Mitchelle Stephenson — For The Capital Michelle Sanderson sits with her sons Alex, 5, and Aaron, 4, at the Edgewater branch library last Thursday. They enjoyed a foot-tapping performance by Footworks Percussive, a local dance troupe.
By Mitchelle Stephenson
Published in The Capital 07/16/2009
Over the course of any recent summer, county libraries sign up an average 15,000 Anne Arundel County children for their summer reading program. Both the Edgewater branch and the South County branch in Deale play a major role in keeping that number so high.
The county public library system is part of a consortium of libraries across 40 states that create and participate in a summer reading program that encourages children to keep up their reading skills during the 10-week summer break. They encourage kids to read by having giveaways and bringing free entertainment into their library meeting spaces.
This year the two south county branches have already hosted a juggling act, a dance troupe and a puppet show. They each have one more performance by Steven's Puppets on Tuesday in Edgewater and on Thursday in Deale.
Last week, about 100 boys and girls attended the Footworks Percussive Dance performance at the Edgewater branch.
Footworks is an Anne Arundel County-based production, showcasing a variety of dance styles.
The shows don't have a high production value - which nobody seems to mind. The air conditioning in the meeting room in Edgewater has been broken for months, and there isn't a stage for the performers to use. But the dancers were creative, using four upended conference tables - two on either side - to screen off a changing area. They had a simple stage - a large piece of varnished plywood - centered in front of a large, red banner advertising their name.
The room was full to capacity, and the show got off to a quick start. After an introduction by library manager Marc Gluck, fiddle player Sue Tice got the music going by playing a jig. Three dancers, Rebecca Northrop, Mark Schatz and Eileen Carson, added a great percussive element with a minute-long tap dancing routine.
After the initial dance, the show went on for about 45 minutes, with the dancers either individually or as a group performing "hambone," Appalachian clogging, African gumboot dancing, and call-and-answer songs with full audience participation.
Not only were the 60 or so children in the audience tapping their feet and clapping their hands to the rhythms, but most of the 40 or so moms and caregivers in the room were finding their groove as well.
Eileen, one of the Footworks performers, said that this is the first year they've been involved in the library program. "We've had a great turnout, we've had people come out at one library and then we see them again at another. They're library hopping," Eileen said.
Laurie Hayes, the public relations manager for the library, said that in all about 20,000 citizens attend the performances each year.
Laurie said that a committee of library staff begins the planning process at the end of summer. In the fall, they attend a performer's showcase sponsored by the Anne Arundel County Public School system. There they get an idea of what kinds of acts are available in our area.
By the beginning of the year, they are making decisions about which acts they want to hire and arranging the schedule. They typically bring in five acts, with each performing two or sometimes three shows at each of the 15 branches.
Some acts return, others are new. Stevens Puppets is a perennial favorite, and John Hadfield, whose 2009 show "Monkeys in the House" is in the lineup this year, has been involved in the program in past years. Three years ago, he brought his Science Show to area children.
"Our audiences in Anne Arundel have been great," John said. He is a year-round performer, doing school assemblies during the school year and library acts in the summer.
Trinadi Quattlebaum, 7, of Shady Side, came to the Footworks show with her great grandmother, Annie Tolson, and her brother Kingson, 5.
They'd earlier seen John's "Monkeys in the House" act - a magic, music and juggling performance.
"I liked the bird that was talking in that show," Trinadi said. She said she likes coming to the library shows because they're fun.
Check the library Web site at www.aacpl.net for the final week of performances.
About two dozen members of Cercle Francais, a social club of French-speakers who meet monthly, got together in Edgewater on Tuesday to celebrate Bastille Day.
The group has been meeting each month for over 30 years. It started as a way for a couple of French expatriates to get together to speak their native tongue. It has grown to include Americans who have lived overseas, or who speak French because of their jobs.
Pauline Czartoriska, one of the founding members, was born and raised in France and emigrated to the United States. She worked asa Realtor in the Annapolis area and, over the course of her career, met other French-speaking women in the area and organized gatherings to meet as a social club.
Pauline has since returned to France, but the club she founded lives on.
The group, all women, usually meet one Wednesday a month for lunch, during which they typically have a topic to discuss - sometimes politics, sometimes an article or a book. They take turns hosting the group at each other's homes. A couple of times a year they get together to celebrate holidays, like Christmas or on July 14, Bastille Day - the French Independence celebration.
They don't reenact the storming of the Bastille, but they do enjoy a potluck dinner, camaraderie and, after a few glasses of wine, a chanson (song) or two. On these occasions, the husbands are invited - and expected to sing.
The Tuesday gathering was held at a home on Beard's Creek in Edgewater. Hosts Stan and Myriam Norris set out four tables on their lawn overlooking the water. Herons dived for fish in the background as the conversations got underway, "Bon jour!" the ladies said as they greeted one another.
The husbands mostly greeted each other in English.
The current president of the group, Lynn Lounsberry, is an American, but has her degree in French and lived in France in the '70s. She currently teaches French at the Naval Academy Preschool in Annapolis.
Lynn said that they keep the group's membership to about two dozen members. "We meet in each others homes, so we try to keep it small," she said.
The small number also helps keep the conversations from getting out of control.
"We have French, British, Alsatian, Luxembourgers, Turkish and, of course, Americans in our group," Lynn said.
The group's primary objective is to allow members to speak French. For the native speakers, it means relaxing into their first language. But for the Americans who lived overseas or studied French in college, using conversational French is critical to maintaining proficiency.
Cheri Wendt-Taczak is a Cercle Francais member who previously worked for an international medical company. "The club is great for keeping up my French," she said.
Host Myriam Norris has been a member of the group since 2001. She found out about it from the librarian at St. John's College. She made an inquiry and was readily accepted into the group. Myriam is an expatriate Luxembourger who married an American.
"It's really nice, all different nationalities, and every woman has a different story," she said.
Liliane Foster came to America from Alsace, a region of France sometimes known for its German-speaking inhabitants, although she speaks French. She came to the U.S., married an American and settled here over 20 years ago.
"I speak English in my day to day life, and so I get to come here, speak French and relax," Liliane said.
Once the pate and filet de porc (pork tenderloin) were served, and the sun had set, song sheets were passed out and everyone stood to sing while facing a French flag that was gently waving in the wind.
Although there were a few red scarves and a few bottles of champagne, there were no fireworks lit, and no military parades to be seen. The Bastille Day celebrants of Cercle Francais were content to speak French, eat French and enjoy each other's company.
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