On most Wednesday nights, you’ll find the Academy of Fine Arts alive with the sounds of bagpipes, fiddles, flutes and drums.

Hidden away in a downstairs dance studio one March evening, Lori Madden instructs a group of Irish stepdancing students in a warm-up exercise, as the lively Irish tunes play on a nearby boom box.

Lined up in front of the studio’s mirror, the students alternate between tapping their toes and heels on the hardwood floor, picking up speed as they go. Their feet are outfitted in pairs of black, laced-up slippers that make a swooshing sound on the floor. 

“I can hear your feet,” Madden says during a pause in the music. “Swish, swish, swish.”

The exercises are to prepare them for the extensive footwork they’ll soon be engaging in.

Stepdancing is a form of Irish dancing characterized by a still, but not rigid, upper body and quick, precise movement of the feet.

“It’s such a beautiful combination of strength and grace. It’s control and abandon,” says Madden, executive director and dance coordinator of the Blue Ridge Irish Music School in Charlottesville. “It’s the dichotomy of a poised upper half and, from the waist down, going wild.”

The actual footwork is a set of basic movements that correspond to different Irish tunes.

“You put them together and arrange them in different ways,” Madden says. “As time goes on, there are more moves that enter the repertoire.”

Dancers start out using the ballet-like slippers, called soft shoes, before graduating to leather shoes, or hard shoes, that have slight heels and fiberglass toes for tapping and making noise.

“The dance (technique) is strict, but the class isn’t strict,” says Hope Wright, a 14-year-old Dunbar Middle School student.

The girls in Madden’s Academy class range in age from 10 to 15, yet most are dance veterans who started years ago. Wright, for instance, began studying with Madden six years ago.

Madden will teach girls as young as 7 years old in her classes.

“It’s a pretty rigorous dance form,” she says. “There’s nothing free form about it, so it can be really frustrating if you’re not ready for it developmentally.”

But it’s not uncommon for children in Ireland to start learning it during their toddler years.

“It’s just because of the amount of training involved, but part of it is the cultural phenomenon,” says Madden, who began teaching stepdancing in Charlottesville 10 years ago and at the Academy 7 years ago.

In Ireland, the dancing is steeped in cultural tradition.

“It was very organic and part of the life of the people,” she says. “You just grew up knowing the dances. It was all passed on from person to person.”

It had a revival of sorts in Ireland during the late 1800s and early 1900s, Madden says, as a way for the Irish people to reclaim part of their culture.

“Ireland is a country that has a history of occupation,” she says, adding that the citizens were looking for ways to “separate themselves from their oppressors.

“They wanted it to be really high art, as opposed to just folk dancing. They were trying to elevate it somewhat … by including elements of a really still upper body and really controlled and balletic movement (in the feet).”

The genre exploded in the United States in the mid-1990s when Michael Flatley and Riverdance hit the scene.

“What Michael Flatley and Riverdance did was two-fold,” Madden says. “They made it hugely popular around the world. But, also, they did a lot to change the form in a lot of ways.”

Several of the girls in Madden’s Academy class say Riverdance was what that inspired them to enroll.

“I used to copy what they did,” says 10-year-old Emily Foster, who started three years ago. “I wanted to do it too.”

All of the films in Randolph College’s upcoming weekend festival focus on how individuals can create change.

The topics range from students who set out to investigate what it means to be Muslim in a post-9/11 America to a community that pulled together to make their part of the world a beautiful place to live to a dying lesbian who fought for the right to transfer her pension to her partner.

“We chose documentaries that are dealing with social issues that our students are passionate about,” says communication studies professor Jennifer Gauthier, who organized the festival with students from her film class and other campus groups.

“Spring Into Action: Documentaries to Change the World,” sponsored by the Driver Lecture Series, will kick off with a screening of 2009’s “Journey Into America” at 7 p.m. Friday.

