By Aaron Fiedler, Arts & Science Council

In January, Knight’s Random Act of Culture® initiative gave hundreds of workers in Uptown Charlotte a little lunch time treat, but not before snow put a damper on the plans. ASC scheduled a Random Act of Culture with North Carolina Dance Theatre for January 10 at the Uptown Atrium in Uptown Charlotte. Five inches of snow and ice that fell the night before hampered those plans as a winter wonderland shut down much of the city.

With the weather on our side, the RAC was rescheduled for January 24 in the same location.

At 11:15 a.m. 13 dancers from North Carolina Dance Theatre’s Trainee & Apprentice Program assembled throughout the space that serves as a main thoroughfare for employees of many of the city’s largest employers. From various locations throughout the space the dancers emerged to perform a contemporary ballet piece choreographed by Dance Theatre’s Mark Diamond and set to Bach Orchestra Suite #3. The five minute performance stunned passersby, and brought surprised looks from the audience of lunch goers. The dancers performed again at noon and 1 p.m.

This performance marks ASC’s seventh full Random Act of Culture and second with North Carolina Dance Theatre. As we continue along in this process, we’re working to find new venues and new opportunities to continue to make this program a success for the Knight Foundation, ASC and of course the citizens of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

Why Does Knight Foundation Fund Random Acts of Culture™? Knight Foundation, like its founders Jack and Jim Knight, focuses on promoting informed and engaged communities. To that end, we strongly believe in the potential of the arts to engage residents, and bring a community together. Hearing Handel, or seeing the tango in an unexpected place provides a deeply felt reminder of how the classics can enrich our lives. As you’ll see in our videos, the performances make people smile, dance, grab their cameras – even cry with joy. For those brief moments, people going along in their everyday lives are part of a shared, communal experience that makes their community a more vibrant place to live. In these days of shrinking audiences, we also hope that these random acts will encourage people to attend traditional performances. We can’t promise it. But it’s hard to watch what unfolds during a Random Act of Culture®, and not be inspired to see and hear more