The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is set to entertain hundreds of music lovers and party goers at the ‘RIAF Closing Night Party,’ Sat., Oct. 13 in the courtyard of the Ringling Museum of Art.

By Staff Blogger

The RIAF Closing Night Party dishes up a spicy combination for music lovers, party goers and foodies with a savory New Orleans style experience, Sat. Oct. 13, 6:30 to 11 p.m., in the courtyard of the Ringling Museum of Art.

Re-creating an authentic New Orleans vibe in Sarasota, the finale of the 2012 Ringling International Arts Festival showcases genre-bending romps and high-octane performances by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the world-famous music machine hailing from the Birthplace of Jazz. A spectacular fireworks display fills the night skies, while the sweet aromas of New Orleans cuisine filter through the air. In between, and following, sets by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band a local DJ keeps the crowd dancing to a steady beat of New Orleans inspired sounds.

Twenty-eight years to the day, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band returns to the Ringling Museum. Now celebrating their 35th anniversary and recent release of their latest album Twenty Dozen, fans of the Band will recall their last performance at the Ringling Museum, Oct. 13, 1984.

The ensemble was established in 1977 by Benny Jones with members of the Tornado Brass Band. The Dirty Dozen revolutionized the New Orleans brass band style by incorporating funk and bebop into the traditional New Orleans style and ever since have been a major influence on the majority of New Orleans brass bands.

“Our music is like a big soup,” explained Roger Lewis, Dirty Dozen Brass Band founding member and baritone saxophonist. “That’s how music should be — like a gumbo that’s tastes so good it moves your mind, body and soul; something so spiritual you just have to keep coming back for more. That’s New Orleans music: A musical gumbo that moves your body and nourishes your soul. We can’t wait to come share our gumbo with Sarasota and experience the love.”

For good measure RIAF’s Closing Night Party features a limited specialty bar as well as mouth-watering Cajun cuisine like Po’ Boys, muffalettas and a jambalaya station. Further enriching the palette are divine desserts like the chocolate bourbon pecan pie or sweet bread pudding with whisky sauce. The event’s specialty cocktail, Hurricane, is sugary-sweet and the signature drink of New Orleans.

Watch the survival guide to RIAF Closing Night.

Tickets for RIAF’s Closing Night Party are $85 or $75 for Museum members. For tickets contact 941-360-7399 or visit the website

Ensemble Basiani transform the Ringling Museum of Art’s Rubens galleries. They perform Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 2 pm in the Historic Asolo Theater.

By Staff Blogger
An impromptu performance by Ensemble Basiani took Ringling Museum visitors and staff by surprise. Check out how the passionate polyphonic choir harmonious sound transforms the Ringling Museum of Art’s Rubens Gallery with this magical moment.

Watch the video.

Tickets are still available to see the Ensemble on Friday the 12th at 8pm and Saturday the 13th at 2pm in the Historic Asolo Theater.

For tickets and more information please visit the Ensemble Basiani performance page on the RIAF website.

The 2012 Ringling International Arts Festival began last night with a performance by Mark Morris Dance Group that included ‘A Wooden Tree’. Photo courtesy of On the Boards, Seattle. Photo by Tim Summers.

Since its inaugural year in 2009, the Ringling International Arts Festival has never been one to cut any corners when it comes to style and pizzazz, and Wednesday’s RIAF Inspires Opening Night event had no trouble meeting the standards set by its forbearers: RIAF put on the Ritz to set the tone for what promises to be yet another unforgettable festival.

As the sun began to dip below the horizon at the Ringling estate, the fourth annual Ringling International Arts Festival celebrated its kickoff with a glamorous cocktail reception on the grounds of the historic Asolo Theatre, in front of which John Ringling’s classic Rolls Royce was parked to lend to the Gatsby-esque nature of the affair. Festival attendees arrived dressed to the nines and mingled over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres to the refreshing melodies of live jazz while they awaited curtain time for the opening night performance.

The palpable excitement that buzzed in the air may have had something to do with the salubrious effect of those cocktails — but more likely, it stemmed from the anticipation building in the moments leading up to legendary dancer and RIAF programmer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, joining New York-based Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) on stage in the Mertz Theatre.

