Author: Jonathon Norcross

SARATOGA SPRINGS — For now, a row of ukuleles remain unplucked. A dance studio stands empty. A piano’s keys sit still and quiet. 

The SPAC School of the Arts fall semester begins in less than two weeks, and when it launches on Sept. 15, a building located behind the former Museum of Dance on South Broadway will become filled with sounds, movements, and performances.

The school is playing host to a range of classes that will wrap up on Nov. 21. Included in this year’s offerings: youth and adult ukulele for players of varying experience; improv for youths; acting for teens; adult ballet and contemporary dance; adult jazz; private piano lessons; and much more.

One class that the school’s Vice President of Education Dennis Moench and Director of Learning and Engagement Jess Bien are most excited about is “Playing Shakespeare,” a new offering taught by Skidmore College faculty member Dennis Schebetta.

“The thing that we love about this class is that it’s Shakespeare, but it’s also very low-stakes and it’s very accessible,” Bien said. “There’s a lot of improv incorporated into it and it represents what we do and what we aim to do, because it’s just about the process of creating and coming together with others. It’s not product based. There’s no formal performance at the end of it, but it’s a space for people to just come together and play.”

The casual but creative attitude of the Shakespeare class provides a microcosm of many of the school’s programs. The key is to allow people of all ages and abilities to meet in-person, explore an activity or interest, and walk away from the experience feeling like they enjoyed themselves. There’s little pressure to nail a particular line, or perfectly perform a certain dance maneuver. Rather, enjoyment, creativity, and improved mental health are the end goals.

“What we would really like to do is be part of this national conversation that is really gaining a lot of interest in the effect of the arts on people’s wellbeing and how it is essential, necessary, and not just something that only a privileged number of people can be a part of,” Moench said.

The SPAC School of the Arts has partnered with Skidmore College for a course that invites adults over the age of 55 to take a creative movement class alongside the college’s dance students. The goal is to promote healing and wellbeing via the connections made between participants. A researcher at Skidmore intends to collect data from the class to see what the impact of such an experience might be.

“We’re really researching a lot of current studies that are out there,” Moench said. “The World Health Organization, for example, just came out with one about isolation and its effect on health and wellness, and we’re looking at a number of different data points, including social connectedness. We’re actually measuring working memory as well in the adults and in the students to see if there’s any significant impact on that and their overall sense of wellbeing.”

In other words, not only can a SPAC School of the Arts student learn more about Shakespeare or dance or music, but they may also be able to boost their mental health. The growing field of neuroaesthetics, which studies the psychological impact of art and music, is steadily providing more evidence that the creation and appreciation of art could be more of a necessity than a hobby. Some have even considered art as a tool needed for the survival of myriad cultures throughout history. It’s an ambitious field of study, and it’s one that has found a warm and welcoming home at the SPAC School of the Arts.

Those interested in enrolling in a class can do so online. Adult ballet is an especially popular course that may fill up by the time this story is published. But there are plenty of other offerings, many of which are favorites of the local community. To learn more or to register for a class, visit  spac.org/school-of-the-arts.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Frank Spotnitz—a TV writer/producer with credits that include “The X-Files,” “The Man in the High Castle,” and “Medici”—will be at the X-Files Museum in Saratoga Springs on Sunday, Sept. 21 for a meet and greet. The event will run from 1 to 5 p.m., with $40 tickets available at the door.

Some of Spotnitz’s notable “X-Files” writing credits include the episodes “Memento Mori,” “Millenium,” and the two-part “Dreamland.” In total, Spotnitz contributed to nearly 70 episodes of the hit series. He also helped author both “X-Files” films, released in 1998 and 2008, respectively. 

Beyond his work on “X-Files,” Spotnitz created, executive produced, and wrote multiple episodes of “The Man in the High Castle,” an Amazon Prime Video series that garnered critical acclaim and won two Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. When the pilot episode premiered in 2015, it became one of the most-watched original series debuts in Amazon’s history. 

Spotnitz also created the Netflix historical drama series “Medici,” which chronicled the rise of the Medici political dynasty during the Italian Renaissance, and CW’s “Leonardo,” about the life of da Vinci.

