Swing Dance at American Mural Project
Provided

Swing Dance at American Mural Project

Swing music and dance will take center stage on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the American Mural Project (AMP) in Winsted, Connecticut, as Eight to the Bar brings its energetic mix of 1940s jazz, 1950s jump blues, and Motown to the artsy club atmosphere. Founded in 1975, the band carries a legacy of family swing music, making every performance a lively celebration that’s sure to have attendees on their feet.

Kicking off the night, Nate Evans of Hartford Ballroom will lead a swing dance lesson at 7 p.m., catering to both beginners and seasoned dancers. AMP’s unique space, housed in a renovated mill and home to the world’s largest indoor collaborative mural, offers three levels for dancing and mingling, along with a cash bar and food from The Colebrook Store. The mural itself, a five-story tribute to American workers, adds an inspiring backdrop to the event’s lively atmosphere.

Founded in 2001, the American Mural Project (AMP) honors American workers through a massive, 3D mural—120 feet long and five stories high—depicting a century of work and dedication. Inspired by Boeing’s 747 plant, artist Ellen Griesedieck created this unique artwork to inspire and involve young people, partnering with schools, nonprofits, and organizations like NASA and Habitat for Humanity. AMP has engaged over 15,000 students nationwide in creating the mural and offers year-round educational programs.

Tickets to Saturday’s event include the dance lesson, and a limited number of balcony seats provide elevated views of the mural and the stage. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for an unforgettable evening of swing music in one of Connecticut’s most unique art spaces.

Tickets: www.americanmuralproject.org

Latest News

Revisiting ‘The Killing Fields’ with Sam Waterston

Sam Waterston

Jennifer Almquist

On June 7 at 3 p.m., the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington will host a benefit screening of “The Killing Fields,” Roland Joffé’s 1984 drama about the Khmer Rouge and the two journalists, Cambodian Dith Pran and New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg, whose story carried the weight of a nation’s tragedy.

The film, which earned three Academy Awards and seven nominations — including one for Best Actor for Sam Waterston — will be followed by a rare conversation between Waterston and his longtime collaborator and acclaimed television and theater director Matthew Penn.

Keep ReadingShow less
The art of place: maps by Scott Reinhard

Scott Reinhard, graphic designer, cartographer, former Graphics Editor at the New York Times, took time out from setting up his show “Here, Here, Here, Here- Maps as Art” to explain his process of working.Here he explains one of the “Heres”, the Hunt Library’s location on earth (the orange dot below his hand).

obin Roraback

Map lovers know that as well as providing the vital functions of location and guidance, maps can also be works of art.With an exhibition titled “Here, Here, Here, Here — Maps as Art,” Scott Reinhard, graphic designer and cartographer, shows this to be true. The exhibition opens on June 7 at the David M. Hunt Library at 63 Main St., Falls Village, and will be the first solo exhibition for Reinhard.

Reinhard explained how he came to be a mapmaker. “Mapping as a part of my career was somewhat unexpected.I took an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS), the technological side of mapmaking, when I was in graduate school for graphic design at North Carolina State.GIS opened up a whole new world, new tools, and data as a medium to play with.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Love letters from Goshen

The marquee at Goshen Players for “A Goodnight Kiss.”

Cinzi Lavin

"A Goodnight Kiss,” premiering June 6 at Goshen Players Playhouse, is a dramatization of real Civil War-era love letters. Written by award-winning playwright Cinzi Lavin and directed by regional theater veteran Kathleen Kelly — both Litchfield County residents — it serves to reminds us that while wars are waged by nations, it is the people who live through them, their lives forever changed.

At the center of “A Goodnight Kiss” is the relationship between Sarah Jane “Jennie” Wadhams, a college student in New Britain, and Sergeant Major Frederick Lucas, a young soldier stationed in Alexandria. Lavin discovered the story of the letters by the couple in a 2002 book by Ernest B. Barker called “Fred and Jennie: A Civil War Story.” Lavin, who holds a certificate in applied history from the University of London and has performed at the White House, read all 90 letters the couple exchanged between 1863 and 1867. “It was like falling into another time,” she recalled. “You hear the dialect, the moral concerns, the humor. Jennie once said someone ‘must think she’s some pumpkins.’ I had to keep that.”

Keep ReadingShow less