MMDG launched the east coast premiere of its latest work, A Wooden Tree, to a packed theatre on Wednesday evening, just one week following the performance’s world premiere in Seattle. If there were any kinks in the show during its initial run, MMDG worked them out well before arriving at RIAF, where the dance group enthralled its audience with a finely-tuned, exuberant performance.

A Wooden Tree, sandwiched between a selection of classics such as Canonic ¼ Studies, Silhouettes and Grand Duo, is a theatrical series of energetic vignettes set to the quirky tunes and words of the late Scottish writer and humorist, Ivan Cutler.

With most songs clocking in well under the three minute mark, each quick-paced dance in A Wooden Tree manages to lend its energy to wit, whimsy, technical skill and ingenuity in equal measure. Elizabeth Kurtzman’s folksy, zany costuming transforms each dancer into a character, and each role is acted with an attention to nuance that matches the precision of the dancers’ steps in their energetic jigs. Tunes like Cockadoodledon’t, Beautiful Cosmos, and I Got no Common Sense kept the audience chuckling and applauding throughout the set — a lighthearted diversion from the demureness that typically defines contemporary dance.

One of the most delightful aspects of A Wooden Tree was, not surprisingly, the stage presence of Baryshnikov, who despite his Apollonian status in the world of dance, refrained from stealing the stage and instead blended in seamlessly amongst his MMDG counterparts. The 64 year old Baryshnikov is in fine form; his grace and dance prowess reflecting the same youth of the dancers with whom he shares the stage.

It was particularly enjoyable to witness the dance titan in a role that proves he does not take himself too seriously. In Little Black Buzzer, for instance, Baryshnikov plays the role of a beleaguered and very chilly telegraph operator, who bemoans, “My bum is cold and my face is white” in the midst a Morse Code-inspired staccato jig taking place around him.

During the 85-minute performance set at RIAF, MMDG balances the playfully eccentric tone of A Wooden Tree with sophisticated classics like Canonic ¼ Studies to create a blend that showcases the internationally-acclaimed group’s wide range of talents. With the added bonus of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s stage presence, this once-in-a-lifetime event is not to be missed.

Tickets are still on sale for Mark Morris Dance Group’s upcoming performances with Mikhail Baryshnikov at the Ringling International Arts Festival. Get your tickets online or call the box office at 941-360-7399.

The film “Labyrinth Within” directed by Pontus Lidberg will be screened on Sat., Oct. 13 as part of a double bill with the Florida premiere of Park Avenue Armory Event by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

By Jessi Smith

Anticipation is building rapidly in the final days leading up to the fourth annual Ringling International Arts Festival, which kicks off on Thursday, Oct. 10 and continues through the weekend in venues throughout the John and Mable Ringling Estate. The first-time inclusion of film to RIAF’s lineup ensures that this year’s festival will be more exciting and accessible than ever before, and with tickets to film screenings priced at just $10, seats are filling up quickly.

In previous years, film was excluded from the festival, which focused solely on the performing arts of dance, music and theatre. This year, however, RIAF will bridge the gap between the stage and the screen by featuring four films — three of which are thematically centered on the art of dance.

Park Avenue Armory Event: A Merce Cunningham Dance Co. Film is one of the three documentary films featured at this year’s festival. The 90-minute film showcases the historic final performances from the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s Legacy Tour, a year-long international tour that celebrated the vibrant life and work of the late choreographer from whom the company derives its name.

Shortly after Cunningham passed away at 90 years old in 2009, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company embarked on a farewell tour that concluded in 2011 with six monumental, sold-out concerts at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City.

These iconic concerts were immortalized by 18 different cameras that recorded the dancers performing on the three stages in the massive armory space. Due to this attention to detail, the final film cut (curated by former dancer, Robert Winston) provides viewers with the sense of actually being present for those historical performances.

Paired with the Park Avenue Armory Event screening is The Labyrinth Within, a 30-minute psychological drama/dance film by Swedish director, dancer and choreographer, Pontus Lidberg.

Lidberg, who dances in the film, is joined by New York Ballet principal, Wendy Whelan, and dancer, Giovanni Bucchieri, in a series of pas de deux that explore themes of jealousy and lust in a dark and complicated love triangle between a husband, his wife and her secret lover — who may or may not be imaginary.

