A former ballet school in Edgartown is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a seasonal incubator for performing artists and creators to develop new work. Founded in 2008, Vineyard Arts Project kicks off the 2017 season this weekend with a pair of very different public performances by artists now in residence at its Upper Main street campus.
On Friday, July 7, the Canadian modern ballet troupe, Move: The Company, performs, led by its founder Joshua Beamish.
With a long list of international performances and honors, including a Jerome Robbins Foundation grant, Mr. Beamish has choreographed dances for major ballet stars as well as for film (The Wicker Man with Nicolas Cage; Code Name: The Cleaner with Lucy Liu and Cedric the Entertainer) and television programs on Nickelodeon, VH1 and The CW. He also appeared with Kelly Osbourne on the ABC television series Life As We Know It.
On July 8, Vineyard audiences will get an early look at a new musical, Home Street Home, the story of a 16-year-old runaway. “It’s based on the experiences of homeless teens and the punk community,” founder and director Ashley Melone said.
The show’s creators, who arrived on the Island last Saturday, include punk musician (Fat Mike) Burkett, of the groups NOFX and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, and composer and lyricist Jeff Marx, best known as one of the two creators of the Broadway musical Avenue Q.
July 14 brings a performance by Cirio Collective. Co-founded by Jeffrey Cirio, a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and his sister Lia Cirio, a principal dancer with the Boston Ballet, this modern ballet co-op began its career at Vineyard Arts in 2015. But that was not Mr. Cirio’s first visit to the Edgartown studios, Ms. Melone said. The collective’s artistic director studied ballet there as a teen, on his way to winning multiple medals in ballet competitions and becoming one of the hottest young dancers in modern ballet.
A YouTube video, also posted on the troupe’s Facebook page, shows members of Cirio Collective dancing in the sculpture garden of the Field Gallery, their black clothes and angular moves contrasting with the curvaceous white sculptures by Tom Maley that populate the grassy lawn.
On August 26, there will be a reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Suzan-Lori Parks, presented by New York’s Public Theater.
All of the performances this summer run from 7 to 8 p.m. at 215 Upper Main Street. Admission is on a pay-as-you-can basis, with advance tickets available through ticketsmv.com.
Vineyard Arts Project also hosts morning yoga practices, educational programs and yoga retreats, including a program for teenagers who are aging out of the foster care system in New York city, Ms. Melone said.
Another youth program, Rosie’s Theater Kids, brings inner-city children to the Vineyard to study musical theatre and perform privately for the Vineyard Arts staff, she said. Rosie’s Theater Kids was founded by Rosie O’Donnell, and its motto is We’re Rehearsing for Life.
“It’s been an amazing 10 years, and we just keep growing,” Ms. Melone said, reflecting on the journey of the arts center. And Vineyard Arts is no longer the only growing concern in Ms. Melone’s life. She has a baby daughter, born in December, who’s enjoying her first Martha’s Vineyard summer.
To learn more about Vineyard Arts Project, visit vineyardarts.org.
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