LANSDALE - If Ernest Hemingway was right when he defined courage as grace under pressure, then 12-year-old Saleka Shyamalan was the bravest among the brave at Friday’s debut event for the opening of the Lansdale Center for the Performing Arts.
Even the biggest concert halls in the world no doubt experience technical glitches now and then. No less so than on opening night.
Such was the case at Friday night’s opening of the new performing arts center. A glitch in the audio equipment forced a program change, whereby students with the Institute of Dance Artistry scheduled to go on first had to settle for closing out the first half of the program.
When the dancers finally came on they performed beautifully, as did young pianist Shyamalan, who happens to be the daughter of filmmaker M. Night Shayamalan.
He was seen filming his daughter as he played Chopin’s Polonaise in G minor. It was a great start to the birth of a performing arts center that no technical glitch could tarnish.
This performing arts center deserves its place as the new crown jewel Lansdale.
Didi Scott, president of the North Penn Regional Council for the Arts, the organization responsible for the center’s daily operations, likened it to a spark that will revitalize the borough and anyone who steps through the doors.
"This night is the result of years of planning and strategizing," Scott said, standing in the 210-seat auditorium that not too long ago was filled with a decades worth of detritus.
"This room room was filled to the brim with antiques and junk, from old Band-Aid tins to carousel horses," she said. "To think this auditorium came from that is amazing."
Scott credited Lansdale borough officials for contributing a large portion of the funds used to refurbish the former Masonic Temple.
She reserved her highest praise for borough Manager Lee Mangan, whom she called "a man of vision" and the "mastermind" behind the center.
"This is yet another step forward in the revitalization of Lansdale," Mangan said earlier outside the auditorium.
State Sen. Rob Wonderling, R-24th District, who helped secure a state grant, also credited local officials with having the foresight to bring a performing arts center to Lansdale.
Perhaps no one best summed up the importance of the center than Saleka’s mother Bhavna Vaswani. She spoke briefly after her daughter’s performance.
"Lansdale is lucky to have this performing arts center, and I think everyone who comes here will experience the central role music has played in my family," Vaswani said.