Some of the best rising stars of song and dance will be showcased at a variety show style evening in the TF Royal Theatre on April 30. Five nationally and internationally acclaimed local performing arts companies have joined forces to stage the concert to help raise funds for Ballina’s new arts centre and theatre. The evening will include Irish dance, hip hop, traditional music, songs from the musicals, and swing performed by members of the Sylvan Kelly School of Dance, Aine Egan’s Danceworld, The All Star Academy under the direction of Lavinia Gilmartin, Michael Slater, and Patrick Lacken, The Bofield Céílí Band, and Cheryl Nolan and the Lambe Academy. All of the groups are based in Ballina but draw artists and students from throughout Mayo and south Sligo.
The show will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see some of the very best of local talent including Réalta, the current World Champion Senior Vocal Group, who will perform music from the musicals, World Champion Irish Dancer, Heather Carr, a group of young Irish dancers who recently appeared in TG4’s Glas Vegas, the hip-hop masters 2010 winners from Danceworld, and songs from the Bofield Céílí Band’s last two albums, as well as a host of performers still to be announced.
“We are delighted that these five local performing arts groups are coming together on our behalf, and wish to thank sincerely Pat Jennings, proprietor of the TF Royal Theatre, for providing the venue to assist us with our fundraising efforts,” said Michelle Mulherin, chairperson of the Ballina Theatre Fundraising committee. “The talent in our local community is immense and the fact that we have to travel to Castlebar to find a venue where it can be properly displayed highlights the glaring need for our own theatre. The concert will be one of the largest fundraising events we have staged and we aim to sell all 2,000 tickets, so I hope people will support it and bring their friends and family to see what promises to be a super show. I hope that in the very near future we will see these acts performing on our very own stage in Ballina’s new theatre, but we have to maintain the fundraising momentum to make this a reality.”
Details of the show will be finalised over the coming weeks. Tickets priced €20 are available at all Ticketmaster outlets, at [email protected], or by calling 098 73595.
