The Arts

Guest Review And how we love our animals. Our animals. We tame them. We worship them. We sleep with them. We admire them. We eat them. We use them for sport, for fashion, for profit. We nurture them, cultivate them, hunt them, kill them. They are devils. They are gods.

Guest Review I’m sorry, but this show is just not the way it is supposed to be. It’s off-kilter, sometimes upside-down and usually topsy-turvy. Give this 54th version of Chautauqua’s juried Exhibition of Contemporary Art a nudge and it would tumble over the line, across that careful border that too often marks what is right for art and what is supposedly not.

North Carolina Dance Theatre in residence with Chautauqua Dance will confront a notorious conflict in its first performance: good versus evil. The annual Dance Salon, held at 8:15 p.m. tonight at the Amphitheater, will include five dances. It’s a chance for the audience to see a performance with more challenging and abstract works, said Mark Diamond, associate artistic director of Chautauqua Dance.

The summer’s theme for the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle is challenge, and for the war-torn African children of Say You’re One of Them, the season’s first selection, their greatest challenge is survival. Uwem Akpan’s short stories detail the children caught in the crossfire, both their tragedy and their strength. The author will speak at the CLSC Roundtable at 3:30 p.m. today in the Hall of Philosophy.

The sun dazzled Mole’s sleepy eyes as he poked his nose out from his chilly underground home into the sweet-smelling spring air of the English countryside. The thrill of adventure beckoned as Mole set off in pursuit of what would soon become one of the most beloved tales of children’s literature, The Wind in the Willows. At 4:15 p.m. today in the Garden Room of Alumni Hall, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Young Readers Program will meet to discuss the most binding theme of this classic novel — friendship.

A singer’s life is not just about music. It’s about stage presence, drama and belting to the nosebleed section. Today at 1 p.m. in McKnight Hall, students in the Chautauqua School of Music’s Voice Program will celebrate the beginning of an intense summer season with the annual “sing-in” event.

The Piano Program at the School of Music is, in a word, unconventional. As piano students introduce themselves to each other and faculty through a private “Play-In” today, they embark on a summer program that will allow them the opportunity to learn adventurous approaches to making music.

There are obvious ways to enjoy summer, like swimming, bike riding, ice cream and picnics. But for the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle’s Young Readers Program, the summer — which is full of talking animals, angels, poets, unlikely heroes and adventure — is anything but typical.

Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, artistic director of Chautauqua Dance, and Master Teacher Patricia McBride were recently honored for their work with dance students with the first annual Ilona Copen Award.

A whole new cast of writers and poets will return this summer to live at the Literary Arts Center at Alumni Hall. The Writers’ Center will welcome both new and old writers-in-residence for lectures and workshops, including several new additions to the programming.

Every book is a challenge: to be enjoyed, to be finished and, especially, to be understood. This summer, the 2011 Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle’s 2011 reading list presents a season-long theme of challenge.

Abstract work from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y., featured in the exhibition “Abstract in America: 1940s to 1960s” will be on display in the Strohl Art Center throughout the summer. This is supported by the three-year partnership with the Albright-Knox.

Opera programs across the country have been facing struggles in light of the recent economic crisis, and many are seeing drastically lower attendance rates. With the recent closing of several notable companies, like the Baltimore Opera Company, and the gloomy forecast for others, like the New York City Opera, many opera administrators are seeking ways to bring the art form to a new audience, without ostracizing the loyal. Jay Lesenger, Chautauqua Opera Company’s artistic/general director, said this opera company is no exception.

Chautauqua Theater Company is hard at work preparing for its performances for the 2011 Season. This season’s list includes Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” the New Play Festival and William Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost.”