The original Jack Daniel s began in 1892 just two years before Caldwell s own Silver Cornet Band. The New West caused a sensation at the Northwest Booking Conference this past year. They provide a memory, energized by their virtuoso mandolin and guitar pickin', of the traditional Old Western cowboy. A holiday dancing spectacular defined by the Sugar Plum Fairy s brisk footwork, exuberant leaps by the Jack-in the Box, the swashbuckling fight of the Nutcracker, and the scurry of Baby Mice. Audiences are transported to a Victorian Christmas party and treated to a trip around the world via sensuous Arabian dancers, tumbling Russians, elegant Spanish and playful Chinese dancers choreographed with distinctive style by Toni Pimble, artistic director.
Every child is a star.
This has been the stepping-stone for many to become active in subsequent school and college productions. Close friends at Minnesota s St. Olaf College, who just had to keep singing together, formed Cantus in 1995. Their performances are truly captivating and on the same high artistic level as the best known choral groups. Vadim demonstrated the poised naturalness, poetry of expression and flawless finesse of a born fiddler. Yet what most impressed was the captivating tear-drop quality in his tone.