Your 5 best bets for arts & culture in the week ahead
Ailey Dance Theater
“Revelations” isn’t just the title of the renowned company’s signature work — it’s a description of the artistic (and emotional) discoveries in store every time Ailey dancers step onstage. Joining “Revelations” on the programs for next week’s Smith Center visit: world premieres of artistic director Robert Battle’s “Awakening,” Ronald L. Brown’s Cuban-influenced “Open Door” and hip-hop hop choreographer Rennie Harris’ “Exodus.” The latter leads off Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. performance in Reynolds Hall; “Open Door” opens the 7:30 p.m. Wednesday dance concert. For tickets ($26-$79), call 702-749-2000 or visit www.thesmithcenter.com.
Julie Budd
Everyone has his or her favorite Frank Sinatra memories. But it’s understandable that singer Julie Budd has a different perspective: an up-close-and-personal one. After all, she opened for Sinatra at Caesars Palace in the 1970s — when she was 17. (Clearly, it was a very good year.) In “Remembering Mr. Sinatra,” Budd will share songs and stories of Ol’ Blue Eyes at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in The Smith Center’s intimate Cabaret Jazz; for tickets ($39-$55), call 702-749-2000 or visit www.thesmithcenter.com.
Clark County Children’s Festival
The kids who attended the first Clark County Children’s Festival back in 1993 may be old enough to have kids of their own, but kids of all ages can share the fun when the festival returns from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Winchester Cultural Center, 3130 S. McLeod Drive. The free “Children’s Festival of the Arts” will feature a variety of music and dance presentations, arts and crafts, exotic animals, percussion workshops and carnival games; pony rides, a rock-climbing wall and refreshments are available for a fee. For more details, call 702-455-7340.
‘Celtic Harp and Story’
As the great Irish poet William Butler Yeats once wrote, “Let us go forth, the tellers of tales, and seize whatever prey the heart long for, and have no fear … ” Patrick Ball is one such teller of tales, and in “Celtic Harp and Story,” he spins tales from ancient Galway and Dublin pubs, accompanying them with jaunty jigs and plaintive airs played on the Celtic harp. He’ll perform in a free program at noon Friday at the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse, 333 Las Vegas Blvd. South; for more details, call 702-229-2787 or visit www.artslasvegas.org.
’Wine and Words’
You can take things literally — or, more precisely, “Literally” — at the Corner Gallery this month. In addition to work from emerging and local artists inspired by the written word, the free “Wine and Words” (at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Arts Factory, 107 E. Charleston Blvd.) features readings, discussion and signings (and, of course, wine) with local authors Deb Dorchak (“Bonds of Blood & Spirit: Loyalties”), Hiroko Falkenstein, Toni Pacini (“Alabama Blue”) and Karen Wilkes (“Blue Sky and a Buick”). Visit www.lasvegascornergallery.com for more information.
