Published: 12:00 AM, Thu Jun 02, 2011
Rodger Mullen: State Ballet stages classics
The North Carolina State Ballet is celebrating the season with dance.
The ballet will present a "Spring Festival of Dance" Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Crown Theatre.
The show features about 200 dancers performing everything from tap to classical ballet.
"Fairies of the Woods," an excerpt from "Sleeping Beauty," leads off the classic ballet part of the show. Other selections include the winter and autumn parts of Verdi's "Seasons" and Tchaikovsky's "Bluebirds."
Dancers include Annemarie Strickland and April Glasper. Choreographers include Charlotte Blume, Howard Blume, Sheila Mitchell and Aria Wood.
Tickets are $9 and are available at the Crown Center box office or ticketmaster.com. Call 438-4100.
Orchestra and guests
The Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra is gaining a few members Friday. The 17-member band will welcome guest artists Bob Trowers, Baron Tymas and William Smith when it performs at 8 p.m. at Sanford's Temple Theatre.
Trowers is a trombonist who played with Count Basie. Tymas is a guitarist and recent winner of the N.C. Arts Council Jazz Composers Award. Smith is a saxophonist and director of Ethnomusicology Online. All three are on the faculty at N.C. Central University. Smith will deliver a lecture at 6:45 p.m. on the relationship between hip-hop and jazz.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and children. Admission to the lecture is free. Temple Theatre is at 120 Carthage St. Call (919) 774-4155 or go to carolinajazz.com.
Fresh fruit
The blueberry has its own day in Ammon. The Bladen County town celebrates the succulent fruit with its 16th annual Blueberry Festival on Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Activities get under way with a blueberry pancake breakfast from 6:30 to 9 a.m. A parade starts at 10 a.m., followed by games, rides, crafts, and an antique and classic car show.
Ammon is at N.C. 242 and Old Fayetteville Road. Call 868-3336.