Ballet Arkansas will kick off its 2015-16 season with its second annual Visions Choreographic Competition, 7 p.m. Aug. 22 in the Center for Performing Arts, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock.
Five up-and-coming choreographers -- Boyko Dossev of Boston Ballet; Ilya Kozadayev, formerly of Houston Ballet; Tom Mattingly, formerly of Ballet West and Visceral Dance Chicago; Barry Kerollis, formerly of Pacific Northwest Ballet; and Aidan DeYoung of Post: Ballet -- chosen from the 31 from around the country who applied, will each create a work for the competitive program.
The winner will receive a commission to create a complete new work for Ballet Arkansas' company dancers for their 2016 spring show. The guest judge is Glenn Edgerton, artistic director for Hubbard Street Dance in Chicago.
The rest of the lineup:
• Dec. 10-13: Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Maumelle Performing Arts Center, 100 Victory Lane, Maumelle.
• May 20-22: "Under the Lights," annual spring mixed-repertory show, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St., Little Rock. The program will include Nashville Ballet dancer Chris Stuart's Under the Lights, set to Johnny Cash songs (including "Walk the Line" and "Jackson"); a George Balanchine work, Glinka Pas de Trois; the world premiere of a work by Kiyon Gaines, recently retired Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist, whom Ballet Arkansas has recently signed to a three-year resident choreographer contract; the work by the winner of the Visions Competition; and Group Therapy, a comedy ballet created for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago by Harrison McEldowney.
For tickets, call (501) 223-5150, email info@balletarkansas.org or visit the website, balletarkansas.org.
Traviata encore
Soprano Natalie Dessay plays the title role of tragic courtesan Violetta Valery, with tenor Matthew Polenzani as her lover Alfredo Germont and bass-baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Giorgio Germont, Alfredo's disapproving father, in a Met: Live in HD encore cinecast of the Metropolitan Opera's 2012 production of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata, 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Breckenridge Village 12 in Little Rock and the Tinseltown in Benton. Ticket information is available at metopera.org.
Musical opening
The Arts Center of the Ozarks, 214 S. Main St., Springdale, will kick off its 49th season with The Music Man (music, lyrics and book by Meredith Willson), 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and July 16-18, 3 p.m. July 12 and 19. Tickets are $30 and $15 for Friday's gala opening night; $20, $10 for students (center members get a discount) for all other performances. Call (479) 751-5441 or visit the website, Acozarks.org.
New artistic director
The Weekend Theater has named Jamie Scott Blakey, actress, director and a member of the theater's board of directors since 2006, as its new artistic director, a position that has been vacant since founder Ralph Hyman retired in October.
Blakey has been involved in more than 70 central Arkansas theater productions, 27 as a director, at the Weekend Theater, Conway Community Arts Association, Conway High School and Community Theater of Little Rock.
Style on 07/05/2015