Mikhail Baryshnikov to headline Sarasota’s Ringling International Arts Festival

When Mikhail Baryshnikov graces a stage, the whole world stops to stare. This year, all eyes will be on Sarasota, Florida, when Baryshnikov and others headling the Ringling International Arts Festival.

The five-day showcase of music, theater and dance presents 45 performances of 11 stage productions, which run from October 13-17 at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla. In addition to the premieres by Philip Glass and the Forman Brothers, the Festival boasts the debut of Hurricane, a new play written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Nilo Cruz and Solos with Mikhail Baryshnikov & David Neumann featuring a world premiere by choreographer Susan Marshall. Those productions all debut at the Festival’s Night of Premieres on Wednesday, October 13. They then join the roster of seven additional productions of dance, theater, and music all presented in repertoire on three stages through Sunday, October 14.

Art lovers can make a trip out of this, thanks to the InterContinental’s Hotel Indigo, which just launched a package for the festival. The “Sarasota Arts Package” at Hotel Indigo includes:

  • Overnight accommodations
  • Two cocktails at the hotel’s H20 Bistro
  • In-room gift: Sarasota Architecture Book, chronicling the city’s history as Florida’s “Cultural Coast”
  • Two member-for-a-day passes to RIAF, which include access to the award-winning Ringling Art Museum as well as all RIAF 360 events (e.g., jazz sunsets, private gallery tours, Family FunFest, etc.).

Rates start at $153/night. Package valid October 13 – 17, 2010.