Excalibur Theatre Arts offers a Celtic Christmas
Celtic culture and Christmas now have more in common than just great patterns of red and green. They also have Excalibur Theatre Arts.
The dancers and singers of this local performance centre will spread the plaid tidings for four shows in December, and some special guests will be among the gifts given to the public. Director and choreographer Bonnie Leach made sure there were a lot of presents under this tree, something for everyone.
“There are lots of disciplines in the show,” Leach said. “There is Highland dancing and Irish, of course, but also jazz, ballet, lyrical, tap, hiphop, and a lot of it is rooted in traditions which intermixes well with Christmas.”
More than 50 performers will take part in about 30 numbers in this seasonal variety show painted in Celtic themes. Many are in ensemble pieces, but there are also dance numbers for small groups, duos and solos.
There is also live music. Jim and Paige Anderson will sing, and they have been longtime collaborators in past Excalibur productions.
So, too, has soprano Beverley Smith who has wowed local audiences in musical theatre shows like Fiddler On The Roof, The Sound Of Music, and most recently as a soloist at the popular PGSO concert Pops In The Park this past September.
Someone local audiences used to know – or think they do – is coming to take part in Celtic Christmas. Calgary soprano Victoria White was known as aspiring performer Victoria McGuinness when she left Prince George to pursue higher learning. She started out as Leach’s student and also performed in local musical theatre productions like Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Wizard of Oz. She was a standout in dancing, music and drama at the local festivals. Now she is coming back to demonstrate the levels of talent a local performer can attain.
Some of the eyes seeing the potential for themselves are teenagers Megan Yaskow and Shayla Dyble, both of whom are appearing in about 10 Celtic Christmas numbers each.
“There is a lot of variety,” said Yaskow. “We’ve been working on some choreography since summer, and only a few weeks for others. It’s a little stress- ful but it’s exciting. It’s coming together very well.”
“One of my solos is a song called Caledonia,” Dyble started, with Leach adding, “I chose the song because of Margaret Coyle who used to sing that song with (recording artists) Out Of Alba and she recently passed away. That song got me choked up before, it refers lovingly to a region of Scotland and it’s also a name used for the Prince George area, New Caledonia, so now I’m going to be a wreck when Shayla performs, because Margaret meant so much to the community, she was so proud of her Scottish heritage and of Prince George, so this has some extra meaning.”
At 17 and with hopes of pursuing dance as a career, Dyble was a natural choice for this select piece of music. (Leach laughed that when Victoria White was one of her students, Dyble’s mom Laura was also a student in that same cohort.)
“Everyone is going to like this because there is a lot of action in some pieces to get the attention of younger audiences, it uses a lot of Christmas traditions and dance traditions, so it will appeal to older audiences. It’s good for just about everybody,” Dyble said.
“I love all the shifting we get to do in this show, from style to style,” said Yaskow. “Switching like that from one discipline to another is a cool feeling, and it makes you a stronger dancer overall.”
Adding flourishes of live music will be Kirsten Thomson on piano, Mattias Cheung on violin, plus members of the Legion Pipe Band.
“It is a very family-friendly show,” said Leach. “What’s also special about it is our dedication of the performance to Heather Chafe who played in the pipe band, and her daughter danced with us for years. Heather passed away not long ago. She’s had such an influence on the piping and Highland communities, it just became natural and important to dedicate this to her.”
There are performances at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on both Dec. 2 and 3 at Vanier Hall. Tickets are $25 regular, $15 students/seniors, and $10 for children six and younger. Tickets are available by phone at 250-564-0326 or purchase at the Excalibur Theatre Arts front desk at 1773 Lyon Street (open 3-6:30 p.m. Monday-Friday or 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday).