It’s at 7 in Marion Square. SpoletoToday will be there with some friends, although we will probably be fashionably late! Look for us! Here’s what we look like.

Perhaps the nearly overlooked and best deals for your money of the offerings of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival this season are the Piccolo Harbor Cruises. You are out on the ocean with a terrific view of leaping dolphins taking a spin around Fort Sumter and then admiring the lights on The Battery, which alone would cost you at least $25 a person for a two-hour cruise.

But that would be without the fantastic jazz offered by some of the areas best musicians. Not only that, you can dance on the top deck. And all for $15. I was on the first of the four Piccolo cruises Wednesday night which had people at the dock wanting to buy tickets. However, boat officials said the place was totally filled with 255 passengers. For full disclosure, I will say the Franklin Ashley Quintet was churning out the tunes that night, and I happen to be married to the piano player, whose name headlines the group. But I was not the only one who was amazed to hear clarinetist Jack Dressler produce a sound like Benny Goodman on “Moonglow.” And more than one person said, “Does that fellow play in New York?”

When Dressler and Bryan Reed swung like crazy with a jazz duet of “Honeysuckle Rose,’ the crowd went ballistic, as the wine flowed. As I mingled in the crowd, I estimated about 50 percent were from “off,” like playwright Carmilla Carr and her son Kali O’Dwyer who are from L.A., and about half were Lowcountry residents. “Los Angeles doesn’t have anything like this,” said Dwyer.

We also hear that John Tecklenburg & Friends’ mellow jazz on the cruise last night was well-attended in spite of the lousy weather. You can still catch Rolling on the River with Oscar Rivers on June 4 and singer Rob Keiter’s trio on June 5. And for all of this, tickets are just $15. Only in Charleston.

Spoleto gossip
Although the Boston Ballet has come and gone, as a dance critic I would like to point out that no matter how terrific, that dancers like writers, need to be edited. Certainly, technically, the Boston Ballet was to this dance critic of 30 years, on the level with the Bolshoi, the American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet. However, the first number “Brake the Eyes,” beautifully executed en pointe, consisted of the same combination of eight to 10 steps performed over and over again, despite the fact the audience kept applauding at various intervals, thinking it was over. This went on for nearly 30 minutes, but seemed like several hours. Choreographer Jorma Elo simply took the easy way out by having something that was superb go stale.

The excerpts in the next piece from”Swan Lake” were the best I’ve ever seen and 27 years ago I saw Russian prima ballerina Maya Pletsetskaya dance the “Dying Swan” divertissement. Unfortunately, we were left disappointed when Twyla Tharp in her modern piece “In the Upper Room” took the same path as Elo. She had her superb dancers perform the same combination over and over for about 25 minutes. At firstn we delighted in the “with it” costumes or black and white stripes with women in mini-skirts with matching briefs (often seen) and red socks. But after awhile, the frenetic trademark Glass music started to seem like bees buzzing in our brain and I began to feel imprisoned, as if I couldn’t bear the repetition and the unrelenting music anymore. Afterward, at the gala, which WAS gorgeous, a prominent local artist was walking around inquiring as to whether anyone had an asprin as the dance had given him a terrific headache.
I knew exactly how he felt. What a shame some of the most astute dance in the world had to be partly spoiled by choreographers.

I arrived at the Footlight Players Theatre too late to get a seat for the very first dance in this year’s Piccolo Dance Festival.  Waiting to hear the applause before I could sneak in for a seat, someone leaned into me and said, “This next group isn’t really up to our normal standards…”  Startled, I immediate thought to myself, What exactly ARE the standards to be part of Piccolo Spoleto??? Especially for young unprofessional dancers?  I sat down and looked at my program to see who was coming up next.  Before my brain could register anything, the lights went down, and I watched with tears in my eyes, wondering at how anyone could be so demeaning to these girls…girls who are out of trouble and up on stage…girls with big hearts and blooming talent.  I applaud them for their courage and passion. 

After an hour and a half, I left totally inspired and came up with a list of all that I saw and why I think every group in that show (unfortunately I didn’t get to see them all) was “up to par”.  I danced when I was younger and studied the figure during my undergraduate education.  I believe that dance is really not only expression, but performance art, and perfection of the human form.  It is music visualized.  It is complete control and balance sided with organic and fluid energy.  It is raw muscle and tissue sided with ethereal grace and gravity defiance.  Who are you to put a restrictive line around what is and what isn’t in “normal standards”?  Each group had such individuality in their pieces, it would be ludicrous to discriminate one from the next.  Sure I had my favorites, but as a whole, Well done ladies and gents.

Stunt Brit Nick Smith and Janet talk about what they like about the festival, why actors need good press and what’s next.

Hear today’s podcast direct by following this link, or why not subscribe permanently here throughout the duration of the festival and get it fed to your MP3 player automatically. There’s also our guide to podcasting here.

PURE Theatre: Episode 3. Showtime from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

Sharon makes her debut behind the wheel of the “big rig” Penske rental and nothing can stop her… except that pesky emergency brake. The car seat confusion continues, and then it’s off to a Spoleto show and back to Lance Hall for the Piccolo premiere of K. Brian Neel’s ‘Vaud Rats.’

PREVIOUSLY:

• EPISODE 1: PURE cofounders Rodney Lee Rogers and Sharon Graci start their day with their two youngest daughters.
• EPISODE 2: Actors and family members pitch in as stage hands to construct PURE’s new theater space.