“The story is a theme that’s very interesting to me, this fine line of our imagined reality, which doesn’t have to be elaborate fantasy, just missed interpretations colored by our past. We tend to forget that how we perceive things is not objective,” Lidberg said of The Labyrinth Within in a Sept. 21 article featured in Arts Sarasota.

Unlike the stage performances at this year’s RIAF, each film will only be screened once during the festival and thus tickets are in particularly high demand. In fact, in the case of RIAF 2012’s third dance-related film, Carmen and Geoffrey, tickets have already sold out.

The fourth and final film to be screened at the Ringling International Arts Festival, Joseph Brodsky: In the Prison of Latitudes, departs from the dance theme and turns its lens on one of the most controversial and influential writers of the 21st century, Joseph Brodsky.

Brodsky, who was born in Soviet Russia in 1940, was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1972 for his “pornographic and anti-Soviet” poetry. After settling in the United States, Brodsky would later go on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature in 1987 and be appointed United States Poet Laureate in 1991, prior to his untimely death at 55 years old.

Utah-based filmmaker, Jan Andrews, compiled footage shot in Brodsky’s hometown of St. Petersburg, Russia. In the documentary, she combined this footage with audio recordings of the poet reading his own work and interviews with his contemporaries and the academics who study his life and poetry. The result is a visually and emotionally-engaging film that not only pays homage to the biographical details of Brodsky’s complicated life, but provides insight into the inspiration for his work and his social legacy.

“[I decided to make the film] right after 9/11 when the Patriot Act was going into effect, which I find alarming in a country that embraces freedom. Brodsky’s story — his arrest and expulsion from Soviet Russia, a country that felt threatened by his poetry —seemed so timely and revelatory of what our country should avoid,” Andrews said in an exclusive interview with RIAF last month.

Joseph Brodsky: In the Prison of Latitudes screens at RIAF on Friday, Oct. 12 at 2pm in the Historic Asolo Theatre. Park Avenue Armory Event and The Labyrinth Within screen on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 5pm in the Mertz Theatre.

Tickets for Joseph Brodsky: In the Prison of Latitudes and the double-screening of Park Avenue Armory Event and The Labyrinth Within are still on sale this week for just $10. To get your tickets, visit the online box office or call 941-360-7399.

Ensemble Basiani perform their ancient, yet contemporary sound at the 2012 Ringling International Arts Festival, Oct. 11, 12 and 13.

The anticipation has been building for months, but the wait is nearly over, Sarasota:

The fourth annual Ringling International Arts Festival arrives this week, bringing with it a fresh palette of the world’s most remarkable performing artists. Among those artists is the Ensemble Basiani, an all-male polyphonic choir hailing from the Republic of Georgia that is celebrated worldwide for its distinct, culturally-rich sound with roots that are deeply embedded in ancient tradition.

Declared a “masterpiece of the spiritual treasury of the world’s ‘non-material culture’” by the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2001, the traditional polyphonic hymns, folk and secular music of Georgia would be extinct today if it weren’t for groups such as Ensemble Basiani who have carried the torch of tradition from the Middle Ages into the 21st century.

The sound of Ensemble Basiani — characterized by a complex three-part musical language that celebrates fluid harmonies that flow with the power and grace of whitewater rapids, accompanied by complicated composing structures —is a welcome diversion from the music to which the ear of the western listener may be accustomed.

The a capella group utilizes this three-part vocal layering and harmonizing technique to create a powerful orchestral effect that hums, dances and makes jubilant leaps that pay an energetic homage to each piece of music they perform — the majority of which was composed in the Middle Ages and passed down by way of oral tradition through the centuries. The group’s attire, like their distinguished performing style, represents the sophistication of Georgia’s musical tradition and stays true to its origins.

The unique polyphonic sound, structure and style of Ensemble Basiani has, in recent years, sparked renewed interest in the ancient and medieval music of the Republic of Georgia amongst musicians and researchers throughout the world. Due in large part to the influence of Ensemble Basiani, which tours internationally-celebrated festivals such as RIAF and the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival (in 2010), choirs rooted in the Georgian style have begun to appear in countries across the globe such as France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

So significant is the traditional music of the Republic of Georgia that in 1977, the United States space program included the patriotic eastern Georgian song, “Chakrulo,” amongst the music on the Voyager Golden Records phonographic albums that were launched into space as a representation of the high art and culture of Earth, should they be discovered by extraterrestrial life forms or future humans. This is the same music that the young performers of today’s Ensemble Basiani raise their voices in order carry on in contemporary cultural consciousness.

