Epoch Times Staff Feb 7, 2009

Pat Shoemaker (The Epoch Times)

HUNTSVILLE, AL--Pat Shoemaker is the first lady of Tuscumbia, Alabama, and an accomplished person in her own right. She serves on the board of the Tennessee Valley Arts Center, and is a former dancer.

The arts organization she leads sponsors a fine arts and crafts show associated with the Helen Keller Festival. It is one of the top five annual arts events in Alabama.

Helen Keller was a renowned author and social reformer and learned to communicate despite being deaf and blind. She was born in Tuscumbia. The Miracle Worker, a play about her life, has been performed annually near her birthplace since 1961, and draws visitors from around the region.

"Can hardly wait to go to my board meeting"

Mrs. Shoemaker and her husband, the Mayor of Tuscumbia, came to see Divine Performing Arts give their second annual performance in Huntsville, Alabama on Feb. 6.

She was thrilled by the show, saying the music touched her heart, gesturing with both hands held to her chest: "I really thought it was fabulous, I really did."

Continuing, she said, "It was really a very emotional thing for me. I just thought it was just so beautifully executed. I agree with whoever said that you could see the sincerity in their faces. I just thought it was wonderful. I can hardly wait to go to my board meeting and talk about it."

She said it was so obvious that they had worked so hard for the sake of the audience, out of generosity.

She and her husband, Mayor Bill Shoemaker, "were so impressed with the backdrops and how they changed so quickly and so beautifully. This young lady [one of the dancers] was just telling me that there is one costume change where they have only thirty seconds. Can you imagine?"

The digitally-projected backdrops are a trademark of Divine Performing Arts. The colorful scenery of the backdrop also enables the dancers to interact with it.

Mrs. Shoemaker feels passionately about arts funding in schools. She said arts are the first thing to be cut, yet they are so valuable to a child. If some children are not exposed to the arts through school, they never will be exposed to the arts, and that's so unfortunate. A person may never develop his full potential if he is never exposed to the arts, she said.

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/11627/

Category: Shen Yun Performing Arts