Mark your calendars for the upcoming Seventh Annual Lewisburg Chocolate Festival, which begins with theatre performance starting on April 12 and continues with delicious samplings of chocolates, kid activities, themed shows, dinners, and musical presentations. Undoubtedly, the culmination of the event will be the amazing dance performance by Dance Brazil at Carnegie Hall on Saturday the 13th at 7:30pm.

All day Saturday, the Chocolate Tasting Extravaganza transpires throughout the shops and businesses, but get your tickets early for the sweet samplings, as in past years they have been known to sell out early on, even though more variety and larger quantities are prepared with each passing year. Nibble your way through town, with chocolate themed dinners, a bake-off, chef demonstrations, a mousse-eating contest (not served up by Minnie Castevet!), and work it off with participation in The Hospice Care 10K Chocolate Race. There will also be kid goings-on, such as the special chocolate reading for children young and old, which will take place free of charge at 2pm in the City Greenspace at the intersection of Washington and Jefferson Streets. And, the original version of the movie classic Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory will play for free at The Lewis Theatre on Court Street twice on Saturday, first noon and again at 3:00pm.

We all know that The Chocolate Festival isn’t complete without some great live music wafting throughout our little burg. There are great free performances in the Greenspace throughout the day, starting with the Appalachian Stompgrass music of The Wild Rumpus facebook.com/pages/The-Wild-Rumpus at 11am, featuring Andrew Adkins, Allan Sizemore, and Clint Lewis on a myriad of stringed musical devices. Later, at 2:15, there will be a performance by The Weight, fronted by songstress Morgan Cornwell, whose knack for originality has been appreciated in this community since she was just a little girl around town. Her band has been causing a stir as of late, wowing audiences near and far, and the uniqueness of their sound is really stirring.

Then the climactic finale of the festival will be the movement and music of Dance Brazil, with their amazing combination of a unique fusion of Afro-Brazilian movement, traditional and contemporary dance, Capoeira (pronounced cap-oh-ay-ra, a 15th century African/ Brazilian martial art combining elements of dance and music), and traditional martial arts based upon the music and dance of Brazilian culture. With incredible strength, flexibility, speed, dynamic presence and amazing physicality, the troupe Dance Brazil promise to enthrall. Founded in 1977 by Jelon Vieira, having grown from grass-roots workshops in NYC, and with further collaboration with Alvin Ailey in 1980, they were off and dancing at Lincoln Center and beyond. So for more than 30 years, they have traveled throughout the US and abroad, carrying forth the cultural tapestry and diverse artistry of Brazil.

For more info, go to dancebrazil.org : Rejecting Gravity. The videos are enticing, the perfect dancers’ bodies, the rhythm, costumes, and music are calling us. Call Carnegie at 304-645-7917 for tickets.

– By Susanna Robinson-Kenga, LBSPY 30 (April 8-22, 2013)