Ensemble Basiani’s appearance at the Ringling International Arts Festival is, indeed, a rare treat for the Sarasota audience — and with not one, but three performances taking place over the course of the festival, music lovers have ample opportunity to catch what could very well be a once-in-a-lifetime event.

There is still a chance to purchase tickets to Ensemble Basiani’s performances in the Historic Asolo Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 11; Friday, Oct. 12 and Saturday, Oct. 13. Call the box office at 941-360-7399 or visit the official RIAF website to purchase yours today.

Mikhail Baryshnikov is part of the ensemble that performs Mark Morris’s newest creation “A Wooden Tree.” The creation makes its East Coast debut at the 2012 Ringling International Arts Festival in Sarasota, Fla.

By Jessi Smith
The tickets for the east coast premiere of Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG)’s newest work, A Wooden Tree, at the Ringling International Arts Festival are already selling fast — but breaking news may just push those ticket sales into a frenzy.

Today, RIAF artistic director, Mikhail Baryshnikov, announced his return to the Mertz Theatre stage for the second time in festival history, where he will join the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) in the east coast debut of their newest work, A Wooden Tree. Baryshnikov last appeared on stage at the 2010 festival when he performed in a series of alternating solos with David Neumann.

Baryshnikov has been developing and performing a theatre-based piece, In Paris, which has been on tour internationally since 2010. He said that as he began to miss participating in more movement-based work, he sought the opportunity to collaborate with his old friend and colleague, Mark Morris.

“After working on theater projects for the past two years, I wanted to have a taste of dance,” Baryshnikov explained. “I missed being on stage in that way. It is a great comfort to work with Mark Morris, a dear friend and collaborator whose work I love, and who has an ensemble I adore. It is humbling to be invited to work amongst a group of such accomplished dancers.”
A Wooden Tree, which makes its debut in Morris’ hometown, Seattle, before coming to the stage at RIAF, is set to music and words by Scottish artist and humorist, Ivan Cutler (1923 – 2006). The costume design is by Elizabeth Kurtzman and the lighting design by Michael Chybowski.

The score includes Cutler works such as Cockadoodledon’t, Beautiful Cosmos, Rubber Toy, and I Got No Common Sense. In addition to Cutler’s works, MMDG will also perform a selection of classics such as Canonic ¼ Studies, Silhouettes, and Grand Duo during their 85 minute performance at RIAF.

“Misha is a fabulous dancer and a close friend,” Morris said of Baryshnikov. “Our collaboration goes way back. We haven’t worked on a dance together for quite a while so it is exciting and comfortable to work on this new piece – A Wooden Tree. He fits right in with my wonderful dancers.”

Tickets for A Wooden Tree are already selling rapidly and with the inclusion of Baryshnikov, this historic performance is anticipated to fill every seat — but there’s still time to get your ticket if you act quickly.

The Mark Morris Dance Group’s performances at the Ringling International Arts Festival are Wed., Oct. 10, 7pm (RIAF Inspires Opening Night, $500 per person includes reception, performance and formal dinner in the Museum of Art Galleries), as well as Thurs., Oct. 11, 5pm; Fri., Oct. 12, 8pm.; and Sat., Oct. 13, 2pm. Tickets for the Dance Group’s performances Oct. 11, 12 and 13 are $30, $40, and $50. To purchase tickets, contact the Historic Asolo Theater Box Office at 941.360.7399 or visit www.ringlingartsfestival.org

Ensemble Basiani perform three engagements at the 2012 Ringling International Arts Festival. Performances are Thurs., Oct 11, 5pm; Fri., Oct. 12, 8pm; and Sat., Oct. 12, 2pm in the Historic Asolo Theater.

By Jessi Smith

As a writer, I like to think of the English language as one vast galaxy of words — a respectable percentage of which I pride myself on knowing how to use in a sentence with relative accuracy. However, when I attempt to describe what it is like to become immersed in the music of Ensemble Basiani, that Milky Way of words in my mind seems like an inconsequential swirl of inadequate verbiage.

To put it simply, this group really is like none I’ve heard before. Just thirty minutes of Basiani’s undulating polyphonic chants and howls feels a like a journey through space and time to some far-off, mythical land.

