Performing Arts Take a Bow in Sedona, Arizona

Sedona, Arizona, the New Age capital of the world and home of more life-influencing vortices than anywhere else, is a whole lot more than just those mythical vortices. It’s also a marvelous place for classical music, theatre, opera, art, jazz, film and more. Hardly a month goes by that Sedona doesn’t host some of the world’s finest performing artists in settings of red rock beauty. Poets, actors, sculptors, musicians, filmmakers and artists all find inspiration and appreciative audiences in the community that USA Weekend named “The Most Beautiful Place in the USA.”

In the summer, Shakespeare wafts through the arts and crafts village of Tlaquepaque; in the fall, jazz resounds through the hills and valleys; in the winter, chamber music can be heard in homes, churches and schools; and in the spring, there’s a crescendo of arts activities and the annual Sedona Arts & Heritage Days. Whatever the time of year, Sedona is alive with exhibitions, concerts, poetry slams and theatrical performances by the town’s own professional theatre company. Plus over 300 resident artists and at least 40 galleries.

Much of this creative energy is generated, not by the vortices for which Sedona is renowned, but by the Sedona Arts Alliance, an umbrella organization for collaborative efforts, encompassing an opera league, a historical society, a film festival, several chamber music organizations, a symphony, a theater company and art groups. Seems like whatever art form you enjoy – local heritage, musical, theatrical, visual, written or natural – the Sedona arts and culture scene manages a superb blending of the creative arts with awe-inspiring natural wonders.

The last time we were in Sedona, we arrived in a rain storm late at night via what we thought was a short cut through some of the high hills surrounding the city. The pock-marked dirt road was sometimes hubcap deep with muddy water and the moonless dark was so intense we couldn’t see what we later leaned were steep roadside drop-offs and dangerous cutbacks. Talking with some of Sedona’s natives the next day, we – and they – were amazed that we drove the dreaded back way into town. “We don’t even like to go up there in the day with 4-wheel drive, much less at night!” one of them told us.

Only thing we could figure is that we must have driven through a couple of vortices and been sheltered by the mysterious power they’re said to exert. A power equal to that of the cultural pull of this amazing part of Arizona.

For more details about Sedona and the vortex of its arts influence, see www.sedonaartsalliance.org and www.visitsedona.com

- Rich Steck & Judi Janofsky
wheretogonext.com

June 10, 2008   Posted in: United States West