The film follows Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a renowned Islamic scholar and author, and a team of young American students as they visit cities big and small — from Birmingham, Nashville and Salt Lake City to Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles — to find out how Muslims fit into contemporary American society and what exactly American identity is in a post-9/11 world.

The festival continues with 2008’s “The Garden,” an Oscar-nominated film about a 14-acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. A group of citizens planted the garden, the largest of its kind in the United States, as a form of healing after the 1992 L.A. riots.

Scott Hamilton Kennedy, director of “The Garden,” will also conduct a filmmaking workshop at 2 p.m. Saturday in Martin 415.

2007’s “FreeHeld,” an Oscar-winning film that follows the landmark legal battle of Lt. Laurel Hester, a dying lesbian police officer who went to court to transfer her pension to her partner, concludes the festival at 2 p.m. Sunday.

“Not everyone is going to agree with the points of view (in these films),” Gauthier says. “But that’s the point: To get dialogue going.”

She says they hope that showing these films will encourage people to advocate for issues important to them.

“The filmmakers themselves were passionate about an issue and took action,” she says. “Then, (we’re) suggesting to students they can do the same thing.”

All the screenings are free and will be held in Martin 315. Filmmakers for each of the three films will also be on hand for a discussion after their respective screenings. Call (434) 947-8501 for more information.

Baines Books & Coffee (205 Main St. in Appomattox): 6th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Cheili featuring Deja Moo and Friends from 6 to 10 p.m. $4 cover. (434) 352-3711.

Big Lick Tropical Grill (4001 Murray Pl.): Celebration from 3 to 9 p.m., with cover band Donnie Webber & Adam playing from 5 to 9. Party favors available on a first-come, first-serve basis. No cover. (434) 528-3604.

Charley’s (707 Graves Mill Road): Fiddler Rodney Wells will perform for diners and later play with his band from 5:30 to 10 p.m. (434) 237-5988.

Macado’s (3744 Candlers Mountain Road): They’ll have drink, dinner and dessert specials until they close at 12:30 a.m., with bagpipers performing at 7:30. No cover. (434) 845-6464.

Milano’s Italian Restaurant (4327 Boonsboro Road): Celebration featuring the Williams Brothers from 8 to 11 p.m. No cover.

The Neighbor’s Place (104 Paulette Circle): A DJ dance party from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. There’s a $5 cover after 9 p.m., and it’s 21 and older after 10. (434) 455-4300.

Robin Alexander (1344 Main St.): St. Patrick’s Day coincides with their month-long Martini Madness, which has the owners introducing new martini flavors every Monday and Wednesday. Food specials on corned beef, fish and chips and Irish stew run through Friday. Fusion Salon will also be on hand for free makeovers. No cover. (434) 845-1601.

The White Hart (1208 Main St.): Music from Generic Folk of Bedford and food specials. $3 cover. (434) 455-1659.

Pietrzyk is the author of two novels, 2004’s “A Year and a Day” and 1998’s “Pears on a Willow Tree,” and her short fiction has been published in many journals, including the New England Review and Shenandoah. She’s also received eight Pushcart Prize nominations, the Columbia Editor’s Choice Award for Fiction and Descant’s Frank O’Connor Memorial Award.

Cummins has written three poetry collections: 2006’s “Counting the Waves,” 2002’s “Beyond the Reach” and 1997’s “From The Road It Looks Like Paradise.” She is also the winner of the Headwaters Literary Prize and the Washington Prize in Fiction.

Call (434) 847-7277 or visit http://www.riverviews.net for more information.

Duo Al & Amy in Bedford
Acoustic music duo Al Petteway and Amy White are performing at the Bedford Public Library at 7:30 p.m. Saturday as part of the Friends of the Bedford Public Library concert series.

Drawing inspiration from musical traditions across the globe, their shows include plenty of colorful stories about wildlife in their own backyard in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, as well as the people and places they’ve met in their travels.

