December 3, 2025 • 25 mins
Adam Schnell joins us to talk about Ballet Vero Beach and their production of Nutcracker on the Indian River, December 11-14, 2025, featuring a cast of 40 kids and 20 professionals. The VIP Add-On Experience is still available. We also discuss the Dance Education Program at Riverside Theatre. Be sure to get tickets to Nutcracker on the Indian River at BalletVeroBeach.org or RiversideTheatre.com
Mike Block joins us to discuss a new kids program, MikeBlockStringCamp.com. The Mike Block Trio will perform on January 8th at First Presbyterian Church in Vero Beach. And Mike talks about his recent appearance on "Shark Tank", where he talks about 3D-printed cellos and his website, forte3d.com.
Mike Block joins us to discuss a new kids program, MikeBlockStringCamp.com. The Mike Block Trio will perform on January 8th at First Presbyterian Church in Vero Beach. And Mike talks about his recent appearance on "Shark Tank", where he talks about 3D-printed cellos and his website, forte3d.com.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Arts Blast on the Air.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's a podcast, a radio show, and an Alexis skill
presented by a Ballet Vero Beach and Riverside Theater Arts
supporting the arts in Florida.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm Willie Miller and each.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Week I get to talk to people in the arts
about the arts on the Treasure Coast and beyond.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Arts.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Blast on the Air is so proud to be supported
by a Ballet Vero Beach. Subscriptions and single sales for
the exciting new season are available online now for your
holidays stocking stuffers. And you can't go wrong with tickets
for the Nutcracker on the Indian River December eleventh through
the thirteenth at Riverside Theater. Look for the new VIP
(00:45):
add on experience and Nutcracker for All has some new
options due so learn about everything at Balletverobeach dot org.
And now on with the show My guess in the
second segment Mike Block. But now speaking of Ballet Vereau Beach,
it's Adam Snell.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So good to see you, Adam.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Good to see you, Willie. Always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
How was your Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Good? Good? Busy? Yeah, we we've been at Ballet Vero Beach.
We've kind of been combining family and our dancers for
a few years now, so we had a large group
over twenty five, all ages from about a one and
a half year old too. We won't say how old
the upper end were, but yeah, it was. It was nice.
(01:29):
It's always a little like kind of baby breath before
we get into nutcrackers and now it's full force.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Where do you feed twenty five people?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
My parents are very generous and open their house for
a very casual gathering.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Okay, so no big turkey at the long table for
twenty five.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
You know, I honestly cannot remember the last time I
attended that type of gathering where everyone sat at one
table and carved the turkey and yeah, god, we hope
it's done.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I don't know. I like a casual like spending time
with friends and family. That's the way it's supposed to be,
I think. So, okay, what do you want to talk
about today? I mean, you know, it is nutcracker time
and we're super excited that this year our presence has
been requested at Riverside Theater, so we're moving the production
(02:29):
from the VHS Performing Arts Center to Riverside Theater for
now and the foreseeable future. That's really a testament to
how both Riverside and Valley Voro Beach are starting to
work closer together on education, engagement initiatives and both being
able to try and do more with less. It's not
that any of us has less, but we want to
(02:50):
be efficient and we want to give the best possible
experience to the community.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
That's an excellent idea. And you're kind of gone for
full circle, haven't you. Yeah, that's where you started.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, so you know, I still work for Riverside. A
lot of our dancers still teach in the dance education program.
The partnership is very alive and thriving. But we did
have a children's production, a Riverside based children's production of
a show called Nutcracker and Swing Time for several years
before there was a Ballet Vero Beach and then we
(03:22):
transitioned to Nutcracker on the Indian River. And really I
always hoped the production would either be at Riverside in
the beginning, and that wasn't possible. But now that we've
made our way back there, it really is, in my opinion,
a wonderful venue. For it, you know, both with snacks
and drinks in the lobby, but just the best guest
services team around, the best production team around. It just
(03:45):
allows us to make the magic that we have been
doing with Nutcracker on the Indian River for these past
few seasons, just make it that little bit more sparkly
and that little bit more spectacular.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, it just seemed that it was inevitable free to
go back there.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And we love that it's finally happening.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Heay, tell me about the Nutcracker this year. Who's in it?
How many kids? How do you handle the kids?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
How do I handle the kids? I'd like to say
that my voice for radio this morning, with that little
bit of a slow rasp, is for yelling at the kids.
It's not true. The kids in our production are actually
really fantastic. I shouldn't even say actually they are fantastic.
We use kiddos both on the dance education program at Riverside.
We open up auditions to anyone in the community, and
(04:35):
this year we have two really great community engagement partnerships.
We're working with Lindsay School for the Arts and we're
also working with Gifford You've Achievement Center. So it's a
wide cross section of kids. We have about forty kids
all told in the production, and then over twenty professional dancers.