Although there are lyrical aspects to the music, the language of those lyrics is so far removed from that of the contemporary western listener —by both geography and time — that Basiani’s vocal chants are transformed into a layered symphony of pure sound. Although their original meaning may be buried beneath time and the barriers of language, the vocalizations of Ensemble Basiani do not fall meaningless upon the ears. Rather, the polyphonic choir’s music flows with a certain visceral purity that is typically singular to exclusively instrumental compositions.

The group, which hails from the Republic of Georgia, performs music from the Georgian folk tradition that dates back as far as the 7th to 12th century. Starting in the 10th century, Georgian chanters used a written musical language known as “neumes” to transcribe their melodies. However that language was lost over the centuries, thus the music Basiani performs today was passed solely through oral tradition.

The spirit of this deeply personal tradition relies entirely on human connection, which is in large part what I believe makes Basiani so special. Like the ancient literature we revere today (think The Iliad or Beowulf) the music Basiani creates through complexly layered vocal harmonies is quite literally the stuff of legend, passed person-to-person in one robust chain that spans the centuries.

The Iliad and Beowulf are known as epic poems due to the heroic nature of their narratives, which are central to the cultures that created and carried them on their tongues throughout the ages. Although the irony that I am writing these words to publish in a blog that can be accessed instantaneously throughout the world with just the click of a button is not lost on me, I recognize the same noble spirit in the music of Basiani.

The language of jubilation transcends all others and is accessible to every human being that walks this planet, no translation necessary — and it is that very language that runs a current through each energetic chant performed by Ensemble Basiani. It is music that not only celebrates the traditions of its native country, but expresses the joy of simply existing in this world.

Basiani’s harmonies are unbridled beasts that gallop through verdant, undulating terrain; soar to the peaks of mountains and plunge deep into cool, refreshing rivers. It is music that embodies the spirit of a country whose unique geography includes both snowy mountains and temperate rainforests; glaciers and arid-plains, but is accessible to everyone because it communicates that spirit through the art of sound rather than language.

And so perhaps I may never find the words, in this little galaxy of mine, to perfectly describe the unique majesty of Ensemble Basiani — but the more I listen to their music, I find that words themselves seem to matter less and less in the shadow of glorious sound.

Ensemble Basiani launched their United States tour this week and will arrive in Sarasota to perform at the Ringling International Arts Festival on October 11, 12 and 13. Reserve your tickets here or call the RIAF box office at 931-360-7399 or 800-660-4278.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band performs at the RIAF Closing Night Party, Sat. Oct. 13 starting at 6:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Ringling Museum of Art.

By Jessi Smith

It’s not every day that my phone rings and I answer to a greeting from one most influential musicians alive, but last Tuesday just happened to be one of those days. Dirty Dozen Brass Band founding member and baritone saxophonist, Roger Lewis, called from his home in New Orleans to discuss the band’s upcoming visit to Sarasota, where they plan to rock the party as the headlining act during the Ringling International Arts Festival’s closing night bash.

The septuagenarian has been playing the saxophone for six decades and has been touring the world with legends like Fats Domino for nearly half a century, but he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down yet.

“I’ve only been playing for 60 some-odd years, but I’m still developing,” Lewis said. “Jazz musicians don’t retire — we play until our caskets drop. People ask me if I ever plan on retiring and I say ‘Retire for what? I’m just learning how to play the saxophone.’”

For 35 years and counting, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band has been setting the entire jazz landscape ablaze with its signature New Orleans-style brass music — a bombastic sound that blends traditional and contemporary jazz influences with those of funk, be-bop, reggae and virtually every other genre under the brass and percussion umbrella.

Today the band is recognized worldwide as an iconic pioneer in the contemporary brass genre and boasts a discography of 15 albums to date. They’ve collaborated with artists such as Elvis Costello, Manhattan Transfer, Dave Matthews, John Lee Hooker, Modest Mouse, Widespread Panic and Norah Jones — to name a few — but Lewis remains humble.

“We were never trying to change the sound of New Orleans music — we just wanted to play whatever we wanted to play and have fun,” Lewis recalled.

“From the beginning, we gave the guys in the band freedom to express themselves however they wanted to, musically, and it resulted in this whole different sound that had never been done before.”