Their sound is a blend of original, traditional and contemporary Celtic and Appalachian music, and they play a variety of stringed instruments, including the mandolin, Celtic harp, banjo, Irish bouzouki and guitar.

Admission to the concert is a suggested donation of $10.

Visit http://www.friendsofbedfordlibrary.org for more information.

Concert raises money for cancer treatment
Three local bands are taking the stage in Appomattox this weekend to raise money for resident Mary Gunter’s treatment for Follicular Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Set for 6 p.m. Saturday at the Black Rock Hunt Club, the concert will feature performances by Gator and the Sundown Band, which specializes in classic country tunes; Southland, which focuses more on contemporary country; and Band of Gold, which plays rock songs from the 1960s and 1970s.

Larry “Gator” White, front man of the Sundown Band, and Johnny White, from Southland, are Gunter’s sons. Band of Gold’s Rocky Robertson is her cousin. 

The night will also feature food, door prizes and a 50/50 raffle. Admission is a $10 donation.

The Black Rock Hunt Club is located at 4195 Watt Abbitt Road (Va. 654) in Appomattox. Call (434) 660-5750 for more information.

Sweet Briar opens exhibit
The Sweet Briar College Art Galleries’ latest exhibit, “Pages from the Past: Scrapbooks from the Collection of the Sweet Briar History Museum,” is opening with a reception from 4:30 to 6 p.m. March 25 in the Benedict Gallery.

The exhibit, curated by sophomore Marguerite “Molly” Marks, will showcase Sweet Briar history, as captured on the pages of scrapbooks that were compiled by some of the college’s earliest students.

The five main subjects are May Day, Academics, Traditions and Clubs, Athletics and Student Life.

Marks curated the exhibit to fulfill the internship component of her arts management certificate. She worked with Christian Carr, director the Sweet Briar Museum and the college’s arts management program, to organize the scrapbooks, store them correctly, research their content, create catalogues for them and identify themes that would produce an exhibition about the college.

The Benedict Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call (434) 381-6317 for more information.

Academy event mixes dance and music
The Academy of Fine Arts, Virginia School of the Arts, the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra and local band Square Peg are teaming up for the second annual “Dancing With Strings & Other Things,” scheduled for 7:30 p.m. March 26 and 2 p.m. March 27 in the Academy’s Warehouse Theatre.

Tickets are $22 for adults, $19 for seniors and $11 for students. They can be purchased by calling (434) 846-TIXX or visiting http://www.AcademyFine
Arts.com.

The program features a diversity of dance styles — choreographed by VSA’s Lisa Thomas, Dominique Angel and Cameron McNinch — and genres of music, featuring sections of Schumann, Bach, Rachmaninov, traditional Bulgarian tunes and even the Bee Gees.

E.C. Glass Theatre’s Steel Magnolias
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. March 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27
WHERE: E.C. Glass High School’s Alumni Studio Theatre, 2111 Memorial Ave.
TICKETS: $8. At the door one hour before each performance or at the Box Office, will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays March 18-26
INFO: (434) 522-3712 or ecglasstheatre.org
SYNOPSIS: A hilarious and touching play about a group of gossipy ladies in a small town beauty parlor.

He rattles off terms like plié and arabesque — both ballet techniques — and acts them out swiftly in the center of the studio, located inside his Dance Theatre of Lynchburg. Once the dancers start putting them into motion, even he has to chuckle at their speed.

The class has become a Friday tradition for Lee, founder and artistic director of Dance Theatre, and the Charlottesville dancers.

He began working with them as a resident choreographer two years ago, and in January, co-executive directors Sarah Jansen and Emily Mott asked him to come on as associate director.

“They’re doing a lot of my work, and my responsibilities started really increasing,” says Lee. “They were responsibilities I enjoy, so (when they asked), I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’”

Lee says his new role will have him helping Jansen and Mott make decisions while looking toward the future of the organization.

It will also, he hopes, provide Lynchburg with a professional dance presence.

“Just because it’s Charlottesville doesn’t mean they can’t be in residence here.”

