Michelle Obama in Sarasota on Thursday. I wanted to  offer  Michelle Obama some words of support  in Sarasota on Thursday. But it was she who ended up giving me an encouraging  pat on the back. “We admire and respect the work you do, and the example you set,” I told the First Lady as I [...]

Johan Kobborg Johan Kobborg is one of the world’s premier ballet dancers, but he’s in town to perform the role of choreographer  for the Sarasota  Ballet. Wearing  jeans, a pullover and a baseball cap, Kobborg stared intently as  company members  danced his  “Salute”  in the rehearsal studio a few days ago.  The piece, which he [...]

At the opening of an exhibition of objects from his spectacular glass collection at Ringling College of Art and Design on Friday, Richard Basch made note of an interesting juxtaposition.  Ringling is has a reputation as a cutting-edge center of  computer animation and  is “the most technically advanced school in the country,” Basch said. “Yet [...]