and print media continue to struggle with diminished advertising revenues, reporter layoffs, and fewer resources for the coverage of local neighborhood news. New challenges invite new s

The words "spectacle" and "spectacular" come from the same Latin root meaning "unusual, notable, entertaining, striking and sensational." Both terms apply to The Sacramento Ballet's current program, which opened Thursday and continues through Sunday at the Community Center Theater. The program features an unlikely pairing of George Balanchine's "Western Symphony," a celebratory hoe down that fuses American folk dance with classical ballet, and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Sacramento Ballet co-artistic director Ron Cunningham's take on Shakespeare's comic fantasy. "Dream" is a spectacle, with its shimmering forest backdrop and colorful costumes, not to mention a stageful of children dresse

A colorful day of events transpired this past Saturday, March 16. Run or Dye is a 5K event that took place at McClellan Park in Sacramento. Run or Dye Billed as the world's most colorful 5K the event lived up to its billing and was attended by over 2,000 participants. Run or Dye has scheduled events that take it from coast to coast and is also open to participants of all ages. St. Patrick's Day Parade That same day Old Sacramento held its annual St. Patrick's Day Parade where green was the color most prevalent. Participants followed the beat of drummers and marched behind bagpipers as Sacramento celebrated St. Patrick's Day. Thousands of spectators lined the streets to watc

  The California Film Foundation (CFF) in collaboration with Sacramento Fashion Week (SACFW) presented an event called Fashion on Film. Filmmakers were invited to create a music video, short documentary or narrative using the California fashion industry as the focus. CFF and SACFW were available for help if filmmakers needed guidance. Each film had to meet several conditions in order to show their film. The completed films were part of the scheduled events during Sacramento Fashion Week. Filmmakers, directors, models, designers, merchandisers, musicians and others engaged in the fashion industry gathered teams together to create film projects. The completed films were shown to a sol

Sutter's Fort, built by John A. Sutter, is an American institution that continues to host events that feature California's early history. On Sunday, Feb. 24, Mexican Flag Day was celebrated at Sutter's Fort. Sutter was a Swiss immigrant who took Mexican citizenship not long before the California Gold Rush. Sutter's Fort was established on the large track of land granted to Sutter by the Mexican Department of Alta California. Events held at Sutter's Fort help bring California history to life and the many docents and volunteers help make this possible. The celebration began with an American flag ceremony at Sutter's main gate. Mindy Orozco welcomed guests and after raising the American

Sol Collective celebrated eight years of art, culture and activism as well as a recent community leadership award by hosting Word to Your Motherland. The celebration took place on Saturday, Feb. 23 with an art show curated by Nisha K. Sembi and Mandeep Sethi. Art from Word to Your Motherland will be on display at Sol Collective until March 18. The exhibit seeks to embody and inspire new ways of thinking and highlights artist collaboration and interaction with their cultural background. The multimedia showcase was well attended and several guests came from as far away as the Bay Area just to attend the event. Sol Collective invited special guests to a pre-event for the opening of Wo

  In partnership with Target, the Sojourner Truth Multicultural Art Museum, and the Sacramento Observer, the Crocker Art Museum sponsored the Black History Month Family Festival on President's Day 2013. Several thousand were in attendance to take part in activities which included Dance, Art, Music, and History.   Come along with them as I photographed the performances and activities as the people enjoyed the festival.       The youngest of the Dance Group UMOJA at 5 years of age shows her stuff.     UMOJA drummers treated the audience to original African music while the dancers showed off traditional works from around the African continent.         Enjoy this audience par

Dance through the lives of choreographers Iu-Hui Chua and Christine Germain with MFA Thesis Choreographies presented by UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance. The production runs at Mondavi Center’s Vanderhoef Studio Theatre from Thursday, Feb. 21 to Sunday, March 3. The performance is rated R for nudity and adult language. Tickets are $17 in advance or $19 at the door and are available at the Mondavi Center. Jarrell Iu-Hui Chua presents “Liglio” in collaboration with Bobby August Jr., traveling through the worlds of memories, dreams and present realities to investigate touch and its effects on relationships. Christine Germain presents “Transmutation,” in collaboration with Andrea del

“Who Cares?,” George Balanchine’s lively interpretation of George Gershwin’s 1920s Broadway show tunes, is a perfect accompaniment to the Sacramento Ballet’s world premiere of Ron Cunningham’s “The Great Gatsby.” “Who Cares?” opens the program with some of Balanchine’s classic moves – precision ensemble dancing, elegant extensions and intricate patterning. The ballet company’s talented cast of dancers performs extremely well, bringing energy, humor and artistry to the choreography. Standouts include Christopher Nachtrab’s “Liza,” Amanda Peet’s “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” Pett and Stefan Calka’s intimate “The Man I Love,” Alexandra Cunningham and Oliver-Paul Adams’ elegant “Embraceable You” and