Flamenco comes alive at Sharon Center

SHARON — Friday the 13th of January was a lucky day for students at Sharon Center School. Thanks to a grant from the school’s PTO, there was an all-school assembly featuring internationally renowned flamenco dancer Rebecca Thomas. In addition to her performance for the students and staff, she also conducted an introductory class in the art form. Thomas was accompanied by guitarist Cristian Puig.Thomas, who now resides in New York City, attended the University of Rochester studying comparative religion, psychology and music. She is also a licensed Spanish language teacher and a classically trained pianist. She is the mother of nine-week-old Joaquin Thomas. Thomas owns Apalo Seco Flamenco Company, a theatrical production company. She took up dancing in 1999 and began her formal flamenco training in Granada, Spain.She later moved to Madrid to study at the Flamenco Academy Amor de Dios; and then she studied in Seville. In 2008 she received grants to again study in Spain and at Jacob’s Pillow here in the Berkshires.Thomas deployed her charms on the students, who reacted with enthusiasm to her discussion about flamenco, which included a lesson in the Spanish language. Puig’s guitar music and Thomas’s castanets and dancing kept the young audience fully enthralled.Thomas performs and tours with numerous flamenco dance companies. Her production company puts on exhibitions all over the country. In March they will be performing in Chicago.

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Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

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Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

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