John Brown’s Body, the eight-piece band which hails from Boston and upstate New York, releases their sixth studio album this September, but you can sample the tunes early on Thursday, August 7, at Outerland at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.

Sounds of chattering teenagers filled the performance hall as they slowly gathered around the piano at the center of the stage. Dressed in causal clothing, some of it splashed with names of colleges they hope to attend next fall, these Island teens appeared relaxed in their role as international performers fresh off a seven-engagement tour of Austria.

After performing in the cathedrals, palaces and streets of Vienna, the Minnesingers this week were preparing for this weekend’s Island show, called Can You Dig It?

Popular American singer-songwriter Greg Brown will perform at Oak Bluffs’ historic Union Chapel on Wednesday, July 16, at 8 p.m.

He is nationally known as a familiar presence on Prairie Home Companion and for his deep, thundering voice, unpretentious musical vision, humor and warmth. Fellow Iowan Bo Ramsey will open the concert and continue to play with Mr. Brown.

“Newfoundland is a beautiful, dangerous place,” laughs Great Big Sea’s Sean McMann, about the locale that forged his band’s sound. Part shanty reel, part chiming pop, part sweeping folk, ten albums in, the little band from the island that was a shipping and fishing outpost between Mother England and Canada has let its isolation protect their individuality.

Island musicians were the dominant revelers at the Vineyard Haven observance at the close of 2007.

The event could have begun at any time for members in the audience at the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Monday afternoon.

For some it began with a belly dancer revue. For many it was Johnny Hoy of the Bluefish singing a song dedicated to time slipping away.

Enjoy a beloved children’s fantasy Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, presented by the Martha’s Vineyard School of Ballet today, June 6, at 7 p.m. at the Edgartown School.

The cast of this Snow White production features children from the Martha’s Vineyard School of Ballet under the artistic direction of Beth Vages. Tickets are $10 at the door.

Three Martha’s Vineyard students were accepted into the prestigious OperaFest 2008 workshops on the Island, and two will be performing arias and scenes from famous operas with up-and-coming young singers from New Jersey on Saturday, July 26, at 8 p.m. at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs.

The Vineyard Students are Rosie Bick, who will sing Cunegonda from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide and Mitch Lowe who will sing in the Torreador Scene from Bizet’s Carmen.

Award-winning dancer and choreographer Nora Chipaumire enraptured students across the Island last week in The Yard’s artists-in-the-schools program. Ms. Chipaumire, associate artistic director of the acclaimed company Urban Bush Women, teaches a blend of Southern African and modern dance.

Dance Classes

Vineyard Dance will offer a six-week summer dance course from Monday, June 30 to August 9, at the Oak Bluffs School on Tradewinds Road off Wing Road. Adults and teenagers may join at any time. Ballet, modern dance, modern jazz and floor barre classes will be taught by Kathy Joyce Costanza. For more information, call 508-693-2257.

Singer-songwriter Bella will be performing a bossa nova show at Che’s Lounge every Tuesday through August at 7 p.m.

Called Bossa on the Moon, the show includes original songs and classics of samba, jazz and blues that Bella swings on her guitar and her cavaquinho, a soprano Brazilian guitar.

On the set list there will be sweet summer treats like Samba Chocolate and Samba Noir by Bella, and standards such as The Little Boat and Fly Me to the Moon with a bossa arrangement.