CRESTVIEW — Crestview Community Theater will hold auditions for its spring show, “See How They Run” by Philip King, on Jan. 15 and 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the Journey Java Connection, 269 N. Main St.

Come prepared to read, bring a current photo and resume (if available).

Call 850-398-8814 for details or to become a Crestview Community Theater sponsor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Community Theater starts audition process tomorrow

CRESTVIEW — Through regionally, state and nationally recognized performing arts programs, Crestview High School’s curriculum serves young vocalists, musicians and actors.

But to practice these often newly discovered gifts, local performing arts students usually must search beyond Northwest Florida.

Not so for Hannah Teal Kania and Aaron Stowell, who can stay here in their hometown to professionally indulge their passion for dance.

“I never thought I’d get paid to follow my passion,” Hannah said. “So many people work hard to earn money to do their hobbies, but they don’t have time to do it. I get paid to do mine!”

Through happenstance, Aaron, a 2008 Bulldog alumnus, and Hannah, a 2010 grad, landed jobs as dance instructors at the Crestview Fred Astaire Dance Studio.

“Neither of us, before this, had any ballroom dance experience,” Aaron said. “For me, every job I ever had since graduation was in Destin. I moved back to Crestview and was walking down Main Street looking for a job and I saw a ‘now hiring’ sign in the window.”

Aaron said while he was completing his application, a senior instructor looked over his shoulder and said, “Can you start tomorrow?” Aaron began the intensive training program the next day.

“A week later I was hired,” he said.

Hannah — a student at Northwest Florida State College, where she is dance captain for the Soundsations show choir — encountered Fred Astaire studio owner David Colón while working at a grocery store. He asked her if she knew any female dancers.

“Then he asked me, ‘Well, what about you?’” Hannah said.

“Later, my husband and I were driving down Main Street and we passed Fred Astaire and he said, ‘Weren’t you offered a job there? Well, we gotta stop now!’”

Both dancers had some basic dance experience during their school years, including performing in the Crestview High School chorus’ elite Chanticleer show choir. Hannah was in the school’s color guard, Winter Guard and rifle teams, while Aaron did gymnastics and cheerleading in middle school.

This experience, coupled with a love of dancing, was exactly the criteria Colón and his wife, Erika Moreno, looked for.

“They like to start their instructors with a clean slate rather than trying to break bad habits experienced dancers might bring in,” Hannah said.

Dancing for a living takes determination and hours of practice, but the duo said the effort is worth it.

“There’s people who go out there (on the dance floor) and dance and look great, but there are those who go out and look amazing,” Aaron said.

“Our work day technically starts at 1 in the afternoon, but we’re sometimes here at 8 or 9 in the morning, and we’re here sometimes to 9 or 10 at night. That’s when you start to notice improvements and you begin to win competitions.”

“It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s worth it,” Hannah said.

In Hannah’s first competition, the December 2012 Emerald Coast Dance Championship, the hard work paid off when she placed third in two events. Aaron also brought home a third-place award.

While at competitions, the dancers get to meet professional dancers from throughout the region and glean valuable insights.

“Being part of the performing arts you have the opportunity to meet so many amazing people,” Aaron said. “Just getting to meet them and talk to them backstage helps you see how they started out in small studios and moved up. It’s inspiring to us to meet them and hear how they did it.”

Hannah and Aaron are eagerly awaiting word on whether one of their first big breaks into the performing arts world will become a reality.

Last week, they auditioned for producer David Winters’ film “East Side Story,” a retelling of “West Side Story” but about dancers from opposite backgrounds. Winters starred in both the original Broadway cast as well as the 1961 film version of “West Side Story.”

“I’ve been sleeping with my phone on my pillow waiting for the call,” Hannah said.

Having a pair of local young dancers on their staff was fortunate for the studio’s owners.

“Finding them has been luck for us,” Moreno said.

“We like having local people,” Colón said. “They’re known in the community and we like keeping the business in town.”

And Hannah and Aaron like finding a hometown opportunity to pursue their passion.

“A lot of people don’t believe that you can get these opportunities here in little Crestview,” Hannah said.

VIDEO: See "Related Media" at top left of this article.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Hometown dancers: CHS alumni can dance without leaving town

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS — The Florida Chautauqua Theatre’s spring theatre classes for elementary and middle school students will begin Jan. 14. Students who complete the program will perform in a spring musical.

Students will study singing, acting, dancing and instrumentation while learning about performing, staging and costume design.

Workshops are taught each Monday, with kindergartners through third-graders studying 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Fourth- through eighth-graders will meet 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuition is $50 per month for the first group and $60 per month for the latter group.