The beginning to which Lewis refers dates back to 1976, when the eight founding members of the band began playing gigs at New Orleans’ Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club, from which they would ultimately derive their name.

“There never actually were a dozen players in the band,” Lewis said. “But when we started playing at the Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club, people started calling us ‘The Dozen,’ and then ‘The Dirty Dozen Brass Band.’ Before we had a chance to change the name, we became too popular, so it just stuck,” he explained.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band set themselves apart from the beginning by utilizing the wieldy baritone saxophone (rather than the more manageable alto saxophone or clarinet) as both a lead and solo instrument in their performances, and by approaching their music with a genre-warping openness.

“We were playing a lot of traditional jazz, but mixing it in with contemporary influences — Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk, Michael Jackson, funk, be-bop… A little bit of everything,” Lewis said.

He then went on to make his famous comparison of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band’s music to a good New Orleans gumbo.

“Our music is like a big soup. How much do you know about gumbo?”

As a Florida Cracker, I can tell the difference between a Cuban sandwich from Ybor and one from Miami, and I have been known to deliver passionate dissertations on what defines a real key lime pie, but when it comes to gumbo, I admit to being woefully ignorant in the shadow of Lewis’ New Orleans’ expertise, so he explained.

“You boil down the okra to use it like a gravy, and then you add your chicken and crab and your pork — all those good meats — and then you add your spices, and you let all those ingredients simmer there in the pot ‘til you’re ready to serve it up over rice. There’s a little bit of everything in it, and that’s what makes it taste so good,” Lewis explained.

“That’s how music should be — like a gumbo that’s tastes so good it moves your mind, body and soul; something so spiritual you just have to keep coming back for more. It makes you feel like you’ve been born again, and there’s no feeling like it in the world. That’s New Orleans music: A musical gumbo that moves your body and nourishes your soul. We can’t wait to come share our gumbo with Sarasota and experience the love.”

Tickets for RIAF 2012’s closing night party featuring The Dirty Dozen Brass Band are going fast. Purchase yours online or call the box office at 941-360-7399 or 800-660-4278.

With the purchase of any stage production or film RIAF ticket holders can experience the Ringling Museum of Art and exhibitions like “Deco Japan: Shaping Art & Culture 1920-1945″
Photo credit: Artist unknown. Songbook for “Song of the Milky Way” (Ginga no uta) from the Shockiku film. Courtesy of the Levenson Collection

By Jessi Smith

Like the three-ring circus upon which John Ringling built his empire, the Ringling International Arts Festival is a multi-faceted extravaganza that packs a ton of attractions into its whirlwind schedule.

Over the course of four days, from October 10-13, RIAF 2012 will feature music, dance and theatre performances and film screenings by internationally-renowned artists. RIAF has never been much for subtlety, and with all the glitz and the glam, it may be easy to overlook the rest of the attractions taking place simultaneously at the Ringling Museum of Art — but to do so would be a missed opportunity.

In addition to the permanent collection and the James Turrell Skyspace, no less than four special exhibitions are currently on display in the Ringling galleries and will be throughout the duration of the festival. The museum’s most highly-lauded current special exhibition, Deco Japan: Shaping Art and Culture, 1920 – 1945, wraps up its 15-week run at Ringling on October 28, making RIAF the perfect time to pay a visit.

Deco Japan provides an intimate glimpse into a moment in world history when western culture collided with that of the east, spawning the synthesis of Japan’s tradition-steeped, elegant style of fine art with the cosmopolitan sex appeal and commercialism that characterized Roaring Twenties in nations across the world.

The exhibition consists of paintings, woodblock and graphic design prints, textiles, sculptures, jewelry, ceramics and furniture that range from fine art to commercial advertisements and political propaganda. Together, these 200 works from the Levenson collection, which have never been shown publicly prior to the exhibition premiere at New York’s Japan Society, chronicle a lost chapter of history and capture a snapshot of Japan during a time period seemingly erased from history in the wake of World War II.

Other exhibitions whose runs in the Ringling galleries coincide with RIAF and Deco Japan include Mythic Creatures of China, Sanford Biggers: CODEX and Asian and Cypriot Art from the vaults of John Ringling’s private collection. The Ca’ d’Zan Mansion and circus museums will also be open during their usual hours for the duration of the festival.

