PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SHARES STAGE
WITH BALLET PALM BEACH AND VANILLA ICE
Mashup Performance Shows Off Palm Beach’s Cultural Diversity
at Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism
BOCA RATON, FL (Sept. 22, 2014) – An orchestra, a ballet company and a rapper came together for a mashup performance at the Boca Raton Resort and Club entertaining nearly 1,000 tourism industry professionals and VIPs seated for the opening night of the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism. In collaboration between the Palm Beach Symphony, Ballet Palm Beach and Palm Beach County resident and local rapper Vanilla Ice, the performance, produced by the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, was designed to highlight the quality and diversity of art and culture in the county.
The program for the Chairman’s Dinner at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism began with the Palm Beach Symphony, founded more than 40 years ago, performing “Concerto in D minor for Two Violins and Orchestra” by Johan Sebastian Bach. They were joined on stage by Ballet Palm Beach who danced to Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings Op 48, II.”
Surprisingly, and to the sounds of snare drum and bass guitar, the ballerinas whipped off their tutus while the symphony transitioned to the well-recognized initial refrain of “Ice Ice Baby.”
Vanilla Ice took the stage while the dancers, now dressed in black tights, broke into original modern dance choreographed by Colleen Smith, artistic director of Ballet Palm Beach, and danced to a version of the rap song arranged by Alfredo Oliva of the Palm Beach Symphony. The audience was on its feet joining in on this once-in-a-lifetime coming together of three distinct art forms.
“We were honored to be invited by the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County to entertain and engage an audience in this innovative performance,” noted David McClymont, Palm Beach Symphony Executive Director. “The Palm Beach Symphony recognizes an internal cultural shift and the public value of new approaches to programming. We are, therefore, dedicated to continuing to use the creative capacity of our world-class musicians to deliver inspiring music and spirited performances within our traditional art form.”