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Participants celebrate with song and dance, kick up heels for 2009
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 11:32 p.m. EST, Dec 31, 2008
When choreographer Teresa Buck asked for volunteers to come on stage at the Akron Civic Theatre, Tom Zeimanis responded — with a little nudging from his mother.
The 2-year-old Latvian child was among a couple of dozen would-be dancers to try their hand — make that heels — at the Irish jig with the O'Hare Irish Dance Troupe during Akron's annual First Night celebration on New Year's Eve.
The child and his parents are in the country for one year because his father is an exchange teacher at North Olmsted Middle School.
The family came to the family-friendly, alcohol-free event to soak up American culture. His mother watched as her son clapped, jumped and applauded for himself onstage.
At this year's 13th annual event, the emphasis was on audience participation. So, the 93 performances and projects offered almost three dozen interactive activities throughout downtown Akron.
Participants had their video-game play projected on a big screen at the John S. Knight Center, waxed poetic with the Poetry Machine and showcased their talent with the return of the popular First Night Idol singing competition.
Most events were indoors, given Ohio's unpredictable weather, with Metro buses ferrying partygoers from venue to venue as the temperature dipped into the teens.
At the Civic Theatre, the O'Hare Irish Dance Troupe gave three spirited performances under the twinkling lights of the atmospheric theater's ceiling.
Twenty-three dancers ages 7 to 19 demonstrated the slapping, tapping and kicking precision of the traditional art before the appreciative audience.
These were the best of the students at the O'Hare School of Irish Dance in Coventry Township, one of three such schools nationwide.
For Amanda Drouhard, one of the troupe's four dance captains, it was yet another public appearance. She has been dancing for 15 of her 19 years.
Her grandmother encouraged her to dance as a way to get involved in her Irish culture. Amanda, the seventh of eight children, was quick to follow the lead of many of her older siblings.
''They were always going away to competitions,'' she said. ''I didn't want to be left out.''
While the Akron resident is majoring in nursing at the University of Akron, she's minoring in dance and music with an eye on teaching Irish dance when she's not helping patients.
The other dance captains are Molly McCreary, a senior at Stow-Munroe Falls High, Gabrielle Lanshe, a student at UA, and Bridget Linton, a Green High senior, who qualified for the World Irish Dancing Championships in Philadelphia in April.
It will be the first time the championship will be held outside of Ireland or the United Kingdom.
In addition to dancing, tonight's show in Akron included performances by dance team member Tyler Kemerer, a fiddler, and Katie Wagner, a flautist.
First Night is sponsored by the Downtown Akron Partnership.
A Look At First Night
Stow Heritage Ringers
Fireworks
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
When choreographer Teresa Buck asked for volunteers to come on stage at the Akron Civic Theatre, Tom Zeimanis responded — with a little nudging from his mother.
The 2-year-old Latvian child was among a couple of dozen would-be dancers to try their hand — make that heels — at the Irish jig with the O'Hare Irish Dance Troupe during Akron's annual First Night celebration on New Year's Eve.
The child and his parents are in the country for one year because his father is an exchange teacher at North Olmsted Middle School.
The family came to the family-friendly, alcohol-free event to soak up American culture. His mother watched as her son clapped, jumped and applauded for himself onstage.
At this year's 13th annual event, the emphasis was on audience participation. So, the 93 performances and projects offered almost three dozen interactive activities throughout downtown Akron.
Participants had their video-game play projected on a big screen at the John S. Knight Center, waxed poetic with the Poetry Machine and showcased their talent with the return of the popular First Night Idol singing competition.
Most events were indoors, given Ohio's unpredictable weather, with Metro buses ferrying partygoers from venue to venue as the temperature dipped into the teens.
At the Civic Theatre, the O'Hare Irish Dance Troupe gave three spirited performances under the twinkling lights of the atmospheric theater's ceiling.
Twenty-three dancers ages 7 to 19 demonstrated the slapping, tapping and kicking precision of the traditional art before the appreciative audience.
These were the best of the students at the O'Hare School of Irish Dance in Coventry Township, one of three such schools nationwide.
For Amanda Drouhard, one of the troupe's four dance captains, it was yet another public appearance. She has been dancing for 15 of her 19 years.
Her grandmother encouraged her to dance as a way to get involved in her Irish culture. Amanda, the seventh of eight children, was quick to follow the lead of many of her older siblings.
''They were always going away to competitions,'' she said. ''I didn't want to be left out.''
While the Akron resident is majoring in nursing at the University of Akron, she's minoring in dance and music with an eye on teaching Irish dance when she's not helping patients.
The other dance captains are Molly McCreary, a senior at Stow-Munroe Falls High, Gabrielle Lanshe, a student at UA, and Bridget Linton, a Green High senior, who qualified for the World Irish Dancing Championships in Philadelphia in April.
It will be the first time the championship will be held outside of Ireland or the United Kingdom.
In addition to dancing, tonight's show in Akron included performances by dance team member Tyler Kemerer, a fiddler, and Katie Wagner, a flautist.
First Night is sponsored by the Downtown Akron Partnership.
A Look At First Night
Stow Heritage Ringers
Fireworks
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Tallmadge, OH
Posted 08:15 AM, 01/01/2009
What a failure - downtown was empty last night. It was just too cold.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:32 AM, 01/01/2009
The only draw this event ever drew was that Beatles band. They were quite good and filled the room to capacity.
Well, that and the city hall heros private alcohol party, which also is standin' room only, and also on the the taxpayer's dime.
akron, oh
Posted 05:03 PM, 01/01/2009
I highly Doubt Grump was anywere near Downtown Last night.