That's both the Ballet Buo Beach Crew and also members
of our sister company to Mensions Dance Theater of Miami.
(04:57):
So they come up. We are able to do a
b or more spectacular production because we work with them.
Sometimes our dancers go down there for other things. So
really we were talking about family and friends earlier, and
it really becomes kind of a big family affair.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Is this something that will be online at some point?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
So we're it seems anti holiday magic and anti spirit
of the season, But we are a bit stingy with Nutcracker.
We do not offer that one for a watch at home.
We really hope that almost everyone can come see us
in person, and part of the way we do that
is not just with the full public shows, but we
(05:34):
have several options for what we call Nutcracker for All.
This year, Nutcracker for All was the precursor to our
accessible family friendly series, and those shows are about an
hour long. They're specifically designed for families with very young
children or folks with differing abilities. We modify the visual
effects a little bit so everyone can feel comfortable in
the theater. And this season, because of the run at Riverside,
(05:57):
the expanded run we've been able to we are able
to offer one Nutcracker for All show that is just
the first act of the production, and one Nutcracker for
All show that is just the second act of the production.
So if you've been coming to the abbreviated production for
a few years and if you have only seen the
second act, you can come and see the first act.
This year, you can divide up the performance and come
to both shows. And one of the great things about
(06:19):
Nutcracker for All is all seats are ten dollars and
that's really thanks to the generosity of our donors and funders.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
That's a wonderful thing. Yeah, absolutely, it's a good thing
all around.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
And what's great is that Riverside has not had the
ability thus far to do an accessible, family friendly type performance,
so we're actually helping them expand their base and getting
more folks that might not be comfortable using Riverside as
a venue to come in and be able to say, hey,
this is a place for me. I could you know
I could easily go to one of the other shows
(06:51):
because now that I've been here and I'm familiar with
it and all of that, everybody wins. Everybody wins, especially me.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Okay for the people.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
The one person out there who has no idea what
the Nutcracker is about, tell me the story.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
So we really, we really took the lane at Ballet
Vero Beach that we didn't need to do a traditional
Nutcracker ballet that is usually set somewhere in Europe, usually
Nuremberg in the eighteen hundreds, a Christmas party, a fantastic
dream from a little girl dreaming of candy characters and
a candy palace. We wanted to do something more local centric,
(07:32):
so our production follows that storyline, but sets the production
in nineteen nineteen, the year Vera was chartered. The young
heroines family is coming south to visit their eccentric uncle
who is prospecting for the citrus industry and Vero. That means,
in the second act, instead of candy characters, you get
land crabs, you get bobcats and river odders, you get
(07:54):
dancing manatees, all kinds of local flora and fauna, and
it's really become a touched for this community, something that
people can really be proud of something that people can
look at and say, this is something that nobody else has.
Many communities have nutcrackers, many communities have multiple nutcrackers, But
here we have something that really celebrates what makes our
(08:15):
area unique and can inspire a lot of local pride.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Tell me about the add on Experience.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So last season we started what we're calling the VIP
add on Experience. You can add this to a ticket
for any show and you get a goodie bag, and
then after the show you get to take pictures of
some of the cast members, meet them and talk to
them about their experience. It's just a little something extra
for i'll say, our diehard Nutcracker fans, but it's great
(08:43):
for anyone. It's great for kids, it's great for you know,
adults of all ages. It's just a little way to
enhance the experience and squeeze a little more holiday magic
out of the show.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I'd need to ask you the.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Ballet euro Beach Riverside Theater Stage Access class.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Is it too late again?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
It is not too late if you are listening to
this anytime up until ten am on December. What's tomorrow?
Willie the fourth December fourth, Thursday, December fourth, Come on
over to Riverside Theater, come to the Education building. This
is an initiative that Riverside Theater has put together where
you can go behind any of their shows. Right, you
get a little bit more insight. Kevin Quillin and the
(09:23):
director of theater Education does a lot of research on
the original production, so we'd be talking about the original
eighteen something something Saint Petersburg production. You get to see
some of our dancers dance up close and personal, and
then in the second class you actually get to tour
the set, go behind the scenes and see some of
the special effects that make the production work. If you
can't make it for Nutcracker for Riversides backstage access, check
(09:44):
out the website because they have them for I believe
every show, both Education Main Stage and Ballet Vero Beach
this season. And it's really an exciting way to understand
that these productions are homegrown here right. Somebody here may
these sets, someone here made these costumes. The performers are
coming here to perform them, some of them live here.
(10:06):
It's just a really great way to support the theater
and for Nutcracker, support Ballet Buo Beach.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
What a wonderful idea.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, can we talk just a touch about the music?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Who wrote it?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Oh Djaikovsky, one of the biggest ballet composers out there.