Dance Theatre will host a performance by the dancers next weekend, which will act as an introduction of sorts to the community.

The Charlottesville Ballet Gala, set for 7 p.m. Saturday, will feature contemporary ballet selections, all choreographed by Lee, as well as an opportunity to meet members of the company.

“They’re a wonderful group of dancers who I can really trust with the choreography,” Lee says. “I love how they interpret the roles. They really dig very deep into what they’re doing and have an assuredness about them.

“There’s not one moment where I feel they lose their focus.”

Jansen and another friend started the company in 2008, at the suggestion of Virginia School of the Arts graduate Mott, then a student at UVa.

“It’s such a cultural community,” Jansen says. “We realized, ‘Why not start one?’”

From the beginning, Jansen says they’ve wanted to create a healthy environment for dancers, with no weight requirements or pressure to dance while injured — something that can be commonplace in the professional dance world.

“We want them to be healthy, whole people who love to dance,” she says.

Jansen’s first encounter with Lee was a few years ago, when she guest taught at Dance Theatre.

“Keith and I immediately got along. We’re like long-lost family members.”

He’s been an invaluable resource ever since, she says.

“He’s done so much in all genres of dance. It’s amazing to see one person who can create such different work.”

If You’re Going
• WHAT: Charlottesville Ballet Gala
• WHEN: 7 p.m. March 20
• WHERE: Dance Theatre of Lynchburg, 722 Commerce St.
• TICKETS: $25 per person. They must be purchased in advance at Dance Theatre.
• INFO: (434) 846-6272 or http://www.dancelynchburg.org

Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk said Linkous shot himself outside a friend’s house around 1:20 p.m. Saturday with his own rifle. DeBusk said Linkous was staying with friends and became upset after receiving a text message.

Linkous’ most recent work included collaborations with producer Danger Mouse and musician Christian Fennesz. He was working on the follow-up to 2006’s “Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain” at the time of his death.

Linkous was popular in the indie music scene with a unique sound that was engaging, ethereal and hauntingly beautiful.

News of his death spread quickly on the Internet and was met with shock and sadness.

Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood said on his blog he first met Linkous when Sparklehorse served as the opening act for the “OK Computer” tour in Europe.

“His first two records were very important to me, and I carried his music from the tour into my life, and my friends’ lives too,” Greenwood wrote. “... Mark wrote and played some beautiful music, and we’re lucky to have it.”

DeBusk said Linkous left no suicide note behind. The North Carolina-based artist was moving to Knoxville and staying with two friends, who told police Linkous was drinking and became upset after texting with an unknown person.

After saying he didn’t want to talk about what was upsetting him, the friends said Linkous went upstairs for a short time, then left the house through a back door. A witness saw Linkous sit down nearby, take out his rifle, place it against his chest and pull the trigger.

Linkous’ body was taken to the Knox County medical examiner, but it’s unclear whether an autopsy will be performed, DeBusk said.

Linkous was a popular collaborator and respected artist who was a festival favorite. His highly anticipated album with Danger Mouse, “Dark Night of the Soul,” had been held up by legal issues but was cleared for release soon. Filmmaker David Lynch recently released a companion book of photographs.

The artist’s earlier albums included “Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot,” “Good Morning Spider” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which featured contributions from Tom Waits and P.J. Harvey.

Linkous’ manager, Shelby Meade, released a statement from his family: “We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There’s a heaven and there’s a star for you.”

The makers of “She’s Out of My League” sure do. They’ve built an entire comedy from the premise, pairing string-bean Apatow alum Jay Baruchel with gorgeous newcomer Alice Eve and surrounding them with a chorus of Doubting Thomas friends who tell them their relationship can never work.

The central idea, vaguely lurking around the edges of the movie’s gross-out humor and then spelled out at the end, is pure wish-fulfillment. Nerds and babes can hook up (really!), just so long as the geek possesses a good heart and healthy self-esteem.

