Nimble Arts was founded by award winning aerialists Elsie Smith & Serenity Smith Forchion, identical twins who specialize in aerial acrobatics. Elsie & Serenity's performing resumes include Cirque du Soleil'sSaltimbanco, Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey, New Pickle Circus, Cirque Le Masque, and numerous corporate and event planner clients. Their gigs take them around the world with their duo trapeze and duo fabric acts, as well as various solos on aerial apparatus. Serenity also performs a partner handbalancing act with her husband, Bill Forchion. http://nimblearts.org/

Wrap, Rap....Rhapsody In Blue

January 14, 7 PM - Bingham Auditorum, 45 Church St., Bethel, Maine

Rhapsody in Blue....Wrap the Bodies in Hue....Rap the Body to Blue. This multi-disciplinary dance and visual arts residency will literally wrap students and community members into an innovative, multimedia set of dance and arts workshops leading to a set of public performances. Choreographer and Artistic Director Debi Irons is working with Gould Academy Music Diector James McLaughlin and Wheaton College Music Faculty Todd Brunel, Visual Artist Nikki Millonzi and the Mahoosuc Arts Council on a residency program that will have students not only dancing in the production set to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, but painting, dying and sculpting the fabrics that will become sets and costumes for in-school workshops and performances at the Telstar Middle and High Schools and evening performances at the Gould and Hebron Academies.

ArtMoves Dance Project

This group, directed by Irons, will also perform a set of outstanding modern dance repertoire: http://artmovesdance.com/index.php?page=project-2

Czech Boys Choir               

February 26, 2013, LOCATION TBA

The Bonifantes Boys' Choir was founded in Pardubice, Czech Republic, in 1999 and has won a place among the cream of boys choir ensembles in the world. Talented boys from the age of 4 to 18 years of age work in seven departments of the singing school known as "Schola cantorum Bonifantes". Almost 100 boys visit the concert department alone and the choir takes part in over 60 concerts and performances each year including tours to other countries. http://www.bonifantes.cz/

Makanda Jazz Project

April 22, 7 PM - Bingham Auditorum, 45 Church St., Bethel, Maine  

An ensemble based in Makanda Ken McIntyre's hometown of Boston, is dedicated to continuing Makanda's legacy through the performance of his music - specifically, by playing compositions which Makanda never had the opportunity to record or perform in public. The band, which was formed in 2005 and has kept mostly the same personnel since then, consists of 13 musicians: 5 saxophones, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, a vocalist, piano, bass, and drums. The leader, pianist John Kordalewski, who studied and performed with Makanda, has written arrangements for the large group, working from the lead sheets in Makanda's notebooks.

Since 2007 the group has presented an ongoing series of free concerts in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. These concerts have reflected a belief in the importance of building a presence and role for the music on a community level. They have also served as a consistent platform from which. Also in keeping with Makanda's legacy, most of the members of the Makanda Project are educators as well as musicians, and the group has presented a variety of educational programs along with its performances.