(Camden, ME) On Saturday, July 9th at the Camden Opera House. This year's films include Pedal-Driven and Life Cycles and are presented by New England Mountain Bike Association Midcoast Maine Chapter. This active group promotes all aspects of mountain biking such as working with landowners, sponsoring trail rides, supporting special events and races, as well as maintaining an extensive system of trails.

Pedal-Driven
For more than two years, the film making team at Howell at the Moon traveled across the western United States, compelled to tell a story of clandestine groups of rogue mountain bikers who build illegal trails on America’s public lands. Promises were made to keep locations secret, breathtaking footage of extraordinary riders was captured, interviews were conducted with both sides of the conflict, battle lines were drawn, illegal trails were ripped out, existing trails were shut down. Then, somewhere along the way something shifted: both sides came to the table, partnerships were forged, agreements were signed.

Life Cycles
Life Cycles takes a look at mountain biking and the life of a bike in a very unique way. While there is still some amazing riding from some of the best pros in the industry, Life Cycles also takes a look at the land and the sensation a bike creates in our lives over time. With a dramatic start showing us the inside of major manufacturing facilities in the bike industry, Life Cycles turns to majestic landscapes that morph with the seasons as riders shred the dirt.

For more information, please call the Camden Opera House at 207-236-7963 or visit www.camdenoperahouse.com.

(Belfast, ME) The 6th Annual Women's Works: Beneath the Dirt, features solos, group pieces and ensemble work by female choreographers and performers Thursday, July 21st through Saturday, July 23rd at the Belfast Dance Studio. This year, the performers are joined by the Tremolino Trio, including Leslie Stein, Jim MacDonald and Chris Marshall with live music throughout Friday and Saturday night dance performances.

Women's Works founder and producer, Shana Bloomstein will perform Tying the knot, exploring the roots of commitment and the journey taken to move beyond fear into freedom. Bloomstein also presents a new ensemble piece, Light and Mud, with live music by the Tremolino Trio. This traditional Portuguese Fado music is juxtaposed with modern dance to explore the connection we have to our land, to the water, the trees, the earth. Fluid movements embody the grace of our water and partnering to explore the deep relationship between the land and human beings.

Heléna Melone presents A Duende; the earth spirit, a mischievous “faerie” from Iberian folklore, is as paradoxical and mysterious as nature itself, luring children into forests and helping those lost find their way. Katenia Keller will show two works, Our Lady of Intuition and A Short History of Warnings based on the paintings of the same title by Robert Shetterly. She will also perform a trio with Lisa Newcomb and Joan Proudman, About Time, exploring the experience of aging. This trio is mirrored by a companion work with younger artists Shana Bloomstein, Jesse Phillips-Fein and Alexandra Alysia Pitre. In addition, Pitre has created Red Blues...What separates the ladies from the gentlemen? Shhh, that's not polite conversation! She will also perform a solo, In the cold. The wonder of watching someone fall apart always holds an audience. How long is the viewing acceptable? Aside from these trios, Joan Proudman will present Woods End, a dance about the clear-cutting going on around her home in Freedom, and Bethany Louisos-Daniels performs heal with me, a process-based piece that challenges her as an artist/emotional-being to share honestly with the audience how that process affects every part of our lives. Finally, Jesse Phillips-Fein's Appendix One, is physicalization of “Appendix One: The Methods of NonViolent Action,” from From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation by Gene Sharp. Originally published in Bangkok in 1993 by the Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma, the text which is available via the internet, was used by the organizers in the recent Egyptian People's Uprising.

About the Artists
Shana Bloomstein, originally from Freedom, ME, began moving in preschool with Lisa Newcomb and never stopped. As a teenager, she performed professionally with Arthur Hall and in Stella Dance Theatre. She continued her studies at Hampshire College, where she met Nia Love (Fulbright Fellow). Shana moved to NYC to join Love for 4 years as an original member of Blacksmith's Daughter Dance Theatre. Shana has performed and collaborated across the country with Jesse Phillips-Fein and Sarah Sibley, and studied in Senegal, West Africa with Cheik M'Baye. Shana works as a full-time PTA and LMT by day and a performer/choreographer and dance/yoga teacher by night. Shana currently teaches dance and yoga at the Belfast dance studio, at Unity College and as a guest at the Robinson Ballet Co. Shana performs throughout the state as a solo artist and with the Dance/Drum group Djump!