One problem. The filmmakers forgot to give Baruchel’s yammering, stammering airport security worker an actual personality that might appeal to the opposite sex. Say what you want about the professional prospects of Rogen’s weed-loving loafer in “Knocked Up,” you have to admit the dude made you laugh. And, from what we’ve heard, women do like a sense of humor.

The only thing Kirk (Baruchel) has is a sense of awkwardness and self-loathing. When we first meet him, he’s rehearsing the reconciliation speech he plans to spring on his ex-girlfriend (Lindsay Sloane), the same ex-girlfriend who has become a regular (along with her idiot new boyfriend) at Kirk’s parents’ house since their breakup.

Pretty pathetic, huh? Kirk’s fortunes take a radical change, however, when he meets Molly (Eve), a beautiful, intelligent woman fresh off a breakup and eager to ease back into dating with a safe, sweet guy like our hero.

Kirk’s bro-friends — Stainer (T.J. Miller) and Jack (Mike Vogel) — are astounded and alarmed. Assessing their friend as a “five” and Molly a “hard 10,” they argue that Kirk is upsetting the cosmic laws of sexual attraction.

“You can’t jump more than two points!” says Stainer, though why exactly a grown man would listen to advice from someone named Stainer remains perpetually unclear.

The movie, written by Sean Anders and John Morris (who have a hand in the upcoming “Hot Tub Time Machine”) and directed by Jim Field Smith, spends most of its time exploring whether Kirk can indeed make that multi-point leap.

And while Baruchel has been doing great things since debuting in the short-lived Apatow sitcom “Undeclared,” the movie gives you absolutely no reason to believe that Molly wouldn’t bail on him after the first date.

With his nasal voice and social ineptitude, we could see him as the son Eugene Levy never knew existed in some “American Pie” knockoff. But with a girl like Molly? Levy himself would stand a better chance.

In fact, Kirk is such a nice-guy non-entity here that it’s disappointing whenever “League” cuts away from its more appealing supporting cast. Miller is a scream as Stainer, who, it turns out, has endured a dilemma similar to his friend’s. (Hence, the bad advice.) And Nate Torrence is perfect as Devon, Kirk’s moon-eyed pal who sees the world filtered through Disney princess movies.

“Let’s go on a magic carpet ride,” Devon enthuses at one point. As long as you kick Kirk off, buddy, we’re on board.

“She’s Out of My League,” a Paramount-Dreamworks release, is rated R for language and sexual content. Running time: 107 minutes. Two stars out of four.

Dear Left out and Lonely: You are not being childish; no one—at any age-likes to be excluded. As for why they don’t invite you, I can’t say. Maybe they don’t think you like to shop or do the things they do.

Or maybe they don’t think you are free on the weekends. So rather than sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, let your friends know you are willing and able to hang out. Just ask them to give you a call the next time they do something on the weekends. If they still don’t invite you, go ahead and ask them, point blank, why not.

Dear Emily: My husband doesn’t want our three-year-old daughter to watch any TV at all. Yet I am the one who stays home with her all day, and sometimes a thirty minute show is the only way I can get a break! How do I convince my husband that this isn’t all that bad for our child’s development?—TV standoff

Dear TV standoff: Introduce your hubby to educational TV. There are plenty of shows out there designed to help educate children. PBS, for example, offers a ton of shows to teach toddlers about words, numbers, and life lessons. Also tell your husband that several studies show television (in small amounts) isn’t a bad thing. He can do the research himself on the Internet. Finally, if he still refuses to give in, have him watch your daughter all day, for several days, and see how fast he changes his mind!

