Phat Pack, print exhibit among arts offerings this weekend
Dance
DANCE SHOWCASE
DEBUTS AT SMITH
If you’re alive, you’ve gotta dance.
That’s the inspiration for “Gotta Dance: A Tribute to … Life!” — which marks its world premiere in a free showcase presentation Wednesday and Thursday at The Smith Center’s Troesh Studio Theater.
From Hollywood to Broadway to music videos and beyond, “Gotta Dance” will explore a variety of dance styles, including jazz, tap, modern, hip-hop, ballet, Latin and ballroom, as performed by Las Vegas and visiting dancers.
The show’s music reflects a similar range, with Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” and Wye Oak’s “Dance My Pain Away” among the featured songs.
The show explores “the uncontrollable urge to move and freely express yourself as you find rhythm and music in everything that surrounds you,” director and choreographer Giulio Scatola says. “It could be a song or an unexpected beat pulsing from ordinary, every day sounds — from a machine engine hum to the sound of raindrops on the roof. As you liberate yourself through movement, you find connections with the vibrations of life and the people you come in contact with in a timeless celebration of who you are and who we all are.”
The free showcase will be presented at 7 p.m. Wednesday and 4 and 7 p.m. Thursday in the Troesh Studio Theater at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 361 Symphony Park Ave. VIP receptions begin an hour before each showcase; for more information, visit www.gottadance.us.
Music
ONYX HOSTS PHAT PACK’S ‘THE BEST OF BROADWAY’
The Phat Pack’s back — but the former Plaza headliners are strutting their stuff on a different stage Sunday afternoon as they perform at the Onyx Theatre as a benefit for the Off-Strip Productions.
“The Phat Pack: The Best of Broadway” played the Plaza for about a year, opening in November 2012, and moved to Bally’s in December. Members Bruce Ewing, Ted Keegan, Randal Keith and Kevan Patriquin (who all met when “Phantom: The Vegas Spectacular” played The Venetian) created the show to share musical favorites — and tales of their journeys from Broadway to Las Vegas.
In addition to supporting Off-Strip Productions, the quartet has “a number of shows scheduled ‘on the road’ in the next few months, so this is also an opportunity for us to practice performing in different venues before taking the show on the road,” Ewing says, plus “one more chance to share our show with our Las Vegas audiences as well!”
They’ll perform at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Onyx Theatre, 953 E. Sahara Ave. For tickets ($20), call 702-732-7225 or visitwww.OnyxTheatre.com; more information on the Phat Pack is available at www.PhatPackShow.com.
Art
CSN STUDENTS
GET ‘PRESSED’
CSN art students make a definite impression in the group exhibit “PRESSED,” which opens Friday in CSN’s Artspace Gallery.
Subtitled “Introduction, Intermediate and Serigraphy Printmaking, CSN Student Printmaking 2013–2014,” the exhibition showcases a variety of printmaking techniques by 21 art students: Natasha Culbreth, Javier Esqueda, Eliza Fox, Jazmin Garcia, Nicholas Giordana, Carlos Herrera, Laural Howard, Jennifer Huynh, Ekaterina Klochkova, Katherine Lugo, Gloria Marinez, Rudolpho Medina, German Meza, Destiny Monreal, Leticia Ortega, Rosie Piacentini, Halie Scalentta, Amy Smith, Jessica Sowell, Juan Varela and Emily Weeteling.
CSN art professor Anne Hoff curates the exhibit, which continues through Aug. 1 at the Artspace Gallery at the College of Southern Nevada, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave., North Las Vegas. A reception for the artists will be from 6 to 8 p.m. July 10; gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.
For more information on the free exhibit, call 702-651-4146 or visit sites.csn.edu/artgallery/index.html.
Music
YOUNG PLAYS
CABARET JAZZ
On to the next stage.
Performer Eric Jordan Young moves from the Strip to downtown’s Smith Center Friday for “Once in a Lifetime,” an energetic song-and-dance showcase inspired by all-around entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
Young recently completed a 2,000-performance run in “Vegas! The Show,” which earned him two Broadway World awards. His credits include Broadway (“Ragtime,” “Chicago”), television (“Ugly Betty,” “Law &Order: Criminal Intent”) and performances with several symphony orchestras, including the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall.
Young will perform “Once in a Lifetime” at 7 p.m. Friday in Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 361 Symphony Park Ave. For tickets ($32-$38), call 702-749-2000 or visit www.thesmithcenter.com.
— By CAROL CLING
