As the curtain rises, a massive sizzling sun frames the 45 male and female dancers of the world famous Ballet Folklórico de México, who are costumed in the Latin American splendor of feather headdresses and golden tunics. The performance is an exuberant celebration, you will find yourselves on your feet cheering, happy, and exhilarated.

Mexican dance mirrors the culture's folkloric past and present. The Ballet Folklórico exemplifies this tradition by incorporating the essence of traditional Mexican dance and recreating it with the techniques of classical and modern dance. The swirling, colorful stage show, with its multi-colored costumes and its wide-ranging repertoire is a wonderfully appealing display of Mexico's aesthetic sensibility. Lovers of dance, of Latin American music, and of exotic cultural presentations are sure to find the performance an engaging experience and a spectacular evening of entertainment.

Ballet Folklórico appears at the UMass Fine Arts Center Concert Hall on Tuesday, March 2 at 7:30 PM. Tickets are available from the Fine Arts Center Box Office at 545-2511 or 800-999-UMAS, or online at www.umasstix.com.

A video of Ballet Folklórico may be seen here.

Enjoy two upcoming bus trips for Friends of the Fine Arts Center: one to hear the Springfield Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Springfield and the other to experience the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Boston.

On Saturday, March 13, join us for an extraordinary evening with the Springfield Symphony and Chorus in a program that includes "The Unanswered Question" by Charles Ives, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, and the Mozart Great Mass in C Minor.

The bus will depart from Big Y on University Drive in Amherst at 4:30 PM. You will proceed to Max's Taven at the Basketball Hall of Fame for a two-course dinner, and then to Symphony Hall for the evening's performance, beginning at 8:00 PM.

Then, on Saturday, April 24, our destination will be Symphony Hall where the majestic Boston Symphony Orchestra will perform Richard Strauss' Suite from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 in A with Leonidas Kavakos, and Mozart's Symphony No. 35, K. 385, "The Haffner."

Your bus will leave Big Y on University Drive in Amherst at 2:00 PM, and from Springfield's Basketball Hall of Fame at 3:00 PM. When you reach Boston, you can enjoy dinner at a restaurant of your choosing, and then stroll to Symphony Hall for the evening's performance at 8:00 PM.

For more information about these two exclusive trips, including discouts available to members of the Friends of the Fine Arts Center, contact Anna Robbins at 413-545-4253 or arobbins@admin.umass.edu.

Experience Galak Tika, America's most innovative Balinese gamelan, performing traditional and contemporary music and dance for Balinese gamelan, accompanied by electric guitars, electronics, and Ensemble Robot's Heliphon, designed and programmed by MIT students.

The musicians and dancers will be performing Evan Ziporyn's rock gamelan classics Tire Fire and Amok!, traditional works featuring stunning Balinese topeng (masked dance), performed by master Balinese dancers I Madé Bandem and Ni Lu Suasti, plus Christine Southworth's exhilarating Heavy Metal for gamelan and robotic glockenspie. This concert promises to present a musical hybrid that expands the horizons of both music and humanity’s relation to machines.

A video clip of Southworth's Heavy Metal is available here.

Tickets to Gamelan Galak Tika & Ensemble Robot are available from the UMass Fine Arts Center Box Office at 545-2511 or 800-999-UMAS, or online at www.umasstix.com.

The Lively Arts Program, co-sponsored by the Fine Arts Center and the Department of Music and Dance, will present a Guest Artists' Festival on Tuesday and Thursday, March 2 and 4, featuring Jon Nakamatsu, piano and Jon Manasse, Clarinet. A central feature of the residency will be the Massachusetts premiere of Lowell Liebermann's Clarinet Concerto, performed by Jon Manasse with the University Orchestra, conducted by Professor Lanfranco Marcelletti. UMass has taken a leadership role in the national consortium organized by alumnus Thomas F. Parker '72 to commission this work.

Events include:
Tuesday, March 2

An Intimate Concert
Artists' Personal Favorites from Classical to Ragtime
8:00 PM, Bezanson Recital Hall $5/$10

Clarinet Master Class, Jon Manasse
1:10 to 2:20 pm, Bezanson Recital Hall
Open to the public, no charge

Piano Master Class, Jon Nakamatsu
2:30 to 3:45 pm, Bezanson Recital Hall
Open to the public, no charge

Thursday, March 4

In performance with the University Orchestra, Lanfranco Marcelletti, Jr., Director
Manasse performs the Massachusetts premiere of Lowell Liebermann's Clarinet Concerto.
Nakamatsu performs Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor.
8:00 PM, Fine Arts Center Concert Hall $5/$10

Tickets are available from the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall at 545-2511 or 800-999-UMASS.

For more information, contact John Jenkins, director of the Lively Arts Program, at 413-545-0020 or jenkins@admin.umass.edu.

Photo: Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu.

On Thursday, February 25 at 7:00 PM, the University Museum of Contemporary Art will present a Gallery Talk, in conjunction with the very successful Greening the Valley exhibition. The talk is titled "Sustainability in the Community: Regional Planning and Grassroots Efforts that are Making a Difference."

Participants are Joseph Krupczynski, Associate Professor, Department of Art, Architecture, and Art History, UMass Amherst; Rudy Perkins, Project Manager and Staff Attorney, HAP Housing; Catherine Ratté, Principal Planner – Sustainability, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission; and Daniel Ross, Executive Director, Nuestras Raíces. (Continuing education credits are provided by the Western Massachusetts AIA.)

The conversation will consider a number of issues related to sustainable community development. How can we rebuild and shape our communities? How can we plan for long term vitality of a community? What are the impulses that make change happen?

On February 26, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, the gallery hosts an Artists' Reception in conjunction with the current exhibit, I'am a dream: A (Collective) Dialogue with a Collection. Participants will include with local artists Ali Osborn, Raphy Griswold, and Teddy O’Connor.

.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Illustration:
Joseph Cornell
Untitled, ca. 1958
Collage, 11 1/2 in. x 8 1/2 in.