The X-Files Museum (technically named The X-Files Preservation Collection) remains the world’s only museum dedicated to the 90s sci-fi/horror show, which has developed a cult following after its initial, wildly successful run on the FOX network.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The word “legend” is tossed around quite a bit, but it’s hard not to apply the term to Eric Andersen. The singer-songwriter has collaborated with people like Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, the Grateful Dead, Lou Reed, and Johnny Cash, to name a few. 

His career, documented in the 2019 PBS film “The Songpoet,” began in the famed Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s, the same time and place fictionalized in films like “A Complete Unknown” and “Inside Llewyn Davis.” Andersen himself appeared in front of the camera in Warhol’s 1965 underground film “Space,” as well as “Festival Express,” a music doc chronicling a 1970 train tour that featured the Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, and many others.

But it’s Andersen’s remarkable gift for crafting elegant, lovely, sometimes haunting songs for which he’s most recognized. His 1972 album “Blue River” remains his most acclaimed. The release of his latest LP, “Dance of Love and Death,” preceded a fall 2025 tour that will bring him to Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs on Sept. 5. The performance will also include Steve Addabbo on lead guitar and Cheryl Prashker on percussion.

Prior to the start of his tour, Andersen answered a few questions for Saratoga TODAY. Below are his responses.

Saratoga TODAY: You’ve played at Caffe Lena before. In your experience touring the globe, do you find that there are many traditional folk music venues like Lena remaining? 

Eric Andersen: It’s been a while, but I think Passim still operates in Cambridge. No more Bottom Line, Gaslight, or Folk City in New York. Otherwise, I think there are very few left.

ST: The Grateful Dead hold an important place in Saratoga’s music history, having played to the largest-ever crowd at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. What was it like spending time with the Dead during the Festival Express? Are there any memories that stand out in your mind?

EA: On the Festival Express, I got to be friends with Jerry Garcia and Bobby Weir. (Janis Joplin, Ian and Sylvia, and Rick Danko were the only friends whom I knew from before). All very nice, talented, good people to know. I wrote the song “Weather Report” with the Dead.

ST: “Dance of Love and Death” is your first album of all-new material since 2003. How do you determine when a collection of songs is ready to be released into the world? What makes an album feel complete?

EA: Complete? Good question! In my judgement, I think most works of art (songs, recordings, albums–maybe even paintings and novels…) are all more or less abandoned rather than ever “finished.” Each project just sort of reaches its own conclusion and becomes a song, album, painting, or novel. In this case, the album “Dance” is a collection of New York recordings I made when I was in town from my home in Europe and we did keep adding songs and recordings over the course of twelve years.

Finally, after arriving at seventeen good works, we called it quits and put out the double album “Dance of Love and Death.” It kind of ended itself and became a sort of a love song album. Maybe the best one since “Ghosts Upon the Road” and “Blue River.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) hosted its eighth annual PlayIN event last Thursday, allowing 90 local string musicians to perform on stage with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Participants ranged in age from as young as six to as old as eighty.

The youngest musician – Kullyn Hughes from Melrose, New York – had been playing for only two months when he joined in with one of the nation’s most esteemed symphony orchestras.

“It was pretty cool,” Kullyn said. “I mean…whoa!”

Kullyn played a double bass that was taller than he was, with some assistance from an adult. He said he was considering switching to the violin. 

On stage, Kullyn and company were led by Assistant Conductor Naomi Woo, who provided some helpful feedback and seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself. Other Philadelphia Orchestra pros participating in the event included First Associate Concertmaster Juliette Kang, bass player Joseph Conyers, and nine other string musicians. Later in the performance, two members of the classically trained string group Time for Three – Nick Kendall and Charles Yang – joined on stage as well.

All of the local musicians who participated in the event were given two free tickets to return later that evening for the “Copland & Bates with Time for Three” concert.

According to SPAC, PlayINs are signature events for The Philadelphia Orchestra and part of the ensemble’s HEAR initiative, a portfolio of programs promoting the role of music in health, education, access, and research. The PlayINs have taken place regularly in Philadelphia since 2012 and in Saratoga since 2017, and are part of an array of programs designed to promote access for people of all ages to experience orchestral music either as listeners or performers.