Past Florida Chautauqua Theatre productions include “Hansel and Gretel,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

The spring production tentatively will be May 9-12.

Call 892-9494 or email info@fcweb.org for information and workshop applications.

Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Florida Chautauqua Theatre plans student acting workshops

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CRESTVIEW — Internationally acclaimed ballroom dancers who judged the recent Emerald Coast Dance Championships liked the north county talent they saw.

The Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Crestview, competing for the fourth year, brought home nearly 90 first-place medals during December’s two-day competition. 

Crestview competitors included seven-year-old Hannah Raley, 15-year-old Kristen Gallo and adult competitors Barbara Webb and Wanda Batson. Studio professionals included owner David Colón and dance instructors Aaron Stowell and Hannah Teel Kania, who both are Crestview High School alumni.

Local students shared the floor at the Sandestin event with participants from Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Panama City, Tallahassee and Birmingham, Ala., dance studios.

“The students scored a combined total of 89 first places, to include the Top Solo award and trophy that went to Wanda Batson for her mesmerizing performance of her Argentine tango routine,” Colón said. At last year’s competition, the Crestview studio brought home 71 gold medals.

“Wanda had been working on it for two or three months,” Kania said. “She was fantastic.”

“Our instructors also placed well in the professional competition,” Colón said.

Stowell and Kania brought home a third-place medal in the mixed novice category while dancing the tango and mambo, Colón said. 

“Hannah also brought home a third place in the closed smooth category,” which includes waltz and foxtrot, he said. Colón was her dance partner for this category.

 Under the scrutiny of United States International Style Standard champions Brian and Susan Puttock and United States Amateur Latin champion Marylynn Benitez, who judged the competitions, students competed at the beginner, foundation and bronze levels. They performed several dances, including the cha cha, swing, mambo, waltz, foxtrot and Argentine tango.

“All the students have been working on solos,” Kania said. “The student picks the song they want to dance to and they get it choreographed by their instructors.”

During solo competition, a couple gets the dance floor to themselves to perform their routine, she said. In the group dances, couples share the ballroom as they perform a specific dance, gliding elegantly in a counter-clockwise circuit around the floor.

Dance studios, including the Crestview Fred Astaire franchise, routinely enter their students in regional, state, national and sometimes international competitions, Colón said.

 Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

VIDEO: See "Related Media" at top left of this article.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview dance studio wins 89 gold medals at regional competition

Upcoming shows’ sheer diversity may banish the winter chill with cultural delights.

The Mattie Kelly Performing Arts Center’s offerings range from a Broadway classic’s Tony-winning revival to Celtic music and dance’s unbridled energy.

My feet are already tapping.

I have tunes like “Let the Sunshine In” and “Moonlight Serenade” swirling in my head — and sadly remember my dancing skills are nil when a cavalcade of energetic shows like these comes to town.

The New York Tenors, Jan. 12

It may be chilly outside, but things will warm up when The New York Tenors take to the main stage. Unlike the classical repertoire of the famed Three Tenors, Daniel Rodriguez, Andy Cooney and Michael Amante will showcase some of world’s greatest music that includes Broadway favorites, American Songbook standards and soaring opera selections.

Rodriguez, known as “The Singing Policeman” and “America's Tenor,” helped sooth the nation’s grief following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Internationally acclaimed Cooney — The New York Times christened him “Irish America’s favorite son” — has performed two sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall.

Amante, “The People’s Tenor,” is a combination of all-American good looks, romantic Italian charm and an incredible voice.

‘Hair,’ Jan.  30

When “Hair” burst onto the Biltmore Theatre stage April 29, 1968, it marked a new era in American musical theatre.

The Tony Award-winning revival coming to the Mattie Kelly Center is a fresh, exciting re-imagining of the 45-year-old classic.

The great Galt McDermot, Gerome Ragni and James Rado score is as jiggy as ever, with favorites including “Aquarius,” “Let the Sunshine In,” “Good Morning Starshine” and the exuberant title number intact.

“Hair” energetically depicts the 1960s and ’70s cultural movement that changed America forever as a group of charismatic, free-spirited young people passionately preaches a lifestyle of pacifism and free love in a society torn asunder during the Vietnam War.

The music moved original audiences and inspired subsequent Broadway revivals and countless community theatre and school drama productions.

This inspiring new production features an exuberant finale with the audience invited onstage to dance with the cast, offering a level of inclusiveness not often seen in musical theater.

‘In the Mood: A 1940s Musical Revue,’ Feb. 2

Get “in the mood,” as Glenn Miller exhorted, for the American swing era’s brassy, big band sounds. Relive when the Greatest Generation was young and the nation confronted World War II’s horror.

