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Dancing Chocolate presents artistic collaboration

Blending art with chocolate, Manchester’s Dancing Lion Chocolate and artist Cindy Rizza will present an artistic collaboration of painted chocolates 8-10 p.m. May 4. The event is free, but reservations are required.

Master choolatier Richard Tango-Lowy explained how the chocolate boutique creates art with chocolate as its canvas.

“Well, that sort of works off our mantra, which is ‘chocolate is art,’?” he said. “We use chocolate that comes from very particular places and small plantations. And I make things from that chocolate. So I’ll craft a bon-bon or a truffle and will play off the character of that chocolate. The look of the piece has to be right, and we name that piece, and we do each bon-bon once, and we never do that piece again. So everything that we do at the shop is art anyway.”

To emphasize that, Tango-Lowy brought in artist Cindy Rizza, who has shown in Boston and Portsmouth.

“She does beautiful paintings, and last year, I was commissioned to do some work for the New Hampshire Institute of Art, and we did some bon-bons, which I just gave gold finish on the top, and she painted original art on them, and they were totally edible. They were beautiful.”

In November, Tango-Lowy decided to collaborate with Rizza once again and got the idea to do an artists’ reception where all the art is edible.

“So to start with, as I view my chocolate as my muse for my art, the theme of the show is ‘Chocolate Muses,’?” he said. “And Cindy’s doing chocolate bars that are hand-painted and represent each of the Greek muses. And they’re magnificent.”

While the canvases are small, Rizza can work in extreme detail.

“She can bring in as many colors as she’d like,” Tango-Lowy said. “In addition, I have some powdered gold, which is completely edible, so she can bring that in and give it another layer of depth and sparkle.”

As a layperson and chocolate lover, the first reaction is typically “They’re so gorgeous, you simply don’t want to eat them.” Tango-Lowy said he gets that all the time.

“They are art, but you still have to eat them. Because we perceive chocolate as art, we add another dimension. Anything we make is beautiful and meant to be eaten. ”

Ultimately, Tango-Lowy said, “the important thing to remember is that these pieces and their taste linger over a period of time. The taste of the chocolate and the cacao don’t just go away. They linger and change over time. It’s a very Japanese school of art. For us, eating is a part of the art.”

Dancing Lion Chocolate is located at 917 Elm St., Manchester. Free, but reservations are required; call 625-4043.

– GEORGE PELLETIER