Ringling visitors can easily spend an entire day on the grounds, and because most RIAF festivities do not take place until the evening — 2:00pm, at the earliest — there is ample opportunity to make a full day of experiencing everything both the festival and the museum have to offer.

Fitting with the theme of RIAF, Deco Japan and the other exhibitions in the galleries and educational centers at Ringling present an opportunity to experience and interact with facets of culture on both a worldly and local level — and the Ringling estate’s walk-able grounds make that culture incredibly accessible all in the course of one day.

So how might one go about doing that?

A morning stroll in the rose garden accompanied by a trip to Ringling’s bayside mansion sets the tone for a day of art, leisure and entertainment. The interactive Tibbals Learning Center and accompanying big-top circus museum shed light on Sarasota’s rich circus-based history, and both are conveniently located near both the Treviso Restaurant and Banyan Café. Round out the afternoon in the galleries and a walk around the famous Ringling courtyard before catching RIAF’s evening festivities — and be sure to stop in after-hours to catch a refreshing, meditative glimpse of the evening sky from the James Turrell Skyspace.

The Ringling estate is, in large part, a defining aspect of the RIAF experience and to truly get the most of the festival, interacting with Florida’s premiere arts institution is a must. Museum admission is $10 with the purchase of any stage production or film for that day.

To plan your visit to the Ringling estate during RIAF, check out the official RIAF 2012 festival map and the festival schedule.

The Pig Iron Theatre Company will perform a new work, Zero Cost House, during the fourth annual Ringling International Arts Festival.

Since its foundation in 1995, the self-described “dance-clown-theatre ensemble,” Pig Iron Theatre Company, has been challenging and delighting audiences with its avant-garde, envelope-shoving approach to the stage.

In the 16 years since it was established, the experimental theatre ensemble has created 24 original works and performed on stages around the globe from Brazil to Lithuania — and virtually everywhere in between. In October, the Pig Iron Theatre Company makes its first visit to Sarasota to participate in the fourth annual Ringling International Arts Festival with a production of its latest theatrical experiment, Zero Cost House.

The Pig Iron Theatre Company is widely regarded for its eccentric approach to theatre, and Zero Cost House is no exception. However, to compare and contrast the company’s most recent production to the two-dozen others which precede it would be but a comparison of apples to oranges. (“Bacon to sausages” may have been more fitting were I, perhaps, trying just a little too hard to spin an old cliché into a clever pun.)

From Flop (2002), a “three-woman clown extravaganza about the end of the universe” to Twelfth Night, or What You Will (2011), an appropriately drunken re-awakening of Shakespeare’s famous comedic play, Pig Iron productions are widely varied but often celebrated for their often-raucous and always-unique approach to theatre.

Zero Cost House, which premiered last week at the widely-celebrated Philadelphia Live Arts Fest, is the result of a collaborative effort between the Pig Iron Theatre Company and Japanese playwright, Toshiki Okada, to create a contemporary and very loose re-reading of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.

Described as “an elusive work of autobiography,” Zero Cost House consists of non-linear vignettes that follow the lives of a group of young people in Tokyo whose stories intersect, but do not necessarily reach a conclusion, forcing audiences to disregard the notion that narratives simply end when the final curtain drops — a challenge that, without context, may elicit intrigue and frustration in equal measure.

“Toshiki Okada seems to write plays about nothing, about really minute, very interior and slight things, but there’s something very substantial moving underneath the surface that’s rarely pointed to in the text,” Zero Cost House director, Dan Rothenberg, said in a recent interview with Culturebot.

Written by Okada in the aftermath of the tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011, but set around the time of the United States invasion of Iraq earlier in the decade, Zero Cost House explores the seemingly-unremarkable aspects of our daily lives — the negative space that exists between the threads that connect us to one another and the greater world that surrounds us.

“Sometimes Pig Iron plays with subtle acting states, looking for a way to sensitize audiences to moments of life which are almost invisible. That’s what Toshiki Okada does, he makes the invisible visible. And that’s why we’re drawn to him,” Rothenberg said.

Zero Cost House is a departure from all things conventional; an exploration of frontiers in theatre that have rarely, if ever, been touched. This year’s RIAF presents the opportunity to be amongst the first to experience the play on four separate occasions, with tickets starting at just $35.

To reserve your tickets, visit the online box office or call (941) 360-7399 or (800) 660-4278.