Young Adults Supporting the Arts
Supporting the arts in our community can look a million different ways. Buying tickets to shows, volunteering at Camp Imagination and visiting the museum are all great examples.
At the Webb Center, Show Sponsorships are a way to support the performing arts, and we are lucky enough to see examples of this season after season.
In 2022, it was our privilege to have two generous individual show sponsors from the same family.
On March 1, Storm Large performed a concert at the theater sponsored by Miss Lyla Struve, along with Marci Bowen.
Storm Large gained national fame on the television show, “America’s Got Talent.” She is a brilliant singer, songwriter, playwright and storyteller.
Later in the same month, Miss Harlow Struve sponsored a show and brought Dorrance Dance and their award-winning show “SOUNDspace” to the Webb Center on March 29. Accompanied by a stand-up bassist “SOUNDspace” is an acoustic masterpiece that weaves the long and complex history of an original American art form with a fun and laid-back style. Harlow’s sponsorship of the New York City dance company included a free school performance at the theater attended by local middle school students and their teachers.
THANK YOU to Lyla Struve, Harlow Struve, and the entire Struve Family for your sponsorship and continued support of the performing arts in Wickenburg.
Webb Center Staff
“SOUNDspace” Student Show
When the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students filed into the Webb Center yesterday morning, most of them were not expecting much. Some of the students were not even sure what they were seeing at the theater on a Tuesday morning, only that it meant not attending class. Other students, merely aware it was “some sort of tap dancing show” had never heard of Dorrance Dance or their award-winning show, “SOUNDspace.”
As part of the Webb Center’s continued Mission to provide performing arts & educational experiences to our community, we invited middle school students from in and around Wickenburg to attend a free performance from New York City tap company, Dorrance Dance.
Founded by Michelle Dorrance over a decade ago to present Tap Dance in a new way and upend any trite reputation about the American artform, Dorrance Dance presented excerpts from their brilliant acoustic show, “SOUNDspace” in the morning for the students before performing it in its entirety for the Webb Center audience during an evening performance.
A member of the dance company took the stage ahead of the morning performance and offered students some history, backstory, and iconic names to look up later: John Bubbles, Jimmy Slyde, and Chuck Green. She asked the audience not only to watch the show, but also to listen. “Close your eyes once in a while,” she said. “Hear the music. Feel the music.”
Accompanied by a single stand-up bassist and set against a very clean and minimalistic stage, “SOUNDspace” surprised some students with its humor, detail, and cool laid-back style. Using different shoes, socks, and sometimes their own bodies, the dancers gave students a highly entertaining and fresh show, and a completely new way of thinking about Tap Dance than they’d had just 65 minutes before.
Some of the things we heard as they were leaving the theater:
“That was way cooler than I thought it was going to be.”
“I mean, it was actually good.”
“If I wanted, I could probably do that thing he was doing.” (Slaps chest and thighs while beatboxing and stomping on the ground.)
THANK YOU to the students for coming to the Webb Center.
THANK YOU to the teachers for bringing the students.
THANK YOU to the company for offering yourselves and your work to the students and the teachers.
THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
Webb Center Staff
Guys Who Grill 2022 Huge Success
Wickenburg welcomed “Guys Who Grill” back and nearly 700 people brought their appetites and generosity to the Wickenburg Community Center on Saturday, March 19, 2022 for the 10th annual all-you-can-sample BBQ competition hosted by the Webb Center. Thanks to an outstanding community effort, $11,000 was raised for Camp Imagination!
Eleven grilling teams offered their best beef, pork & chicken options to sample throughout the afternoon hoping to collecting the highest amount of “votes” (read: Real American Money) to win the coveted People’s Choice Award.
Barbeque Championship Series and AZBarbeque worked with our Marketing & Advertising Manager, Janet Lang, in order to officially sanction Guys Who Grill for the first time in 2022. All of our grilling teams submitted samples to our sanctioned judges and our Executive Director, Cathy Weiss announced all of the winners from the stage.
A huge THANK YOU to all of the amazing grilling teams, Barbeque Championship Series, Dillion and the High Desert Band, Hayley Steck & Umber Photo Co., Wickenburg Chamber of Commerce, and the Town of Wickenburg.
See you all this summer at the Camp Imagination production of “The Wizard of Oz”
Webb Center Staff