More than a concert, “In the Mood” is a big band theatrical swing revue chock full of songs that got folks jitterbugging on a “Jukebox Saturday Night” to the music of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Erskine Hawkins, the Andrews Sisters and Frank Sinatra. 

Featuring a company of 19, including the In the Mood Singers and Dancers with the sensational String of Pearls Big Band Orchestra, the show’s music arrangements, vintage costumes — including the recreation of a USO show — and choreography are as authentic as it gets.

“In the Mood” takes a retro look back at when music ranged from up-tempo big band rhythms to mellow intimate ballads, and set a mood that inspired a future filled with hope, promise and prosperity.

It was a time like no other in our nation’s history: when music moved America’s spirit and helped win a war.

Women of Ireland concert, Feb. 15

Like Celtic stage extravaganzas “Lord of the Dance” and “Riverdance,” the local audience will enjoy the talents of some of Ireland’s finest female performers and Irish dance’s zest in this internationally touring spectacle.

Ireland's traditions of music, song and dance will come alive for all ages in “Women of Ireland,” an innovative full-stage concert production displaying Ireland’s next generation of leading female talent.

The most revered qualities of Ireland’s ethnic music travel from the Irish cottage fireside and village community festival to the international concert hall in a contemporary setting featuring world championship dancers. 

Want to go?

All performances are at 7:30 p.m. at the Mattie Kelly Performing Arts Center on the Niceville campus of Northwest Florida State College.

Individual tickets are $35 for all productions — except “Hair,” which is $45 — and are available by phone, 729-6000, or at www.mattiekellyartscenter.org.

Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. Tickets will also be available the night of each show, space permitting, starting at 6 p.m. There is a $2 per ticket processing fee.

Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: PREVIEW: Mattie Kelly Center shows span Broadway to Ireland

CRESTVIEW — The north county’s artistic and cultural renaissance continued in 2012.

School visual and performing arts thrived, a new performing arts series celebrated its first year, and a new organization linked the business and cultural communities.

Here are my picks for 2012’s top five stories.

1.  Big Red Machine marches in Rose Parade

After 14 months of preparation, the Crestview High School band represented the city, Okaloosa County and Northwest Florida in the Jan. 2 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade.

The adventure began with a September 2010 phone call to CHS band director Jody Dunn, who recalled he didn’t recognize the number on his caller ID and took the call out of curiosity.

“I thought it was a joke,” Dunn said. “I had to call back the next day to make sure it was real.”

Working to raise more than a quarter-million dollars to fund the trip to Pasadena, the Big Red Machine found broad community support from parents, friends, businesses, civic leaders and local artists.

The Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners at its Dec. 6, 2011 meeting designated January 2012 “Crestview Band Month.”

2.  Chamber of Commerce establishes Arts & Culture Committee

The Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce placed emphasis on the value of arts and culture in the community as an integral part of the quality of life.

“It really is a question of livability,” committee chairperson Rae Schwartz said. “About a year ago, (Crestview City Councilman) Charles Baugh and I ended up at an all-day workshop with the Florida League of Cities that reminded us that businesses looking for a location or to relocate look at the livability of a community.

“That includes a lot of things, including recreation, shopping and schools, but it also includes cultural things such as the arts.”

The committee also benefits professional visual and performing artists, Schwartz said.

“Another thing people forget: (for) people who are artists and performers, this is their business,” Schwartz said. “This is how they make their living.

“We’re hoping to bring those folks into the chamber community. It will be good professionally and it will be good for us.”

3. Chamber calendar opens to community organizations

The Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce’s Arts and Culture Committee expanded the chamber’s online calendar to be a “true community calendar,” committee chairwoman Rae Schwartz said.

Establishing a one-stop resource where everything happening in the north county region can be found has been one of Schwartz’s longtime goals.

“How many times have you missed an event because you couldn’t find the information in time, or never noticed it at all?” she said. “How often has your group planned an event only to discover that it conflicts with other events on the same day?”

Community organizations may place their events on the calendar free of charge at www.crestviewchamber.org.

4.  Crestview High lipdub becomes a YouTube hit

The six-minute, 41-second Crestview High School lip-synch video, or “lipdub,” that captured school spirit and the community’s enthusiasm is still racking up views on YouTube — nearly 200,000 to date.

The all-student production was May graduate Ben White Jr.’s vision.

“It was a month-and-a-half of planning and we only had four or five practices with the singers,” Ben said. “The majority of the people in it were spontaneous.”

