Eternity Dancers added to program
The Thermal Belt Friendship Council will present its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration on Saturday, Jan. 14 at the Tryon Fine Arts Center.
This year’s program will feature “Women of the Civil Rights Movement,” as brought to life by Michelle Miller (Fannie Lou Hamer), Eleanor Miller (Dorothy Heights) and Tamieea Brown (Ella Baker).
The Unity Choir will once again provide musical selections featuring the music from the civil rights movement, and the Bunton Institutional CME Church (BIC) Mime Ministry will also perform.
In a late addition to the program, the Eternity Dance Group from Asheville, N.C. will also perform.
The Eternity Dance Group is part of Asheville’s Urban Arts Institute. According to the Urban Arts Institute’s website, the mission of the Urban Arts Institute is “to enhance students’ lives through artistic expression, to build self-esteem, to improve academic and communication skills, to build community, and to reduce possible gang activity.”
The Urban Arts Institute was established in 2007, went into hiatus for several years and was re-established in early September 2010. The institute now regularly serves nearly 300 young, often disadvantaged inner-city residents, aged 5-25 years. Services provided to the youth include classes in dance, studio sound engineering, hip hop workouts, Krump and piano.
“We were very interested in having Eternity perform at our annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration because we wanted other young people to see that there are other alternatives than hanging out in the streets,” said Dr. Joseph Fox, Thermal Belt Friendship Council president. “We think that Polk County youth and young adults will really enjoy watching other young people express themselves through dance.”
The Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration is free to the public and is made possible with financial support from the Arthur M. & Frances H. Wilhelm Endowment Fund through the Polk County Community Foundation, as well as the Friendship Council’s partnership with the Tryon Fine Arts Center.
For more information about this event or the Thermal Belt Friendship Council, contact Dr. Joseph Fox at 828-421-7580 or at JLFox1@charter.net.
– article submitted
by Lynnea Stadelmann