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Arts events for Sarasota-Manatee: Dec. 31-Jan. 6 Dancing into a new year The Sarasota Ballet kicks off the new year with its third digital program of excerpts from a wide variety of pieces by six different choreographers. The company announced in December that it would continue its online presentations through the rest of the season. The latest offering, available Friday through Tuesday features Peter Darrell’s “Othello,” Christopher Wheeldon’s “The American,” Sir Matthew Bourne’s “The Infernal Galop,” Sir Peter Wright’s “The Mirror Walkers” and “Summertide,” Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s “Concerto” and Dominic Walsh’s “Clair de Lune.” Admission is $35 and the program may be viewed as many times as you like through Jan. 5. For more information: sarasotaballet.org
Arts events for Sarasota-Manatee: Dec. 17-23 Our weekly guide to the visual and performing arts in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Dancing in the street Sarasota Contemporary marks its 15th anniversary with the outdoor street festival “Fiesta de Colores.” Presented from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday in the courtyard of Rosemary Square, adjacent to the company’s studios, it will feature DJ Karim Manning, local lyricist and B-boy Rick Levin and an interactive projection design by Logan Gabriel Schulman tp showcase highlights from SCD’s history. Artistic Director Leymis Bolaños-Willmott describes it as the quinceañera she never had as a child. There will be a premiere of a live collaborative performance with the SCD company and the Sarasota Contemporary Dance Ensemble, an elite training company for aspiring dancers. Cuban-themed entrees and drinks will be available from the Overton restaurant. A minimum $15 donation is requested. For more information: 941-260-8485; sarasotacontemporarydance.org
Arts events in Sarasota-Manatee: Dec. 10-16 A Dickens of a performance Jim Floyd has a rare treat for himself and audiences this holiday season. He not only gets to return to performing after a long pandemic-forced break, but he’s playing all the characters in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” including the author himself. Floyd stars in the Players Centre for Performing Arts production of Greg Oliver Bodine’s one-man version of the classic story outdoors at the Bazaar at Apricot & Lime in Sarasota. He plays the author who has arrived for a reading from his novel about Ebenezer Scrooge and his experience one Christmas. But when Dickens’s luggage and his book don’t arrive, he ends up acting out the story for the audience, using whatever props and items of clothing he can to transform himself into ghosts, Bob Cratchit or Tiny Tim. It’s the first of three outdoor shows at the Bazaar planned by the Players Centre. “A Christmas Carol” runs through Dec. 20. Tickets are $20, $12.50 for students. 941-365-2494; theplayers.org/show/a-christmas-carol/