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DECEMBER 1, 2018 | <strong>DISCOVER</strong>! 8 | Holiday MARK YOUR CALENDARS! KATE HARLOW | STAFF WRITER It’s going to be such an UPLIFTING SHOW. The audience is going to leave feeling they are walking a foot off the floor as they leave. It’s a great way to get into the HOLIDAY SPIRIT, of course. Tammy Makram ‘TIS THE SEASON Rhythmic Circus to perform in Worthington on Dec. 8 When the Rhythmic Circus comes to Worthington on Dec. 8 to perform their Holiday Shuffle show, it’s going to be a not-so-silent night. The internationally known music and dancing ensemble has performed in more than 250 cities around the world as well as at The Kennedy Center and on Broadway. And they’ll be coming to Worthington’s Memorial Auditorium at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8. They’ve been performing for over a decade and were even featured on the reality television show “America’s Got Talent.” Ever since Tammy Makram had the chance to see them perform she’s wanted to bring them to Worthington. “I was lucky enough to see them perform at the Paramount in St. Paul about two years ago. It was one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen. They got three standing ovations and that was just during the show itself,” said Makram, the executive director of At a Glance: WHAT: Rhythmic Circus: Holiday Shuffle WHERE: Memorial Auditorium Performing Arts Center, 714 13th St., Worthington, MN WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8 COST: Adult $20 advance/$25 at the door; Child/Student/College $10 advance/$15 at the door CONTACT: 507-376-9101 ONLINE: www.friendsoftheauditorium.com the Memorial Auditorium of Performing Arts. “People were so blown away by the dancers and musicians you just couldn’t stay seated. You had to jump up and applaud. I made my mind up then that I wanted to bring that show to Worthington.” Thanks to a Minnesota State Arts Board touring grant the show will make its stop in Worthington. “We are super excited to be a part of this Minnesota tour grant. Minnesota is home base for us and we were founded in Minneapolis and we actually started with a similar grant from the state of Minnesota,” said Nick Bowman, the executive director and co-founder of Rhythmic Circus. “We’ve performed all around the world and now it feels like we are coming home. Tonight we are in International Falls. If it wasn’t for this funding it would be near to impossible for these small theaters to bring us in. We are proud and honored to be a part of this and we are having a blast.” The group features four dancers and seven musicians. While they tour with a number of shows, the Rhythmic Circus’s Holiday Shuffle is a treat to be enjoyed by people of all ages. “This is a brand new production this year. It’s full of holiday music that people know and love. From the classics like ‘Joy to the World’ and ‘Linus and Lucy’ — we have a laundry lists of tunes that have been remixed and updated with our own arrangements. They are engaging and fresh and at the same time the songs that people know and love.” As is usual for events at the Memorial Auditorium Performing Arts Center the fun will start an hour before the performance with a social hour with live music provided by pianist Kurt Haag. After two years of wanting to bring this show to Worthington, Makram can’t wait for the audience to experience the Rhythmic Circus for themselves. “It’s going to be such an uplifting show. The audience is going to leave feeling they are walking a foot off the floor as they leave,” Makram said with a laugh. “It’s a great way to get into the holiday spirit, of course. I’m just really excited to be able to present such incredibly talented dancers and musicians.” F Worthington | Minnesota
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! RYLAN HOWE | STAFF WRITER <strong>DISCOVER</strong>! | DECEMBER 1, 2018 Holiday | 9 At a Glance: WHAT: Damon, Dave and Ryan Holiday Show WHERE: Pearson Lakes Art Center, 2201 Hwy. 71, Okoboji WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8 COST: $30/nonmembers, $20/ members and $15/students CONTACT: 712-332-7013 ONLINE: www.lakesart.org Damon, Dave and Ryan team up Trio of musicians all set for another holiday show It may be getting colder outside but one of the hottest tickets in the Iowa Great Lakes is on sale right now. The Damon, Dave and Ryan Holiday Show has sold out every show in its decade-plus run at the Pearson Lakes Art Center. This year figures to be no different as the trio brings its musical talents and tremendous chemistry to the stage once again. Slated for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, tickets are $30 for nonmembers of the art center, $20 for members and $15 for students. If you’re not a first-name basis with these popular area musicians they are Damon Dotson, Dave Rowley and Ryan Sather, who perform numerous times locally throughout the summer as solo artists and in other duos and ensembles. The holiday season, however, is the one time each year they come together to entertain an audience with a set list full of Christmas favorites, original songs and plenty of other familiar hits to entertain one and all. Originally it was set up as a concert for Dotson and Rowley to play. “But we needed something more and Ryan’s performed with Damon and with me and so Damon came up and we jammed together,” Rowley said. “It was just the three of us those first couple years.” Sather remembers it a tad bit differently. “Dave just thought it would always be cool to do a concert with Damon and I said, ‘What the heck?’” Sather joked. “So it was Damon and Dave with special guest Ryan Sather in small letters. Really, I was just honored for them to even ask. I thought it would be so awesome.” Apparently audiences have agreed as they keep turning out year after year. The variety of the set list was originally borne out of necessity. “We had booked this before Thanksgiving originally so it was a holiday concert, not just Christmas, and we had to be creative,” Rowley said. “We also had the benefit of being the first people out of the gate doing holiday songs and the audience loved it. The people were ready and hadn’t already heard all the Christmas songs ad nauseam.” More than a decade in, now they change up the set list out of a different kind of necessity. “We have a lexicon of about 30-40 songs to choose from and some perennial favorites that are hard to let go. We’ve done ‘Celebrate Me Home’ by Kenny Loggins every year and absolutely love it,” Rowley said. He added that they always have a few extras on the back burner just in case. During the two brief practices they get before the show, they’ll run through ideas about what songs to add or subtract from the set list. “We’re trying to keep things fresh and new and at the same time just whatever feels good, so we start practicing and just say, ‘What do you think, in or out?’” Sather said. “Dave really has a talent for finding cool music that is new to us.” Ryan is responsible for taking a new song on the set list and creating an arrangement that works for the trio. There have been jazzy versions of “Jingle Bells” and a reggae mashup of “Winter Wonderland” and “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” And they fit perfectly well right alongside stalwart holiday classics such as “What Child is This?” and “Silent Night.” Last year Rowley wrote a new original song, “Christmas and Fond Memories,” just a couple weeks before the concert. They also mix it up by inviting other musicians to join in the fun. They’ve had locals like Joe Cuttell and Brian Moore join them for the holiday show. Just last year, Adam Layman filled in for Damon Dotson who couldn’t make it as he and wife were expecting a child at the time. “Musicians are very much drawn to playing with other musicians. It’s really great. And Adam did an awesome job filling in last year,” Sather said. Damon is back this year and it’s a mystery as to who else might join the venerable trio on stage. No matter what, they’re sure to draw a crowd. Rowley says the draw is Damon Dotson. Sather says the draw is Dave Rowley. Whatever or whoever the draw, this is truly a great group of musicians enjoying themselves and having a great time putting on a fantastic show for their audience. “It’s the holidays! We have a great crowd and we’re cutting loose and having fun, that’s basically it,” Rowley said. “We all genuinely love doing this holiday concert,” Sather added. “I feel very lucky and honored to be able to do it and that people want to hear us again and again.” F Okoboji | Iowa
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