On October 18th, Orpheum Entertainment will offer the first of it’s new Front Row Centre Events Dance Series at the Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville beginning with Don Quixote by the Royal Ballet. This year’s series of eleven shows will present great dance cinema screenings from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Opera House, and Nederlands Dans Theatre.
Back in January, James Skinner and a few like-minded people started an initiative to bring more world-class artistic entertainment to Main Street, Wolfville. After viewing a Led Zeppelin Celebration Day concert screening by Front Row Centre Events at the Empire Theatre in New Minas, the group was inspired to bring a concert film series to the Al Whittle Theatre. After moving back to Nova Scotia in 2007, Skinner missed the regular opportunities to view live performances he’d had while living in Ottawa. “My first real exposure to ballet was when I saw the Brazillian dance troupe Grupo Corpo perform O Corpo at the National Arts Centre in 2002. I was blown away by the performance and immediately hooked. Given that I normally work in the logical and mathematical world of computer science I think that consuming in this type of art helps provide me some type of balance.â€
Front Row Centre Events presents live events via satellite to theatre screens. James wasn’t the only one interested in enjoying more access to the live performances happening around the world. After joining forces with Kathy Day, she secured a loan from Just Us! for the required satellite equipment to bring this type of alternative content from the national distributor Cineplex to the Al Whittle Theatre, and their project got the green light and they started to offer a selection of theatre and music concert movies.
“My hope is that it provides a way to experience world class dance that some in the community might not otherwise get to experience,†says James, “While watching dance in the Cinema is no replacement for seeing the real thing live it is still very impressive. I hope to provide content that compliments rather than competes with all the great live events that already happen locally.â€