That was one of the things that I think is
so special about putting together this production. Music that is
so iconic really lends itself to reinterpretation. And that's one
of my happiest things about this show is seeing people
who have maybe seen the Nutcracker for thirty forty fifty
years different productions and go that was so cool. How
(10:40):
you use the music. I never thought that this dance
could be represented by that character, but it works. So
it's a really it's a really fun way to go
about it, especially if you've seen Nutcrackers for years and
years and years. This one's totally different and it's really exciting.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Okay, one more time before we run out of time.
How do we get to.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
So Balletverobeach dot org or Riversidetheater dot com. And I
am going to make sure I say this, ladies and gentlemen,
there are third party websites that are trying to scam people.
You will get your tickets, but you will be up
charged up about two hundred percent. It has happened to Riverside,
It has happened to BBB, It's happening to venues all
over the country, So make sure you are at ballet
(11:20):
Vero Beach dot org or Riversidetheater dot com. The show's
run December eleventh through the fourteenth. There's Nutcracker for all.
Sprinkle in there. Please come over, have a great time
and enjoy your holiday season.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Thank you. Great to see you, Adam, Great to see you,
Willie and little Frankie there in your lap.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Yeah he's asleep.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Balle Vero Beach, pooch. Okay, Marry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
All right, let's take a break now from Adam Schnell
and Ballet Vero Beach. And how about gift ideas? Are
you looking for some fresh ideas for gifts? Well, consider
a gift of tickets backstage tours, maybe even a class
or a workshop at Riverside Theater. Check the website to
(12:04):
learn about the coming season on all stages, plus the
live in the Loop schedule and everything happening right now
for all ages. Keep up with everything Riverside at Riversidetheater
dot com.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Arts Blast on the Air is proudly supported by Ballet
Vero Beach, Gather your loved ones and celebrate the season
with Nutcracker on the Indian River Now at Riverside Theater.
Performances run December eleventh through fourteenth, featuring spectacular professional dancers,
performance options for families with young children, and a VIP
add on experience where guests have the opportunity to meet
(12:40):
and take photos with cast members. For tickets, visit ballet
Vierobeach dot org or visit the Riverside Theater box office.
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Speaker 2 (14:20):
And we are back with Arts Blast on the air.
I'm Willie Miller and I've got an old friend. You've
become an old friend, Mike Block. We've talked so many times.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
Hello, Hello, how are you? I'm well? How are you?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I'm okay?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
And how about the family. Your little baby is no
longer a little baby?
Speaker 7 (14:40):
Yeah, my wife Honka Castle, a fellow musician, and our
daughter Aley, who's not six, are doing well. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Ah, she is the baby. Wait, how old is she?
Speaker 7 (14:52):
Yeah, she's six years old. She's already playing music and yeah,
we're having a good time.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
What is she playing? What's her instrument of choice?
Speaker 7 (15:01):
She's playing violin these days?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Really does how exciting is that? Seriously for a professional musician,
two professional musicians to see their baby grow up? Okay, six,
but show an interest and get in there and pretty
soon you'll be a trio.
Speaker 7 (15:23):
Yeah, we're hoping to put an inappropriate amount of pressure
on her to become serious as a musician.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Does she take lessons the way another child would cry?
Speaker 7 (15:36):
Yeah, we've got a great suzuki teacher. She's able to access.
And actually we're going to be creating a new program.
I know we've talked a lot about the Mike Block
String Camp in Verobisa happens in July and actually this
summer coincidentally, we're launching NBSC Junior, which is going to
serve kids from five to ten, basically to kind of
(15:59):
build a program around our own daughter's age group, which
is too young for the normal camp. But we're excited
to launch that this summer.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Wow. Okay, how can people find out about that? I
didn't I don't think I saw it on your website.
Speaker 7 (16:14):
Yeah, it's it's new on the mic blockstream camp dot
com site. You know, we're I think we're in our
seventeenth year of camp and this will be the first
year of NBSC Junior for kids under ten. It'll be
like a morning program from nine to noon for younger kids.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah, way, did you say seventeen years?
Speaker 7 (16:37):
Yes, we're like Verro locals at this point.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (16:42):
And yeah, we've got a lot of our our assistant
faculty have been you know, alumni from Verro Beasts that
grew up coming to our camp and are now professional
musicians and it's it's it's a really deep community at
this point. And yeah, we love coming to Vero and
performing as much as possible. I'll actually be there next
(17:04):
month on January eighth, performing with my Mike Block trio
which includes myself on cello vocals, Joe Walsh on mandolin,
Zach Ray Hickman on base. We've played in Vero a
couple of years ago before again for the Vero Beach
International Music Festival. We'll be playing at First pres on
(17:26):
January eighth.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
First Presbyterian Church. That's right, mccafee.
Speaker 7 (17:31):
Hall, exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Okay, I'm going back to that seventeen years.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I remember Bridget Johnson, correct.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Me if I don't have the name right, but I
believe it was Bridget who had studied with you at
one of your camps somewhere else and told her mother
how wonderful it was, and they, I don't know, worked
wonders somehow brought you to Beach.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Am I remembering that correctly.
Speaker 7 (18:03):
That's exactly how it started. Yeah, there was a local
kid in the Vero Beach High School orchestra program whose
mother helped bring me to the high school for a
residency of classes in a works and a concert in
May of two thousand and nine. That was the first
time I got to come to Vero, and now Vero's
(18:24):
been a big part of my life. You know. We
started the camp the next year and here we are
still doing it.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
You live here part time, right.
Speaker 7 (18:32):
That's right. We finally got tired of shifting from hotel
to hotel and crashing, you know, and with friends, and
we thought, well, you know, we love Vero so much,
let's find a way to really plant some roots here.
So we've spent a couple of winters there and our
daughter was even at Beachland Elementary earlier this year, and
(18:54):
we just we love the time that we get to
spend in Vero.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Okay, we are glad you're here, but let us move
on to a three D cello? What three D? What's that?
Speaker 7 (19:08):
Sure? Yeah? I mean, apart from talking to you, I
had another exciting promotional opportunity. I was featured on an
episode of Shark Tank just a couple of weeks ago,
and so I played cello. But I've been working with
a friend of mine, Alfred Goodrich, who runs the company
FOURT a three D. And what Alfred has done he's
(19:30):
actually he was a participant at our mic buck String
CAMPI in Vero Beach many years ago. That's how I
first met him. During the pandemic, he started three D
printing carbon fiber cellos instead of the traditional handmade wooden cellos,
and so I finally was able to try one and
was blown away about the quality of these instruments. So
(19:53):
I've been helping Alfred for almost two years now develop
the instruments and help spread the word. And yeah, we
just we're on Shark Tank last month and we got
to do our pitch and play some music for the
Sharks on national television on ABC, which doesn't get to
happen every day for Tello players, and we ended up
(20:15):
getting a deal. We made a deal with Lorie Griner,
one of the regular sharks on Shark Tank.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
What kind of deal she's buying it?
Speaker 7 (20:26):
Yeah, she So she invested two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars into the company for a sixteen percent equity stake
in the company. And you know, our hope is that
she she's known kind of as the QVC Queen and
just has an incredible X you know, track record and
instinct for marketing, and so we're hoping that she's going
(20:49):
to be able to help four T THREEV, you know,
reach a wider audience and make sure that these particularly
accessible instruments that sound great are really able to serve
the people who can benefit from them.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Is there some way that your fans can follow the
progress of this deal?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Well?
Speaker 7 (21:09):
Sure, I mean the company website is four K three
D dot com and we're already selling not just cellos
but also violins, and you know, the whole purpose mission
of the company is to sell professional level instruments at
a uniquely accessible price. So it's it's great for all
(21:30):
sorts of people. And then of course my own personal
socials include you know, updates on FOURT three D, but
also my own music, and you can follow me pretty
much anywhere with app block Cello.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Okay, one thing we have to get in before we leave.
Play for the Vote. You do that's important to you
for asking?
Speaker 7 (21:55):
Yeah, So, Play for the Vote is a nonprofit organization
that I've founded in twenty twenty, and our mission for
Play for the Vote is to simply make the voting
experience a more positive, community building event, and we feel
music is particularly suited to bring people together and create
(22:19):
a shared experience out of what might otherwise be you know,
a very combative, you know, stressful day for people. But
we believe everybody who's showing up to vote in person
is there with a shared purpose, and we're hoping to
help everyone feel connected through music and so playforth vote
dot org is where you can learn more about that,
(22:41):
and we're already in discussions to help mobilize musicians for
the midterms. We've enabled, like engaged like thousands of musicians
from every state in the United States to perform music
at polling locations on election day.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Actually being political, they are being i'll say, soothing, making
it a more pleasant experience, and what a great what
a great opportunity for them, especially for kids.
Speaker 7 (23:14):
Yeah, we've had lots of music schools get engaged and
get their students out there and performing for their community.
And as you're saying, like, yeah, we're a non part
of an organization and that's really the only way that
one can engage in that kind of activity near voters.
But that's actually the whole point is to not engage
(23:34):
with any of the issues or candidates directly, but really
be a community builder beyond that.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Okay, we're about out of time. One more time. Your
website or websites.
Speaker 7 (23:46):
Sure, Yeah, musicians can check out Mike bluckstringcamp dot com.
If there's a concertgoers in the Treasure Coast, you can
check out Vero Beach International Music Festival dot com and
then of course there was also Play for the Vote
and Fort ThReD dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Okay, we're about out of time, so good to talk
to you. Hi to the family, Thank you, Thank you,
have a good holiday season.
Speaker 7 (24:10):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Say well bye you too, Bye bye.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
That was Mike Block and thanks Mike. Thanks Adam Schnell,
and thank you as always for joining us again this
week for Arts Blast on the Air, a podcast radio
show and Alexis Skill, all presented by Riverside Theater in
Ballet Vero Beach, covering the arts online and an Arts Blasts,
the free emailed weekly Florida Arts news magazine. Join us
(24:37):
again next week for another edition of Arts Blast on
the Air. I'm Willie Miller, and I thank you for listening.
Welcome to Arts Blast on the Air.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's a podcast, a radio show, and an Alexis skill
presented by a Ballet Vero Beach and Riverside Theater Arts
supporting the arts in Florida.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm Willie Miller and each.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Week I get to talk to people in the arts
about the arts on the Treasure Coast and beyond.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Arts.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Blast on the Air is so proud to be supported
by a Ballet Vero Beach. Subscriptions and single sales for
the exciting new season are available online now for your
holidays stocking stuffers. And you can't go wrong with tickets
for the Nutcracker on the Indian River December eleventh through
the thirteenth at Riverside Theater. Look for the new VIP
(00:45):
add on experience and Nutcracker for All has some new
options due so learn about everything at Balletverobeach dot org.
And now on with the show My guess in the
second segment Mike Block. But now speaking of Ballet Vereau Beach,
it's Adam Snell.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So good to see you, Adam.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Good to see you, Willie. Always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
How was your Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Good? Good? Busy? Yeah, we we've been at Ballet Vero Beach.
We've kind of been combining family and our dancers for
a few years now, so we had a large group
over twenty five, all ages from about a one and
a half year old too. We won't say how old
the upper end were, but yeah, it was. It was nice.
(01:29):
It's always a little like kind of baby breath before
we get into nutcrackers and now it's full force.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Where do you feed twenty five people?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
My parents are very generous and open their house for
a very casual gathering.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Okay, so no big turkey at the long table for
twenty five.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
You know, I honestly cannot remember the last time I
attended that type of gathering where everyone sat at one
table and carved the turkey and yeah, god, we hope
it's done.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I don't know. I like a casual like spending time
with friends and family. That's the way it's supposed to be,
I think. So, okay, what do you want to talk
about today? I mean, you know, it is nutcracker time
and we're super excited that this year our presence has
been requested at Riverside Theater, so we're moving the production
(02:29):
from the VHS Performing Arts Center to Riverside Theater for
now and the foreseeable future. That's really a testament to
how both Riverside and Valley Voro Beach are starting to
work closer together on education, engagement initiatives and both being
able to try and do more with less. It's not
that any of us has less, but we want to
(02:50):
be efficient and we want to give the best possible
experience to the community.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
That's an excellent idea. And you're kind of gone for
full circle, haven't you. Yeah, that's where you started.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, so you know, I still work for Riverside. A
lot of our dancers still teach in the dance education program.
The partnership is very alive and thriving. But we did
have a children's production, a Riverside based children's production of
a show called Nutcracker and Swing Time for several years
before there was a Ballet Vero Beach and then we
(03:22):
transitioned to Nutcracker on the Indian River. And really I
always hoped the production would either be at Riverside in
the beginning, and that wasn't possible. But now that we've
made our way back there, it really is, in my opinion,
a wonderful venue. For it, you know, both with snacks
and drinks in the lobby, but just the best guest
services team around, the best production team around. It just
(03:45):
allows us to make the magic that we have been
doing with Nutcracker on the Indian River for these past
few seasons, just make it that little bit more sparkly
and that little bit more spectacular.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, it just seemed that it was inevitable free to
go back there.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And we love that it's finally happening.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Heay, tell me about the Nutcracker this year. Who's in it?
How many kids? How do you handle the kids?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
How do I handle the kids? I'd like to say
that my voice for radio this morning, with that little
bit of a slow rasp, is for yelling at the kids.
It's not true. The kids in our production are actually
really fantastic. I shouldn't even say actually they are fantastic.
We use kiddos both on the dance education program at Riverside.
We open up auditions to anyone in the community, and
(04:35):
this year we have two really great community engagement partnerships.
We're working with Lindsay School for the Arts and we're
also working with Gifford You've Achievement Center. So it's a
wide cross section of kids. We have about forty kids
all told in the production, and then over twenty professional dancers.
That's both the Ballet Buo Beach Crew and also members
of our sister company to Mensions Dance Theater of Miami.
(04:57):
So they come up. We are able to do a
b or more spectacular production because we work with them.
Sometimes our dancers go down there for other things. So
really we were talking about family and friends earlier, and
it really becomes kind of a big family affair.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Is this something that will be online at some point?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
So we're it seems anti holiday magic and anti spirit
of the season, But we are a bit stingy with Nutcracker.
We do not offer that one for a watch at home.
We really hope that almost everyone can come see us
in person, and part of the way we do that
is not just with the full public shows, but we
(05:34):
have several options for what we call Nutcracker for All.
This year, Nutcracker for All was the precursor to our
accessible family friendly series, and those shows are about an
hour long. They're specifically designed for families with very young
children or folks with differing abilities. We modify the visual
effects a little bit so everyone can feel comfortable in
the theater. And this season, because of the run at Riverside,
(05:57):
the expanded run we've been able to we are able
to offer one Nutcracker for All show that is just
the first act of the production, and one Nutcracker for
All show that is just the second act of the production.
So if you've been coming to the abbreviated production for
a few years and if you have only seen the
second act, you can come and see the first act.
This year, you can divide up the performance and come
to both shows. And one of the great things about
(06:19):
Nutcracker for All is all seats are ten dollars and
that's really thanks to the generosity of our donors and funders.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
That's a wonderful thing. Yeah, absolutely, it's a good thing
all around.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
And what's great is that Riverside has not had the
ability thus far to do an accessible, family friendly type performance,
so we're actually helping them expand their base and getting
more folks that might not be comfortable using Riverside as
a venue to come in and be able to say, hey,
this is a place for me. I could you know
I could easily go to one of the other shows
(06:51):
because now that I've been here and I'm familiar with
it and all of that, everybody wins. Everybody wins, especially me.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Okay for the people.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
The one person out there who has no idea what
the Nutcracker is about, tell me the story.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
So we really, we really took the lane at Ballet
Vero Beach that we didn't need to do a traditional
Nutcracker ballet that is usually set somewhere in Europe, usually
Nuremberg in the eighteen hundreds, a Christmas party, a fantastic
dream from a little girl dreaming of candy characters and
a candy palace. We wanted to do something more local centric,
(07:32):
so our production follows that storyline, but sets the production
in nineteen nineteen, the year Vera was chartered. The young
heroines family is coming south to visit their eccentric uncle
who is prospecting for the citrus industry and Vero. That means,
in the second act, instead of candy characters, you get
land crabs, you get bobcats and river odders, you get
(07:54):
dancing manatees, all kinds of local flora and fauna, and
it's really become a touched for this community, something that
people can really be proud of something that people can
look at and say, this is something that nobody else has.
Many communities have nutcrackers, many communities have multiple nutcrackers, But
here we have something that really celebrates what makes our
(08:15):
area unique and can inspire a lot of local pride.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Tell me about the add on Experience.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So last season we started what we're calling the VIP
add on Experience. You can add this to a ticket
for any show and you get a goodie bag, and
then after the show you get to take pictures of
some of the cast members, meet them and talk to
them about their experience. It's just a little something extra
for i'll say, our diehard Nutcracker fans, but it's great
(08:43):
for anyone. It's great for kids, it's great for you know,
adults of all ages. It's just a little way to
enhance the experience and squeeze a little more holiday magic
out of the show.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I'd need to ask you the.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Ballet euro Beach Riverside Theater Stage Access class.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Is it too late again?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
It is not too late if you are listening to
this anytime up until ten am on December. What's tomorrow?
Willie the fourth December fourth, Thursday, December fourth, Come on
over to Riverside Theater, come to the Education building. This
is an initiative that Riverside Theater has put together where
you can go behind any of their shows. Right, you
get a little bit more insight. Kevin Quillin and the
(09:23):
director of theater Education does a lot of research on
the original production, so we'd be talking about the original
eighteen something something Saint Petersburg production. You get to see
some of our dancers dance up close and personal, and
then in the second class you actually get to tour
the set, go behind the scenes and see some of
the special effects that make the production work. If you
can't make it for Nutcracker for Riversides backstage access, check
(09:44):
out the website because they have them for I believe
every show, both Education Main Stage and Ballet Vero Beach
this season. And it's really an exciting way to understand
that these productions are homegrown here right. Somebody here may
these sets, someone here made these costumes. The performers are
coming here to perform them, some of them live here.
(10:06):
It's just a really great way to support the theater
and for Nutcracker, support Ballet Buo Beach.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
What a wonderful idea.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, can we talk just a touch about the music?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Who wrote it?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Oh Djaikovsky, one of the biggest ballet composers out there.
That was one of the things that I think is
so special about putting together this production. Music that is
so iconic really lends itself to reinterpretation. And that's one
of my happiest things about this show is seeing people
who have maybe seen the Nutcracker for thirty forty fifty
years different productions and go that was so cool. How
(10:40):
you use the music. I never thought that this dance
could be represented by that character, but it works. So
it's a really it's a really fun way to go
about it, especially if you've seen Nutcrackers for years and
years and years. This one's totally different and it's really exciting.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Okay, one more time before we run out of time.
How do we get to.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
So Balletverobeach dot org or Riversidetheater dot com. And I
am going to make sure I say this, ladies and gentlemen,
there are third party websites that are trying to scam people.