Industry experts who viewed the production praised White’s preparation and groundwork.

“It is easy to imagine the large amount of pre-shoot organization and planning required by that project,” three-time Emmy Award winning retired NBC News producer/director Paul Yacich said from his New Orleans home.

“If that were his only talent, he would still be qualified to set up complicated productions. A lot of effort went into that.”

See a link to the video at http://bit.ly/KikBVA.

5. Crestview community theatre returns

With its Nov. 16 and 17 production of “Arsenic and Old Lace,” the return of a Crestview community theater troupe became a reality.

The Warriors Hall production was the first show of a thespian group formed by Sean and Sandra Peters and folks at Journey Java Connection.

Filled seats in Warriors Hall indicated the community craves live theatre, even when two shows were running simultaneously, as happened that weekend when “Arsenic” clashed with the high school drama program’s production of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

The show also proved the hall in the Whitehurst Municipal Building can accommodate theatricals, raising calls for the city to put in some theatrical lighting to increase the value of Warriors Hall as a community resource.

The new troupe meets at Journey Java Connection. Call 398-8814 for details.

The Florida Folklife Program of the Department of State’s Division of Historical Resources displayed local history, heritage and traditions Aug. 14. Baker Block Museum, among its Heritage Village’s historic buildings, hosted the occasion.

The dogtrot house’s porch served as a stage for a daylong program featuring discussions with state folklorist Blaine Waide. It included demonstrations of local traditions including beekeeping, storytelling, Bluegrass music, pine needle basket making and a performance by fiddler Samantha Purvines of Laurel Hill.

“You’ve got very distinct music and song traditions in the Panhandle,” Waide said. “In folklore, we don’t just study things in the past. We study continuity and change.”

Journey Java establishes downtown arts center

A Main Street coffeehouse established by a Methodist preacher and his wife steadily blossomed into more than the downtown community outreach originally envisioned.

The Rev. Sean and Sandra Peters’ Journey Java Connection has become a focal point for visual and performing arts. Wall space is dedicated to area artists, open-mic nights attract area performers, art classes teach a variety of visual techniques, and the Peterses’ love of theatre has led to the café becoming the home of Crestview’s new community theatre troupe.

Mix in killer scones, lunchtime sandwiches, Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, frozen drinks and bagels, and the non-profit establishment draws a diverse crowd, including serving as the chamber of commerce Art and Culture Committee’s monthly meeting place.

Chamber wine gala attracts its largest crowd

Sultry jazz music, aroma of cooking gourmet foods and the pop of wine bottle corks filled the air at Sunshine Aero Test Flight’s hangar at Bob Sikes Crestview Airport Sept. 29. More than 200 attendees mingled around tables featuring cuisine from multiple area eateries, wines from around the world, and silent auction items.

Dennis Mitchell, the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce’s president-elect, said one of the things attendees found most appealing was the event’s unusual location.

“I would ask people, ‘Have you ever been to a wine gala in an airplane hangar before?’” Mitchell said. “When they say, ‘No,’ I tell them, ‘There’s a reason. This is the first one.’”

The gala in its first year took place in a festively decorated tent in the chamber of commerce parking lot.

Last year, it was in CCB Community Bank’s lobby.

Who knows where it will be in 2013, organizer Lynn Yort said, but a goal is to highlight member businesses.

CHS produces spring musical, revives drama program

The Crestview High School Thespian Society and Drama Club production of “The Sound of Music” in May was more than a delightful evening at a classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

It was a major collaboration between community drama supporters and a school that lost its academic drama program.

Local drama professionals pitched in with parents and enthusiastic students to pull off the show, building sets, designing posters and programs, and coaching student performers.

Restoring the school’s drama classes with the new school year led to November’s production of the stage version of Frank Capra’s slice of Americana, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

 That was good news for the nearly 100 students eager to learn stagecraft and have performance opportunities.

For several, it’s the first step to studying theatre arts in college.

FOTA launches performing arts series

A night with Gulf Coast classical pianist, orchestra conductor, author and music instructor Dr. David Ott launched a series of performances in Warriors Hall by Friends of the Arts, the evolution of a committee formed to acquire and maintain a piano for the hall.

A highlight was a night of swing, big band and jazz music performed by the DownBeat Jazz Orchestra. In addition to tunes belted by vocalists Gina Walker and Sandra Daggs, the audience was treated to a demonstration of “juking,” a free-form urban dance style.

The Friends of the Arts meets monthly at the Crestview Public Library.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: TOPS IN ARTS 2012: North county cultural scene year in review

Crestview professional, wife and award-winning chef Sherri Williams shares her braised beef short ribs and radishes recipe with readers.

