Kathleen Langermann from Sonoma County, Calif., dances a Neoclassical style with the Lake County Symphony. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Now that the Lake County Symphony has found a new home at Lakeport's Soper-Reese Theatre, conductor John Parkinson is exploring approaches for the orchestra that have never been possible before, some of which will be introduced at the annual Mother's Day concert.

The Mother's Day program is presented by Clear Lake Performing Arts in conjunction with Mendocino College Lake Center.

It will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 8.

Conductor Parkinson said the theater venue will provide many new entertainment options for Lake County music lovers and the symphony.

“We now have the ability to present programs we could only dream about up 'til now,” he said.

Among these are the ability to add additional vocal music and dance to the repertoire, now feasible because of the theater's state of the arts lighting and sound system. As a result, the program, entitled “Spanish Masterpieces” will feature such novelties as arias from the opera “Carmen” as well as a a fiery Flamenco dance to the music of Manuel de Falla's “La Vida Breve.”

Along with the centerpiece opera will be selections from such well-known Latin composers as Ernesto Lecuona – whose “Malaguena” has become a world favorite – Enrique Granados, whose “Goyescas” blends the music of Spain with the art of Francisco Goya, and Jaime Teixidor, one of Spain's most prolific composers.

Although Latin in theme, "Carmen" was written by a Frenchman Georges Bizet, and therefore both vocal performers will sing their lyrics in that language.

Soprano Shelly Mascari will sing Carmen's aria

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (Rated PG-13)

The artwork on the film’s poster gives away the dramatic love story of “Water for Elephants,” seeing how it pictures Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon dancing as if they were a truly romantic couple.

Of course, you don’t really need this hint from the advertising to figure out where this story is going, one that starts in the modern day and works its way back to the era of the Great Depression.

Hal Holbrook, having escaped from a nursing home, seeks refuge at a traveling circus, which affords him the opportunity to reminisce about his career path from the time he had to unexpectedly withdraw from Cornell University before completing his graduating final exams.

Flash back to 1931, and college student Jake Jankowski (Robert Pattinson) finds his life falling apart as the result of a family tragedy. Unfortunately, he is forced to cut short his studies in veterinary medicine.

With only the clothes on his back, Jake unknowingly hops a circus train heading to the big city.

At first, he’s not openly welcomed by the roustabouts camping in a boxcar. Most of them are belligerent or drunk, but the grizzled veteran Camel (Jim Norton) takes Jake under his wing.

The traveling circus is a second-rate operation known as the Benzini Brothers, the ringleader of which is the mercurial August (Christoph Waltz), who is both oddly charismatic and sadistically cruel.

August thinks about tossing Jake from the train until he realizes that his veterinary skills may come in handy with the circus animals.

What gets Jake’s attention more than the menagerie of wild animals is the incandescent star performer Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), a porcelain-skinned platinum blonde whose beauty is dazzling to behold as she rides a white show horse. Jake is smitten immediately, ignoring the dangers that lurk in even the hint of a potential liaison.

While Marlena’s the prime attraction of the circus, she’s also married to August, who is deeply possessive. But through a shared love for the animals, a close bond soon develops between Marlena and Jake that stirs paranoia and resentment for the circus owner.

As the film’s setting is the Great Depression, there’s plenty of angst and bitterness in the ranks of the circus workers, most of them afraid of August’s frequent bouts of rage and hostility. Many look upon Jake as an interloper and unwanted outsider.

While the circus constantly struggles with finances, things finally start to look up when August acquires a stubborn but regal old elephant named Rosie. The pachyderm’s disobedience and reluctance to perform causes August to inflict cruel treatment with the vicious use of a bull hook.

Fortunately, Jake manages to figure out what motivates the elephant to perform elegantly, allowing Marlena to triumphantly ride Rosie in an astounding circus act that starts to draw curious audiences.

“Water for Elephants” is more than a dramatic love story, one fraught with danger, deception and intrigue. It’s also a beautifully realized recreation of the old-fashioned circus that would pitch its big top virtually anywhere on its traveling road show.

Details and images of the early 1930s are delivered in an authentic manner by director Francis Lawrence and his production team. The look of “Water for Elephants” is an entirely plausible one-ring traveling circus that nicely captures the traditions of a by-gone era.

