Guest blog by Suzanna Pavlovsky, artistic and music director for Ensemble Eclectica, a Connected Communities grant recipient.

Ensemble Eclectica is thrilled to present its new interdisciplinary show, “Around the World in 80 Minutes,” on August 29, at 7 pm at Senate’s End, Columbia, SC. The mission of Ensemble Eclectica is to bring together different art forms into one production to promote local talent and art. We will feature a live orchestra comprised of some internationally renowned musicians-USC faculty and alumni, and showcase local dance studios: The Academy of Lexington Youth Ballet, Regina Willoughby, artistic director; Maria Palacio and Alegria Bellydance Studio; theatrical dancer Evadne Medina, the owner and creator of “Dancing through the Skirt;” and Columbia favorites, Zenaida and Ken Broom — all representing different dance genres.

We have partnered with a ceramist, Olga Yukhno, who will be displaying her artwork. A live painting will be created by visual artist David Smith. Music for this event has been carefully selected by Ensemble Eclectica’s artistic and music director, Maestra Suzanna Pavlovsky. She will take the audience on a creative journey through Europe (Spain and Italy), the Middle East (Israel), Latin America (Argentina and Brazil) and culminating in the USA. “I am excited and honored to present two World Premieres during this show: Tarantella by Armenian composer, Grigor Arakelian, and Nigun–Hosanna by composer Avrohom Leichtling, who resides in New York City,” says Maestra Pavlovsky. In addition to the cultural enrichment, wine and international food samples are offered for reserved seating ticket holders.

We are also thrilled to partner with another nonprofit organization, Palmetto Luna Artists. Our hope is that the Columbia Latino community will join us in this production of Latino artists, and Latino food sampling.

One of the most fascinating things about planning the project so far has been the response of the people in our community. All approached artists responded with great enthusiasm and were very excited about their participation to showcase their creativity and professional skills. Artistic and music director Suzanna Pavlovsky said, “There are so many good people in this world. I am full of gratitude and appreciation to every composer and arranger I turned to and asked to create either an arrangement or to rearrange their original piece to suit Ensemble Eclectica’s instrumentation. Everyone responded with excitement. I have received original compositions from Armenia and New York arranged especially for our event, several arrangements from Manny Alvarez from Summerville, SC, and Robert Knox from Columbia, SC.”

We certainly couldn’t put on the production without the community’s help. Being a young nonprofit organization and thus less known to our community, we particularly would welcome community involvement and help in the following areas:

• PR: promoting and advertising this event within the metropolitan Columbia area and in the Midlands. Donations of food samples representing different countries and wine for the event.
• Putting together a project of this magnitude (over 30 people involved in just the production itself), we welcome monetary sponsorships from organizations and individuals who believe in Columbia’s artistic future and feel inclined to support it. Sponsorship packages are available through our website: www.ensembleeclectica.org or by requesting them via email: [email protected].

We hope the community will support our event by buying tickets and attending the event. This will be the greatest support we could get. SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS! SUPPORT LOCAL ARTS!

By incorporating different art forms in one production, we hope to combine audiences with the goal of exposing them to a variety of artistic genres: music, dance, visual arts, and theater. Ensemble Eclectica’s productions are for everyone. We hope to attract younger patrons to attend since they are our future for the arts to survive. Our hope is to show that, although different arts have different ways to express themselves through music, dance, costumes, paint, etc., they have one thing in common- they bring beauty, love, and passion into this world, thus uniting us as human beings and as a community. To be affordable for everyone, we have created a two-tier ticket system: reserved seating at tables with wine and international food sampling and general admission (theater style) seating. Every person can choose what would suite him/her the best. Tickets can be obtained here.

As an extra treat, after the show, Ensemble Eclectica will host a dance afterparty for everyone who would like to dance. A cash bar will be available for all who decide to stay and dance.