Central Iowa Dance to perform with Madrigal singers

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by Sarah Butler

Sometimes things just fit together: peanut butter and jelly,Bert and Ernie, milk and cookies. A new perfect pairing of singingand dancing will be created on May 1.

Simpson’s Madrigal Singers will pair up with the Central IowaDance Youth Ballet to perform a selection from Gloriana, an operawritten by Benjamin Britten.

“It’s not a dance recital,” explained Albert “Hank” Adams, theco-artistic director of the Central Iowa Dance Youth Ballet. “It’sa concert of relatively highly trained and accomplishedperformers.”

Robert L. Larsen, professor of music at Simpson, and Adamspaired up their talented students to perform both the music and thedances from the opera Gloriana.

“Many operas have dance sequences written into them,” saidAdams, “but due to time or financial restraints they are not alwaysperformed.”

Both the song and the dance being performed were written intothe opera Gloriana. With Larsen on piano, the Central Iowa DanceYouth Ballet and the Madrigal Singers, this will be a celebrationof the arts.

“If we want to preserve the arts in our culture, we need tounderstand them,” said Adams. “We preserve things by creating alove for them.”

Adams encourages students to come out to the event, which willbe the Central Iowa Dance Youth Ballet’s fourth full-lengthperformance.

“You should come to expose yourself to new ideas andexperiences. Come to partake in something interesting and fun,”Adams said. “Give yourself the opportunity to learn newthings.”