Evening of Hope, Strength & Joy will raise money for nonprofit groups

When Nikki Lee walks onstage this evening to perform at the Evening of Hope, Strength & Joy ... well, it won't be the first time.

She has acted with the Las Vegas Shakespeare Company. She has danced for 2011 Miss USA contestants. And, she has displayed her singing and dancing talents for events on behalf of Opportunity Village, where she is a student-artist in the organization's performing arts program.

Today and Friday, Lee will join student singers, dancers and musicians from Centennial High School for the fourth annual benefit, which will raise money for Opportunity Village and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Nevada.

The shows will begin at 6 p.m. today and Friday at Centennial High School Theater, 10200 Centennial Parkway. A $10 per person donation is requested.

The event was created four years ago by John Woodbury, owner of a Las Vegas photography and Web design firm, who for years has donated his skills to Centennial's theater program.

"Just through that experience, I had a feeling that kids at Centennial did not realize what was happening" outside of their own experience, he says. "And I had done a lot of work up to that point with Make-A-Wish, so I came up with the idea to have the theater kids do a show to benefit Make-A-Wish."

More recently, Woodbury also became a volunteer on behalf of Opportunity Village. So, this year's event will be the first in which Opportunity Village will share in the proceeds.

This year's show is scheduled to include performances by Centennial's Fusion dance troupe, a drum performance by students and a performance by the school's Polynesian Club. More than 50 Centennial students will work onstage and behind the scenes to mount this year's production.

Representing Opportunity Village onstage this year will be Jesus Gitz, a juggler, and Lee, who will perform a dance piece she and Krysti Gabriel, Opportunity Village's assistant performing arts director, have choreographed.

"It's a very soft piece," Gabriel says. "I would say there's elements of ballet and jazz. And, then, Nikki has a background in gymnastics, so you'll see some of her skills that she put in there."

More specifically, Lee says, "I do a front handspring."

Lee, 23, says she has been dancing since she was a child. What's the appeal?

"That's a very good question," she answers with a laugh. "What I like about dance is how I express myself, and it really just makes me calm down. It relaxes me."

Lee says her first public performance was at Chinatown Plaza when she was 14. Gabriel notes that Lee has performed at a variety of Opportunity Village events and also serves as an ambassador for the nonprofit agency.

Linda Smith, Opportunity Village associate executive director, says that "we love to see our young people involved" in such events, and Lee's and Gitz's performances even may help to educate the public about Opportunity Village's arts programs.

"Everybody knows Opportunity Village as a training center for people with intellectual disabilities," she says.

"But in the last, maybe, six years, we've developed an arts enrichment program where, now, people with disabilities who were never given the option when they were in school of (participating) in the arts -- whether it be theater or music or dance or fine arts -- can."

Now, Smith says, "we have several hundred people at Opportunity Village taking part in our arts enrichment program."

Also scheduled during the fourth annual Evening of Hope, Strength & Joy shows are tributes to Make-A-Wish representatives Kassidy Merritt and Alyssa Gomez, both of whom attend Centennial High School.

Woodbury says last year's performances raised about $3,800, versus about $1,000 the first year. He's pleased that the event is becoming a staple of the valley's entertainment calendar.

"I believe the word is out," Woodbury says.

Contact reporter John Przybys at
jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.