Even more impressive for this film is that it is a rare entertainment for grown-ups. Though everyone is quite good in their roles, the really serious acting comes from Christoph Waltz, who plays a complicated, edgy and unpredictable character well worth watching.

TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL

The second annual TCM Classic Film Festival is this weekend, so I will take one more stab at promoting its virtues to cinema lovers.

The four-day affair, which began Thursday, April 28, takes place in the heart of Hollywood, and is chock full of classic films introduced by noted celebrities.

The highlight will be Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas chatting on stage with TCM host Robert Osbourne about his career, leading into a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s epic film “Spartacus.”

Mickey Rooney will make a rare public appearance for a presentation of the Gershwin musical “Girl Crazy,” in which he starred with Judy Garland in 1943.

Another Gershwin musical is represented in the opening gala presentation of the 60th anniversary world premiere restoration of “An American in Paris,” with star Leslie Caron helping introduce the film. Roger Corman will introduce his low-budget classic “The Little Shop of Horrors,” which was reportedly made in only two days.

Debbie Reynolds will introduce “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” which was based on a Broadway musical.

The screening of “The Man with the Golden Arm,” a film that earned Frank Sinatra a Best Actor Oscar nomination, is a family affair in that the film will be introduced by Sinatra’s daughters as well by the daughter of famed director Otto Preminger.

For an evening of levity, the hilarious Marx Brothers romp, “A Night at the Opera,” will be introduced by Groucho’s grandson, Andy Marx.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

The American Philharmonic season finale performances will take place at Wells Fargo Center in Santa Rosa on Saturday, May 21, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, May 22, at 3 p.m.

Renowned violinist and conductor Jeremy Cohen will lead the “people’s orchestra” in music of Mexican composer Jose Pablo Moncayo, Cuban composer Julian Orbon, Spanish composer Joaquin Turina and others.

Bay Area-based Cohen, a violinist and composer, is a multiple Grammy nominee and founder of the acclaimed San Francisco Quartet.

QuinTango, a Washington-DC based chamber ensemble dedicated to the musical performance of tango will present works by Tango legends Carlos Gardel, Astor Piazzolla and others of the golden age.

Sharing the stage with the Philharmonic and QuinTango will be the renowned Tango performers Anton Gazenbeek and Carolina Jaurena.

Gazenbeek is founding director of The School of Traditional Argentine Tango. Jaurena has performed at major concert halls and tango festivals internationally. This international duo has performed to great acclaim. This will be their first Sonoma County appearance.

Tickets to QuinTango are free of charge and feature open seating. The suggested donation is $20.

On Sunday, May 1, at 11 a.m. at the Santa Rosa Church of One Tree, Jeremy Cohen will give a special violin demonstration about tango: its influence and style in music.

This event is a fundraiser for American Philharmonic. Tickets for May 1 are $25.

For more information visit www.apsonoma.org or call 707-542 6238.

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

I love poems that take pains to observe people at their tasks, and here’s a fine one by Christopher Todd Matthews, who lives in Virginia.

Window Washer

One hand slops suds on, one

hustles them down like a blind.

Brusque noon glare, filtered thus,

loosens and glows. For five or

six minutes he owns the place,

dismal coffee bar, and us, its

huddled underemployed. A blade,

black line against the topmost glass,

begins, slices off the outer lather,

flings it away, works inward,

corrals the frothy middle, and carves,

with quick cuts, the stuff down,

not looking for anything, beneath

or inside. Homes to the last,

cleans its edges, grooms it for

the end, then shaves it off

and flings it away. Which is

splendid, and merciless. And all

in the wrist. Then, he looks at us.

We makers of filth, we splashers

and spitters. We sitters and watchers.

Who like to see him work.

Who love it when he leaves

and gives it back: our grim hideout,

half spoiled by clarity.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Christopher Todd Matthews, and reprinted from Field, No. 82, 2010, by permission of Christopher Todd Matthews and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2011 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

The deadline is June 30.

Poets may live anywhere in the world as long as they are U. S. citizens. All entries must be in English.

Winning poems of state senior poets laureate will be named in July, following which they advance to final rounds of competition from which the winner of the 2011 National Senior Poet Laureate (500) and runner up ($100) awards will be announced Sept. 1.

