Entertainment performances, live and virtual, coming up after coronavirus closures
A live dance program, a virtual concert and the reopening of a Modesto gallery mark some of the latest moves among arts groups to remain active in the community during the coronavirus pandemic.
Central West Ballet will perform the live program, “Ballet on the Green,” on Saturday, Oct. 17.
Turlock Community Theatre will present a virtual concert featuring Go Now!, also on Saturday, Oct. 17, a tribute band to the Moody Blues.
And the Mistlin Gallery in downtown Modesto has reopened with reduced hours.
“Ballet on the Green” will be an outdoor event at the Oakdale Golf and Country Club. It features the company’s six principal dancers in a fundraiser for CWB that includes a boxed dinner and wine.
The event will include COVID-19 protocols and the audience will be distanced from each other and from the performers, according to a press release from the company.
Holding a live performance, albeit limited in size, is “putting our toe back into the swimming pool, so to speak,” said CWB Artistic Director Rene Daveluy.
“Ballet on the Green” will be at the Oakdale club, 243 N. Stearns Road, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 17. Tickets are $75; RSVP by Oct. 13. See www.centralwestballet.org or call 209-576-8957.
Tribute concert in Turlock
The Moody Blues tribute show is part of a live stream concert to help raise money for 60 theaters, including the Turlock Community Theatre, Managing Director Kit Casey said in an email.
Gordy Marshall, drummer for the Moody Blues, has put together the tribute band Go Now! for the streaming event.
A third of the proceeds from tickets purchased through the Turlock theater will go to the local venue. The live show is Oct. 17 at noon. It will then will be available on demand for those who miss the live event. Tickets are $15 at www.turlocktheatre.org.
Mistlin reopens
Meanwhile, the Mistlin Gallery in downtown Modesto has reopened Thursdays through Saturdays, with the exhibit “Women in America: A Celebration” still on the walls from when it was forced to shut down due to the pandemic. The exhibit will be up through Nov. 6.
Gallery Manager Linda Knoll said Mistlin is able to reopen as a retail space, based on guidance from the Downtown Modesto Partnership, and can open at 25 percent of capacity.
The limited hours are 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursdays-Fridays; noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Mistlin Gallery is at 1015 J St., Modesto. For more, see ccaagallery.org.
Will a change in tiers help?
The programs come as the county appears on the verge of moving from the most restrictive purple tier under the state’s pandemic opening guidelines to the less restrictive red tier.
Daveluy said a move to the red tier would allow Central West Ballet to have its dancers back in the studio, still with masks and social distancing, as well as its younger academy program students. Currently, the academy is being offered on Zoom.
Having the dancers in the studio would speed up the process of getting them back in shape for shows. Currently, dancers are trying to keep in shape from their homes, which is not sufficient, Daveluy said. “You can just keep the teapot warm.”
Dancers for the “Ballet on the Green” program have been able to rehearse in the CWB studios with masks and distancing, he said.
Knoll said moving to the red tier probably won’t change much for the Mistlin Gallery because most of their volunteers are older and more vulnerable to coronavirus.
“I think we’ll probably keep the same hours, probably through the end of the year,” she said.
Live theaters such as the one in Turlock would remain closed under the red tier, according to the state’s guidelines.