Dear Emily: My girlfriend, “Amy,“ has this best friend, “Cheryl,“ who doesn’t like me at all. Cheryl says all kinds of things to Amy about me, like I’m condescending, rude, and not good enough for her friend. My problem is not with Cheryl, though; it’s with my girlfriend. She thinks this is all funny. She’ll tell me all the things Cheryl says about me behind my back, then just laughs about it—as if I would find it funny too. I’ve tried explaining to her that I don’t find these constant attacks as amusing as she does, but she keeps relaying to me her conversations with Cheryl, ignoring how they make me feel. Please help me get her to stop!—Enough is enough

Dear Enough is enough: I hate to say it, but your girlfriend doesn’t sound like a very nice person. If she enjoys making you angry, you really need to think about if this is the girl for you. If you decide she is, try getting Amy to see things from your perspective. Ask her how she would feel if your friends constantly belittled her? If that doesn’t work, ignore Amy. She is obviously sharing these “funny” conversations with you because she enjoys the reaction she gets. So don’t give her any. Change the subject and don’t allow her to get under your skin.

Kim Sheppard can’t imagine what her life would be like without dance.

“I started when I was four. It’s like breathing,” said the New York native, who has taught at Dance Theatre of Lynchburg for seven years.

She was one of about 50 people who braved the cold Wednesday during a rally to protest a General Assembly proposal that would cut funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts in half in 2010-11, and eliminate it altogether in 2011-12.

Sheppard said the possibility of cuts in arts and arts education “saddens me because I know what it’s meant to me.”

Members of the James River Council for the Arts and Humanities organized the rally, modeling it after a similar one held in Richmond last week, said David Neumeyer, council president.

“It just struck us on the arts council that we needed to do something locally,” he said before addressing the crowd.

The rally was in response to the House of Delegates budget for 2010-12 — approved by the House on Wednesday — that would reduce money allocated to the commission by $2.23 million in the first year of the budget, and erase all funding in the second year.

The Senate’s budget would keep $4.46 million in arts funding in each year.

Those gathered on Wednesday at the downtown Community Market showed their support for arts funding in different ways.

Some carried signs — “Virginia Is For The Arts,” “Art Heals” and “Don’t Silence the Music” were among their messages — while others carried the tools of their trade, including paintbrushes, cameras and, in Sheppard’s case, a pair of black tap shoes.

“The arts build communities. The arts build economies,” Neumeyer said. “We have a thriving arts community and a thriving downtown. They’re both growing.

“What pulls us together is the Virginia Commission for the Arts.”

Over the past two years, Lynchburg-area arts programs have received a total of almost $400,000 from the VCA, money that’s vital to most of their day-to-day operations.

Many wondered what the arts scene here and in other Virginia communities would look like without the organization.

“If they get rid of all the funding, and there’s nowhere for arts people to go, everyone is going to leave,” said Christine Gnieski, a Randolph College freshman who plans to major in theater.

“They want to bring people to Virginia, but they’re getting rid of all the things that will do that.

“The arts are good for the soul. They shape the communities, and (the General Assembly) is trying to destroy that.”

The group included leaders of area arts organizations, artists, performers and concerned citizens. Speakers urged them to call local legislators to speak out against the cuts.

“I hope that a lot of people take action,” said Glory Szabo, another organizer. “This is something for the people in charge to take note of.”

Here’s a list of Lynchburg-area arts organizations and how much VCA money they received in the past two years (A chart in Tuesday’s paper reported the amount of grants awarded, but grants later were reduced due to budget cuts):

• Academy of Fine Arts: $141,280

• Amazement Square: $8,500

• Bedford Academy of the Arts, Bedford: $1,275

• Bedford County: $5,000 (matching local government grant)

• Bedford city: $5,500 (matching local government grant)

• Black Theatre Ensemble of Virginia: $2,550

• Dance Theatre of Lynchburg: $33,935

• The Ellington Fellowship Play-house: $11,815

• Jefferson Choral Society: $7,276

• Little Town Players: $2,635

• Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra: $36,396 ($6,000 used to set up local arts council, $5,000 used for arts tourism project)

• Opera on the James: $20,275

• Riverviews Artspace: $12,835

• Virginia Center for the Creative Arts: $110,129