You will get your tickets, but you will be up
charged up about two hundred percent. It has happened to Riverside,
It has happened to BBB, It's happening to venues all
over the country, So make sure you are at ballet
(11:20):
Vero Beach dot org or Riversidetheater dot com. The show's
run December eleventh through the fourteenth. There's Nutcracker for all.
Sprinkle in there. Please come over, have a great time
and enjoy your holiday season.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Thank you. Great to see you, Adam, Great to see you,
Willie and little Frankie there in your lap.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Yeah he's asleep.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Balle Vero Beach, pooch. Okay, Marry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
All right, let's take a break now from Adam Schnell
and Ballet Vero Beach. And how about gift ideas? Are
you looking for some fresh ideas for gifts? Well, consider
a gift of tickets backstage tours, maybe even a class
or a workshop at Riverside Theater. Check the website to
(12:04):
learn about the coming season on all stages, plus the
live in the Loop schedule and everything happening right now
for all ages. Keep up with everything Riverside at Riversidetheater
dot com.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Arts Blast on the Air is proudly supported by Ballet
Vero Beach, Gather your loved ones and celebrate the season
with Nutcracker on the Indian River Now at Riverside Theater.
Performances run December eleventh through fourteenth, featuring spectacular professional dancers,
performance options for families with young children, and a VIP
add on experience where guests have the opportunity to meet
(12:40):
and take photos with cast members. For tickets, visit ballet
Vierobeach dot org or visit the Riverside Theater box office.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
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They want you to know that your pool or SPA
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They believe you have entrusted them with your investment and
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Speaker 6 (13:17):
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(13:37):
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(13:58):
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Visit our website at Sunshine Furniturecasual dot com.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
And we are back with Arts Blast on the air.
I'm Willie Miller and I've got an old friend. You've
become an old friend, Mike Block. We've talked so many times.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
Hello, Hello, how are you? I'm well? How are you?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I'm okay?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
And how about the family. Your little baby is no
longer a little baby?
Speaker 7 (14:40):
Yeah, my wife Honka Castle, a fellow musician, and our
daughter Aley, who's not six, are doing well. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Ah, she is the baby. Wait, how old is she?
Speaker 7 (14:52):
Yeah, she's six years old. She's already playing music and yeah,
we're having a good time.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
What is she playing? What's her instrument of choice?
Speaker 7 (15:01):
She's playing violin these days?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Really does how exciting is that? Seriously for a professional musician,
two professional musicians to see their baby grow up? Okay, six,
but show an interest and get in there and pretty
soon you'll be a trio.
Speaker 7 (15:23):
Yeah, we're hoping to put an inappropriate amount of pressure
on her to become serious as a musician.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Does she take lessons the way another child would cry?
Speaker 7 (15:36):
Yeah, we've got a great suzuki teacher. She's able to access.
And actually we're going to be creating a new program.
I know we've talked a lot about the Mike Block
String Camp in Verobisa happens in July and actually this
summer coincidentally, we're launching NBSC Junior, which is going to
serve kids from five to ten, basically to kind of
(15:59):
build a program around our own daughter's age group, which
is too young for the normal camp. But we're excited
to launch that this summer.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Wow. Okay, how can people find out about that? I
didn't I don't think I saw it on your website.
Speaker 7 (16:14):
Yeah, it's it's new on the mic blockstream camp dot
com site. You know, we're I think we're in our
seventeenth year of camp and this will be the first
year of NBSC Junior for kids under ten. It'll be
like a morning program from nine to noon for younger kids.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah, way, did you say seventeen years?
Speaker 7 (16:37):
Yes, we're like Verro locals at this point.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (16:42):
And yeah, we've got a lot of our our assistant
faculty have been you know, alumni from Verro Beasts that
grew up coming to our camp and are now professional
musicians and it's it's it's a really deep community at
this point. And yeah, we love coming to Vero and
performing as much as possible. I'll actually be there next
(17:04):
month on January eighth, performing with my Mike Block trio
which includes myself on cello vocals, Joe Walsh on mandolin,
Zach Ray Hickman on base. We've played in Vero a
couple of years ago before again for the Vero Beach
International Music Festival. We'll be playing at First pres on
(17:26):
January eighth.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
First Presbyterian Church. That's right, mccafee.
Speaker 7 (17:31):
Hall, exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Okay, I'm going back to that seventeen years.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I remember Bridget Johnson, correct.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Me if I don't have the name right, but I
believe it was Bridget who had studied with you at
one of your camps somewhere else and told her mother
how wonderful it was, and they, I don't know, worked
wonders somehow brought you to Beach.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Am I remembering that correctly.
Speaker 7 (18:03):
That's exactly how it started. Yeah, there was a local
kid in the Vero Beach High School orchestra program whose
mother helped bring me to the high school for a
residency of classes in a works and a concert in
May of two thousand and nine. That was the first
time I got to come to Vero, and now Vero's
(18:24):
been a big part of my life. You know. We
started the camp the next year and here we are
still doing it.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
You live here part time, right.