Try it yourself!

Serves four to six. Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook time: Eight hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients List:

1/3 pound thick bacon cut in pieces

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 teaspoon course pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 pounds beef short ribs

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

2 cups beef stock (sodium- free)                                 

1 cup merlot wine

2 bay leaves

1 packet of Savory Pot Roast Seasoning Mix

1 tablespoon herbes de Provence

1 teaspoon ground cloves or to taste

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or to taste

2 tablespoons tomato paste

Additional salt and pepper to taste,

Optional: 1 large bag radishes, cut in half

Garnish with parsley & lemon zest

Directions:

In a large skillet over medium heat, fry bacon until crispy. Remove bacon and set aside.

Toss short ribs in a resealable bag with the flour, salt & pepper. Shake bag until ribs are evenly coated.

In the same skillet, add olive oil. Sear the ribs for two to three minutes on both sides. Transfer ribs and bacon to 6-quart slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients except for radishes to the slower cooker. Cook on low heat for six hours.

Add radishes, if using, and continue cooking for two more hours.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CULINARY ARTS: Award-winning braised beef short ribs and radishes

CRESTVIEW — Trying quickly to prepare one of her husband’s favorite meals has won a local woman free groceries for a year, $500 in Crock-Pot Seasoning Mixes and bragging rights for when her friends pop over to sample her culinary creations.

Sherri Williams decided to modify her recipe for the braised short ribs her husband, Roy, enjoys. Since she was using one of the Crock-Pot Seasoning Mixes in a slow cooker, she entered the company’s cooking contest.

“I had a basic recipe in mind, but I used their Crock-Pot seasoning and it actually came out better than mine,” she said

She entered the Crockin’ in the USA Contest — which she learned about on Facebook — and won.

Click here for the complete recipe!

“Sherri was one of hundreds of entrants who took up the challenge to create a delicious, easy meal for her family with one of the new Crock-Pot Seasoning Mixes,” Crock-Pot spokesperson Megan Carroll stated in an email. “Sherri’s recipe … had the judges asking for seconds!”

‘I love cooking’

 “The funny thing about it is I didn’t start cooking in the Crock-Pot until about two years ago, though I’ve been cooking since I was 12,” Williams said. “I use it a few times a month now.”

She enjoys using her slow cooker so much that she bought three more.

“I have actually used at least three of them at one time before,” Williams said.

After a hard day’s work as a Destin condominium complex’s manager, Williams finds solace in her Crestview kitchen.

“Cooking is very therapeutic to me,” she said. “I can work all day and then go home and spend eight hours in the kitchen. I know it sounds crazy, but I love cooking.”

Convenience with slow cooking

Williams likes to try out new recipes for her friends and family, and her slow cookers figure prominently.

“Anything you can use in a Dutch oven you can put in a Crock-Pot. Just adjust the temperature,” Williams said. “They have one Crock-Pot you can actually program. I don’t have that fancy one yet. The ones I have now are doing just fine.”

The ease of cooking in a slow cooker is attractive for someone with a full-time job, Williams said.

“I like that I can prep everything the night before and put it on in the morning, and when I get home, all I have to do is finish it up and dinner’s ready in no time,” she said. “It’s also easy clean-up, too. Nobody likes to do the dishes.”

Williams said she often uses Crock-Pot Seasoning Mixes in her recipes because “you don’t have to use them for what they’re made for.”

“I’ve used those seasonings in quite a few things. I did soups, and I did some pinto beans with a ham hock and I used their barbecue seasoning,” she said. “I’ve actually mixed the packet with extra virgin olive oil and made a marinade. I like trying new recipes and I’m trying different things all the time.”

‘Superstar’ in the kitchen

Williams has entered — and won — several regional and national cooking contests. Her ribs won a grilling contest that sent her to the World Food Championship in Las Vegas, where she mingled with cooking pros from around the world.

 “My ribs got me there and I got to meet a lot of my foodie friends,” she said.

Williams’ love of culinary arts began in childhood in her grandmother’s little kitchen.

“My Grandma Logan was my inspiration,” she said. “She had the smallest kitchen I think (I’ve) ever seen, but the creations that came out of it were unbelievable.

“The funny thing is my mom doesn’t really like cooking. We had three (square meals), but it didn’t go much beyond salt and pepper.”

Williams’ flair in the kitchen contrasted with the simplicity of her mother’s cooking, she said.

“I have two brothers and two sisters, but I tell you what, they think I’m a superstar.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CULINARY ARTS: Crestview resident wins nationwide cooking contest