Katenia Keller has created and performed thirteen original full-length dance works with her company Flying Feet Dance Theatre and is Choreographer and Dance Director for Maine Dance Institute. She works as a Dance Artist-in-Residence for Maine Alliance for Arts Education and is a juried Maine Arts Commission Touring and Education Artist. She is also a painter and has painted a series of 22 paintings published as Pythias Sacred Geometry Tarot.

Bethany Louisos-Daniels is a multidisciplinary dancer who is dedicated to the accessibility of dance. she grew up folk dancing with her family and has trained in various programs her whole adult life. She graduated from UMass Amherst with a degree in Dance and Culture, and has had the humbling privilege to study with great movement artists/activists from around the world. Since graduation, Bethany has given birth to her wondrous baby, Dezzi, and has been performing, choreographing and teaching with the Maine contemporary dance companies, Collective Motion and Bell and Buoy Physical Theater in Portland. She is also passionate about non-violence and anti-oppression activism and looks forward to a lifetime of blending and sharing her dreams.

Heléna Melone, M.A., international performer and teacher, specializes in American and fusion styles of belly dance, as well as flamenco, and has fused these idioms into an original signature style, Flamenco-Belly fusion, which she has taught throughout the U.S. and in the U.K. Heléna was interviewed for her knowledge of flamenco for the novel "Flamenco Academy," as well as for Oprah magazine, and selected to participate in the American Top Belly Dancer competition. Though having studied widely in the U.S. and in Turkey, Egypt, and Spain, water remains her primary teacher of grace and fluidity; and nature is muse and mentor—both in dance, and on silk.

Lisa Newcomb is a teacher, dancer and the Director/Owner of the Belfast Dance studio for the past twenty-five years.

Jesse Phillips-Fein is from Brooklyn, New York. She studied modern dance at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Smith College, and Laban Centre in London, England, and currently learns Haitian, Cuban, and West African dances from teachers Peniel Guerrier, Richard Gonzalez and Nia Love. Her own choreography has been produced at many NYC theaters, received funding and support from the Brooklyn Arts Council, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Puffin Foundation, and Dance Theater Workshop. In addition to her own work, she has collaborated and performed with other choreographers in spaces and places from rooftops to city piers. She has taught dance to people of all ages and backgrounds, from preschoolers to seniors, in many different settings. She currently teaches middle and high school dance at the Brooklyn Friends School.

Alexandra Alysia Pitre has performed a bit and studied a bit more, but she really just likes to move her body. She tries to make dance a language for all.

Joan Proudman trained with the Classical Ballet Academy of Connecticut, the Hartford Ballet and the Boston Ballet Company. With the BBC, she performed at the Music Hall and the Lyric Opera Company of Chicago. In Maine, Joan joined Oxygen Debut Dance Company, Portland Ballet and Ram Island Dance Company. She was a ballet teacher at Portland Ballet, Island Dance, and People to People Dance, and a creative movement and modern dance instructor with Bossov Ballet and Belfast Dance Studio. A graduate of USM in Fine Arts, Joan additionally works as a Photoshop artist and illustrator.

There will be an open dress rehearsal at 7:00 pm on Thursday, July 21st with tickets priced at $10. On Friday, July 22nd and Saturday, July 23rd performances are at 7:00 pm, and live music will accompany a portion of the showcase--tickets will cost $15. Tickets for all shows are available with cash only at the door of the Belfast Dance Studio, located at 109 High Street in Belfast. For more information or to make reservations, please call 323-8499.

(Rockland, ME) The North Atlantic Blues Festival takes place on July 16th and 17th at the Public Landing in Rockland and will feature some of the best-known blues legends around.

This year's lineup includes: Gina Sicilia, Lonnie Brooks, Eric Bibb, James Armstrong, Billy Branch, Toni Lynn Washington, Robert Cray, Magic Slim, and Trampled Under Foot.

Come to the picturesque Rockland Public Landing and enjoy some of the best music you've ever heard.

For more information, please visit www.northatlanticbluesfestival.com.

On Thursday, July 21st at 8:00 pm at the Rockport Opera House.

(Rockport, ME) Violinist Stefan Jackiw and 2005 Andrew Wolf Award Winner Max Levinson (on piano), perform three Brahms violin sonatas. There will be a free pre-concert talk at 7:00 pm featuring the musicians and Artistic Director Thomas Wolf in the downstairs meeting room at the Opera House. Also, attendees are welcome to come to the post-concert reception with the artist immediately following the concert at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art.

For more information, please visit the Bay Chamber Concerts website.