Dance festival

The Department of Theatre, Film and Dance presents its spring dance theater concert, the Locally Grown Dance Mini-Festival, May 5 and 7 at 8 p.m. and May 8 at 2 p.m. in the Class of '56 Dance Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, 430 College Ave.

The festival features 11 original works in various styles including Indian and belly dance, by student and faculty choreographers from Cornell and Ithaca College. The Sunday concert, "There Is Only One God and Her Name Is Life: Reimagining Kabir," features local musicians and dancers, and recitation by renowned Indian novelist, playwright, film critic and Fulbright scholar Kiran Nagarkar.

Tickets ($4 in advance, $5 at the door, plus a $1 ticketing fee) at the Schwartz Center box office, online at http://www.schwartztickets.com, or by calling 607-254-ARTS. Handicapped accessible seating is available on request.

Dance students will also present their work from this semester in an informal Dance Studio Show, May 9 at 7 p.m. in the Class of '56 Dance Theatre, free and open to the public.

Celebrate spring

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art hosts a spring party, May 7 from 10 a.m. to noon, with entertainment, poetry, attractions for children and more.

The event features spring poetry, a haiku-a-thon, an origami workshop, balloon animals, face painting, Bob the Letterman and musical performances by John Simon and the Ithaca Gay Men's Chorus. Cupcakes and punch will be served in celebration of museum director Frank Robinson, who is retiring in June after 19 years. Free and open to the public.

MFA reading

MFA students in the Creative Writing Program will share work from their theses in progress at the 2011 MFA Graduation Reading, May 7 at 2 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Fiction writers Megan Coe, Rachel Coye, Christian Howard and Laurel Lathrop, and poets Tacey Atsitty, Benjamin García, Clayton Pityk and Beth Rogers will read from their work. A reception follows in the English Department Lounge, 258 Goldwin Smith Hall.

The events are free and open to the public. Information: creativewriting@cornell.edu.

American master pianist

American pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher is in residence on campus this week, working with Cornell and Ithaca College students on a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle. All five concertos will be presented over two concerts, May 7 at 8 p.m. and May 8 at 3 p.m. in Bailey Hall.

Tickets are available as a two-concert set ($25 general public, $10 students), online at http://www.CornellConcertSeries.com or http://BaileyTickets.com, and at Ticket Center Ithaca on The Commons, 607-273-4497. A Cornell discount rate is available online with netID.

On May 7, Fleisher conducts the Cornell Chamber Orchestra for concertos 1 and 2, featuring lecturer Miri Yampolsky and Cornell D.M.A. candidate Stefania Neonato as piano soloists, and the Ithaca College Chamber Orchestra on concerto 3 with soloist Daniel Anastasio '11.

The concerto 4 and 5 soloists on May 8 are associate professor of music Xak Bjerken and guest artist Claudio Martinez-Mehner, with Fleisher conducting the Cornell Symphony Orchestra. Due to recent hand surgery, Fleisher will not be playing piano in the "Emperor" concerto as previously announced.

Fleisher debuted with the New York Philharmonic in 1944 and is one of the world's premier classical pianists. He made his signature recording of the complete Beethoven concertos in 1959-61 with the Cleveland Orchestra. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.

The concerts, funded in part by the Cornell Council for the Arts, are presented by the Cornell Concert Series and the Department of Music.

Student films

Cornell Cinema hosts two programs of student films in Willard Straight Theatre this week, with a variety of creative projects in digital video, documentary and nonfiction filmmaking that crosses disciplines.

Student Films I, May 8 at 7:30 p.m., showcases works by 15 students in the new introductory digital filmmaking course Documentary Workshop, taught by Marilyn Rivchin in the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance. In addition to independent and collaborative works, the class as a group has made a documentary video exploring multiple viewpoints on the Cornell Genetics Ancestry Project, conducted during the spring semester.

Student Films II will feature premieres of seven original digital videos, May 13 at 7:15 p.m., with collaborations and individual projects by students in Rivchin's Advanced Filmmaking class.

Information: http://cinema.cornell.edu.

Javanese culture

The Cornell Gamelan Ensemble will perform Javanese music and dance, May 8 at 1 p.m. in Barnes Hall auditorium. The ensemble, directed by Christopher Miller, will appear with guest artists Sumarsam and Urip Sri Maeny. Free and open to the public. Information: http://www.arts.cornell.edu/gamelan/.

Arts and economic growth

The Society for the Humanities will host a Regional Economic Development Roundtable and grants workshop, "Promoting the Arts, Cultural Institutions and Historic Sites: A Strategy for Economic Growth and Job Creation," May 17, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., G10 Biotechnology Building.

The event is open to the public. Regional cultural and arts institutions have been invited in cooperation with the office of U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

The roundtable will include updates on recent federal culture and tourism-related legislative action, a discussion of the role of culture and tourism in economic development and job creation in the Southern Tier, and a workshop on the process of applying for and obtaining grants.

Following the roundtable, tours of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, the Carl A. Kroch Library Rare and Manuscript Collections, the A.D. White House and the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts will be offered from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m.

RSVP to Gillibrand's office at artsummit@gillibrand.senate.gov with choice of tour and any additional questions. Directions and parking instructions will be provided.