Ballroom Dancing Competition at Peru State College

Strictly Ballroom Dancing at Peru State College 

 

  

As this video from some of the dances in the competition Sunday night--December 12, in the cafeteria--from Swing to Waltz underscores, the dancing couples put on an energetic show and engaged the vocal and appreciative audience.

 

I also posted a hefty album of photographs from the event, which includes many photographs of the audience, including many youngsters who took to the floor during the general dancing sessions.

Enjoy the photographs and the video from this entertaining and energetic event.  As Ted Harshbarger's press release underscores, everyone involved enjoyed this serious fun.

The judges chose winners for all the categories, and I will post their names with the appropriate photographs as soon as the necessary information reaches me.

2010 Madrigal Dinner

The annual and colorful Madrigal Dinner took place Friday and Saturday evenings in the Student Center. 

This year's festivities and fanfare included a new opera, The Land of Oops.  

And for your seasonal enjoyment, especially for those whom the nasty weather on Saturday kept from attending, this year I recorded the entire Land of Oops:

• Part One
  
• Part Two
  
• Part Three

• Brad the Bard

Brad the Bard is a short section from Part Two that I was forced to cut.  But you will enjoy this fun short piece that ends with Lord Voodoo's abduction of the bard to fulfill Voodoo's sinister plan to attain the crown. 


In addition to the video of The Land of Oops, you can also watch the Madrigal Singers perform two selections from the evening's concluding songs, Dueling Divas and The First Noel.


And, as always, you can enjoy and download images from the celebration.


In three separate albums, I posted posed pictures, images from the Friday performance, and photographs from Saturday's dinner with an emphasis on the opera I filmed on the first night.

Enjoy this seasonal cheer and student talent. 

Annual Fall Band Concert on Sunday, December 5

   

This past Sunday at 3:00 in the afternoon, I relieved the tensions of a dismal weekend by attending the Peru State College Fall Band Concert.

 As usual, you can view a slide show from the performances of both the Concert Band and the Hoyt Street Jazz Band. 

The Concert Band's performance opened the show, and I recorded the group's final and exciting performance, a march by Dr. Pat Fortney's mentor.

Sharp-shinned Hawk and Squaw Creek for Snow Geese

Last week while I graded here here at Walnut Hill, a Sharp-shinned Hawk missed one of my feeder visitors and slammed into the window three feet from my face, knocking itself into Bird Lala Land.

The bird's daze allowed me to snap a few photographs. After half an hour or so, the hawk recovered its dignity and balance and winged away beyond my lens' reach.

My daughter visits for Thanksgiving, and this Tuesday late afternoon, we drove to Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge to check out the birds.

We saw six or seven Bald Eagles and a thunder of Snow Geese.

You can hear the roar on the video I made, especially in the final couple of minutes when clouds of the birds arrived for the evening.

And you can enjoy a slide show from the trip. The sights and the sounds at this time of the year make the area memorable.

Fall 2010 PSC Choir Concert

On Sunday afternoon, November 14, at 3:00 in the College Theater, the Concert Choir, Madrigal Singers, and the Misty Blues Show Choir performed for a large crowd. Once again, always good news, the music folks ran out of programs.

As usual, I posted a group of photographs from the three groups of their much-applauded efforts.

Enjoy the slide show and then download whatever photographs appeal to you.


Under the direction of Dr. Tom Ediger and accompanied on piano by Dennis Plutalov, the Peru State College Concert Choir performed first.

I recorded on You Tube two pieces for everyone's enjoyment, "Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears" and "Russian Picnic." Enjoy these moving and exciting pieces.


Next, Dr. Tom Ediger's Madrigal Singers took the stage and performed a number of pieces they will feature again at this year's Madrigal Dinner--indeed, you must get your tickets early for this feast of food and fanfare.

I recorded three of the group's numbers that you can enjoy on You Tube: I will add the titles later.



To bring the gala evening to a fitting conclusion, the Misty Blues Show Choir took the stage. For the first time in many years, someone new directs the group, Ms. Charlotte Shields.

I recorded part of "Eye of the Tiger" and all of the two pieces that followed: "Celebration" and "Burning Love." Enjoy the video.

I look forward to the next concert and hope that you like the images from and the video of the performances.