This year’s VP Parade was dedicated to artist William Griffin. St. Louis City Mayor Francis Slay and several other mayors were on hand at the opening ceremonies.

Following the national anthem, the 125 unit parade began and the large crowd enjoyed floats. helium balloons, marching bands and lots of music. Several of the floats featured dancing by the Muny Kids, under the direction of choreographer Janice Hawk. “A Night Out” was the theme of this year’s parade and it stirred up memories from the 1950′s and 1960′s.

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Veiled Prophet Parade, 2011

A “Fantasea” of the arts transforms Grand Center’s stages and streets for this year’s First Night 2011 celebration. The mysterious, playful and art-filled beauty of underwater life is the colorful backdrop for this year’s festival. There’s magic, theater, comedy, dance, drama, and craft activities.

More than 27 individuals and music groups, “Justin Kredible” creating magic and comedy (video), “Buckets & Tap Shoes” performing bucket drumming and flashlight tap dancing, and “The Cadence,”  2008 finalists on America’s Got Talent, along with two firework displays, highlight the celebration.

TIME TABLE

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

SEE & DO

grandcenter.org

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St. Louis | First Night | Dec. 31, 2010, 6pm to 12 | Highlights

A professional theatre company producing the indigenous American art form of musical theatre.

The 2011 25th Anniversary Season

A Chorus Line, June 3 to July 3; The Secret Garden, July 22 to August 21; Victor/Victoria, September 9 to October 9; Disney’s 101 Dalmatians, June 22 to July 3.

Education for ages 3 to 18, beginning  January 10, including Acting, Voice, Dance, Musical Theatre, and Access the Arts Programs.

STAGES ST LOUIS
111 S. Geyer Rd., St. Louis, MO
314.821.2407

stagesstlouis.com

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STAGES ST LOUIS | 2011 Season

Here’s a Shortie video, just a chunk of the Touhill architecture really, with graceful lines pushing out of what could have been, in the hands of a clumsy architect, a plain old wrapper, brick-box type theater. The architect here of this 1625 seat, european opera style building, was Pei-Cobb Freed & Partners. A bit of an eye treat.

I went out to the University of Missouri, my old school, where one of my earliest classes had been held in what had once been a locker. I omit the year that I graduated, but  it was only a few earlier that the campus had been a golf course.

I shot this shortie, bricks-come-alive, on a cold and windy day. I prefer cold and windy days over dark and rainy nights. The bricks weren’t alone in their movement, watch those leaves do their dance.

EVENTS | HAPPENINGS AROUND STL | DANCE

DANCE ST. LOUIS | Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet  | Jan. 28 and Jan. 29

This New York-based company of 16 international dancers has vaulted into the front lights; it’s been named in the “Top 25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine.  Paris-born Artistic Director Benoit-Swan Pouffer, a former dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, has an impeccable flair for picking the plums of cutting-edge dance and arranging them in fascinating programs.

Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center

1 University Blvd., St. Louis, MO

314.516.4949

dancestlouis.org

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Dance St. Louis puts Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet up at the Touhill