The Arts Council kicks off the opening of its new building with a free block party on Saturday, September 25, followed by a reception for the building’s first artist’s exhibit on Saturday, October 2, followed by a “Five Alarm Firehouse Fling” dance event on Saturday, October 16.
During the opening block party, the portion of Alexander Road from Wallace Road to Route 571 will be shut down to accommodate the opening ceremony.
According to Heidi Kleinman, a dancing ensemble will march down the street from the train station to the arts center parking lot, which will be adorned by tents with various hands-on activities, and an outdoor stage that will hold the day’s performances. Once in the parking lot, the community will join a percussionist in a drum circle to participate in a unifying beat.
The opening ceremony is a reinterpretation of a traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony, explains Kleinman. “We see this as tying the many ribbons of our community together,” she said. “So the use of ribbons in arts projects and the dance will be very obvious when you are here.”
The dance project, which will tie together dance genres and cultural groups in a traveling dance collage, will be presented by choreographer Marie Alonzo. The flash-mob style dance will start along the New York City-bound platform, down and across the Wallace Parking lot, connecting to Alexander Road and ending at the arts center with an abstract ribbon dance.
“This work uses the train station as an important component of West Windsor as a junction, not only for commuters, but also for cultures, the arts, and education,” states a press release. The dance groups will include Alonzo’s Tangerine ensemble with Henri Velandia’s HotSalsaHot semi-pro team of Danielle Mondi, Claudia Palestini, Tammy Fay Hayes, Lexie Warren, Juan Ramz, Kevin Toft, and Roger St. Jean; Trenton’s hip hop troupe, Devastation Crew; Princeton’s Lisa Bottalico’s Flamenco Dancers; High School South Seniors Pooja Patel and Raashi Desai; and Lawrenceville’s Alexia’s Belly Dance and Beyond.
Called “Junction Dances,” the dance will use the concept of tying dance, arts, cultures, generations, towns, people and community together by using partnering dances, connecting body shapes and rhythms, and fabric just like a quilt sewn together with flamenco’s shawls, Indian scarves, and Middle Eastern veils and then culminating with a serene and captivating ribbon dance to mark the official opening of the West Windsor Arts Center.
Other performers include the Out of the Blue, an a cappella group from High School North, Timeless Music dance performers, the Garden State Slide Ensemble (trombonists), Timeless Music sitar players, the High School South’s Saxophone Quartet and String Quartet, Alex DeSimine, a North guitar and vocalist, Opera NJ, the Millstone River Morris dancers. Circus performers, stilt walkers, as well as an improv group from North and a mime group from South will also be on hand. Sinfonietta Nova will also perform during the event. The closing ceremony will include maypole weaving.
In addition to the West Windsor Arts Council, some of the vendors providing activities during the day are the Berrien City neighborhood, the Princeton University Art Museum, Westminster Choir College, Princeton University Lewis Center, the West Windsor Historical Society, the Arts Council of Princeton, the Leos Club, Dance Vision, McCarter Theater, and the Princeton Symphony. Musician in the Making: Musikgarten and the WW-P High School Visual Art and WW-P World Languages groups will also have tents at the block party.
During the opening block party, the Arts Council will also have its inaugural exhibit, “Community Collage: West Windsor Then & Now,” on display at the new arts center from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The exhibit will run through Friday, October 29, with an opening reception with refreshments held on Saturday, October 2, from 4 to 7 p.m. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and during performances.
The exhibit includes the following artists and their works: Therese Boucher, “Rainy West Windsor Morning, Yesterday’s Neighbors;” Henry Chao, “Dutch Neck Church;” Albert Chasan, “The Seven Villages, Silos: Old Trenton Road, Village Grande @ Bear Creek;” Valerie Ford, “Izzy;” Amy Frankel, “A Dream Come True;” Marci Gelb, “It’s a Home Run;” Elliott Gordon, “Beatrice Behrens, Eleanor Dearborn, Opal Schrader;” Kate Graves, “Pregnant Sycamore I, Two Halves, the Island;” Dee Gozonsky, “Old Trenton Road;” and Jody Kendall, “In a Garden.”
Also Renee Kumar, “Charmed Lives, Roundabouts and Long Agos;” Kathleen Liao, “Yard Sale Leftover;” Connie Maglione, “Summer Morning, You are Here;” Ina Marx, “Past as Prologue;” Dan McGuinness, “The Stonybrook;” Tim Parris, “Cow in the Pasture;” Ted Peck, “WW Peck Boys Then;” Joe Ryan, “Grover’s Farm;” Martin Schwatrz, “Navy Veteran, Hopewell NJ;” and Nancy Scott, “Still Life with Books;”
Also, Sandy Shapiro,”Community Bike Ride, Fishing at Grovers Mill Pond;” Alison Singer, “Beginning and Ending;” Robert Spector, “Mercer Park Stream;” Connie Tell, “Untitled;” Sandra Wan, “Bird in the Backyard;” Mary Ann Weisser, “Saturday at a WW Little League;” Andrew Werth, “Mercer County Park;” and Tamara Woronczuk, “The Red Shovel.”