Winner of the 2010 National Senior Poet Laureate Award was Regina Murray Brault of Burlington, Vt.

Runner up was Edward C. Robson of Winston-Salem, N. Car.

The 2010 winners can be seen in Golden Words Anthology, along with details about the 2011 Senior Poets Laureate Competition at the sponsor’s Web site, www.amykitchenerfdn.org.

Joni Wellington dances in the 10th annual Spring Dance Festival at Mendocino College in Ukiah, Calif., from May 6 through May 8, 2011. Courtesy photo.

UKIAH, Calif. – On the heels of sold out performances of the musical Cats, Mendocino College Dance Department and Dance Club present the 10th annual Spring Dance Festival, a true celebration of the diversity of dance.

Contemporary, jazz, hip hop, ballet, Mexican Folkloric, Capoeira, Brazilian, Salsa Rueda, Middle Eastern and more – just a handful of dance forms that will delight those who attend this event on Friday, May 6, and Saturday, May 7, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, May 8, at 2 p.m. in the Mendocino College Center Theatre on the Ukiah Campus, 1000 Hensley Creek Drive.

“The Mendocino College Spring Dance Festival has grown and become a celebrated tradition in our community,” said Leslie Saxon West, professor of dance at Mendocino College. “This dance event celebrates a form of art that goes beyond boundaries, uniting people from every walk of life all over the world.”

The dances that will be presented at the festival represent the variety of dance classes that are offered at Mendocino College.

One of these is Capoeira, a form of movement that combines music, martial arts and dance with roots in Africa and Brazil.

Capoeira students will be performing with the Brazilian dance and drum class, under the direction of instructors Mestre Amunka Davila and Erika Smallen.

The piece, entitled 'Amor, Tambor, Vida e Morte” celebrates the 19th century Carnaval in Brazil with its festive dances, romances, dramas and, at times, tragedies.

Cuban-style Salsa Rueda has become very popular at the college recently, with Erika Smallen at the helm as instructor and choreographer of a dance called Somos Cubanos.

The song and music are a joyous expression of Cuban cultural identity.

Smallen elaborates on her dance, “I wanted the piece to have some of the historical themes represented in the song. For this purpose, I included some folkloric movement from rumba and Orisha dance into the Casino (Cuban style salsa) Rueda.”

Mexican Folkloric dance Instructor Juvenal Vasquez and his students will again be performing several dances in this year’s festival.

Included are “El Saludo” and “El Zapateado,” which are usually performed by the youth who imitate older people with humorous movements.

According to Vasquez, “The dancers are not making fun of the older people, they are honoring them.”

Many other forms of dance will also be presented. Bernadette Alverio-Gray, popular jazz, contemporary/modern and hip hop instructor, has choreographed several dances with her classes.

“Wasted,” a contemporary social commentary represents an atmospheric realization of the waste and pollution we as a society cast upon nature and the environment.

Two hip hop dances, “One Stop Smog Shop” and “The Tune Up,' are fun and energetic and take place in a car garage. Alverio-Gray has danced in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre summer and certificate programs and the acclaimed Bates Dance Festival.

Middle Eastern dance instructor Janice Re has choreographed two pieces for this event.

One, entitled “Battle,” has a quiet section in the middle of the music which evokes a sense of sleepiness and dreaminess. Some of the dancers engage in a moment of rest on the floor while others emerge as their dreamy visions cause them to spin about with white veils.

The other dance, entitled “Unknown Hand,” is very mechanical which inspires sharp body movements portraying the body as a machine.

Eddie Vedolla Jr. presents “groovin’” Nightclub 2-Step, Cha Cha and Hustle to versions of the song, “Billie Jean.”

Audience members will also be treated to a modern ballet choreographed by Kirsten Turner, entitled “The Wind and the Sun,” to the music of Phillip Glass, “Tis of Thee,” a solo dance choreographed by Mercy Sidbury and performed by Miriam McNamara,

All tickets for the dance festival are $6 and may be purchased in advance at the Mendocino College Bookstore and the Mendocino Book Co. in Ukiah.

Tickets may also be ordered in advance by calling 707-468-3079. Tickets may also be purchased at the door if available.

A listing of college activities is online at www.mendocino.edu .