Speaker 7 (18:32):
That's right. We finally got tired of shifting from hotel
to hotel and crashing, you know, and with friends, and
we thought, well, you know, we love Vero so much,
let's find a way to really plant some roots here.
So we've spent a couple of winters there and our
daughter was even at Beachland Elementary earlier this year, and
(18:54):
we just we love the time that we get to
spend in Vero.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Okay, we are glad you're here, but let us move
on to a three D cello? What three D? What's that?
Speaker 7 (19:08):
Sure? Yeah? I mean, apart from talking to you, I
had another exciting promotional opportunity. I was featured on an
episode of Shark Tank just a couple of weeks ago,
and so I played cello. But I've been working with
a friend of mine, Alfred Goodrich, who runs the company
FOURT a three D. And what Alfred has done he's
(19:30):
actually he was a participant at our mic buck String
CAMPI in Vero Beach many years ago. That's how I
first met him. During the pandemic, he started three D
printing carbon fiber cellos instead of the traditional handmade wooden cellos,
and so I finally was able to try one and
was blown away about the quality of these instruments. So
(19:53):
I've been helping Alfred for almost two years now develop
the instruments and help spread the word. And yeah, we
just we're on Shark Tank last month and we got
to do our pitch and play some music for the
Sharks on national television on ABC, which doesn't get to
happen every day for Tello players, and we ended up
(20:15):
getting a deal. We made a deal with Lorie Griner,
one of the regular sharks on Shark Tank.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
What kind of deal she's buying it?
Speaker 7 (20:26):
Yeah, she So she invested two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars into the company for a sixteen percent equity stake
in the company. And you know, our hope is that
she she's known kind of as the QVC Queen and
just has an incredible X you know, track record and
instinct for marketing, and so we're hoping that she's going
(20:49):
to be able to help four T THREEV, you know,
reach a wider audience and make sure that these particularly
accessible instruments that sound great are really able to serve
the people who can benefit from them.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Is there some way that your fans can follow the
progress of this deal?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Well?
Speaker 7 (21:09):
Sure, I mean the company website is four K three
D dot com and we're already selling not just cellos
but also violins, and you know, the whole purpose mission
of the company is to sell professional level instruments at
a uniquely accessible price. So it's it's great for all
(21:30):
sorts of people. And then of course my own personal
socials include you know, updates on FOURT three D, but
also my own music, and you can follow me pretty
much anywhere with app block Cello.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Okay, one thing we have to get in before we leave.
Play for the Vote. You do that's important to you
for asking?
Speaker 7 (21:55):
Yeah, So, Play for the Vote is a nonprofit organization
that I've founded in twenty twenty, and our mission for
Play for the Vote is to simply make the voting
experience a more positive, community building event, and we feel
music is particularly suited to bring people together and create
(22:19):
a shared experience out of what might otherwise be you know,
a very combative, you know, stressful day for people. But
we believe everybody who's showing up to vote in person
is there with a shared purpose, and we're hoping to
help everyone feel connected through music and so playforth vote
dot org is where you can learn more about that,
(22:41):
and we're already in discussions to help mobilize musicians for
the midterms. We've enabled, like engaged like thousands of musicians
from every state in the United States to perform music
at polling locations on election day.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Actually being political, they are being i'll say, soothing, making
it a more pleasant experience, and what a great what
a great opportunity for them, especially for kids.
Speaker 7 (23:14):
Yeah, we've had lots of music schools get engaged and
get their students out there and performing for their community.
And as you're saying, like, yeah, we're a non part
of an organization and that's really the only way that
one can engage in that kind of activity near voters.
But that's actually the whole point is to not engage
(23:34):
with any of the issues or candidates directly, but really
be a community builder beyond that.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Okay, we're about out of time. One more time. Your
website or websites.
Speaker 7 (23:46):
Sure, Yeah, musicians can check out Mike bluckstringcamp dot com.
If there's a concertgoers in the Treasure Coast, you can
check out Vero Beach International Music Festival dot com and
then of course there was also Play for the Vote
and Fort ThReD dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Okay, we're about out of time, so good to talk
to you. Hi to the family, Thank you, Thank you,
have a good holiday season.
Speaker 7 (24:10):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Say well bye you too, Bye bye.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
That was Mike Block and thanks Mike. Thanks Adam Schnell,
and thank you as always for joining us again this
week for Arts Blast on the Air, a podcast radio
show and Alexis Skill, all presented by Riverside Theater in
Ballet Vero Beach, covering the arts online and an Arts Blasts,
the free emailed weekly Florida Arts news magazine. Join us
(24:37):
again next week for another edition of Arts Blast on
the Air. I'm Willie Miller, and I thank you for listening.
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