The spectacular South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (SMDCAC), designed by the famed architectural firm Arquitectonica International, celebrates its “soft opening” with a schedule that includes Doug Varone and Dancers, the Sarasota-based Asolo Repertory Theater Company’s production of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lynn Nottage’s Las Meninas, and the Diavolo Dance Theater.

Diavolo Dance Theater is an award-winning multidisciplinary performance troupe from Los Angeles that features an eclectic group of dynamic dancers, gymnasts and actors who fly across the stage on and around large-scale, architectural props and everyday items. Di-á-vo-lo, which translated from Spanish means day (diá) and “I fly” (volo), is a larger-than-life cinematic experience of constantly changing images that develops abstract narratives of the human condition. The troupe is scheduled to perform Friday and Saturday, April 29 and 30, 2011,at 8:00 P.M. and will also host a Master Class for dancers on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, at 7:30 PM.

Two Saturdays after Diavolo performs at the SMDCAC, the acclaimed contemporary dance company from New York, Doug Varone and Dancers, will perform on Saturday, May 14, at 8:00 P.M. The program features three master works from the company’s repertoire, including Lux, with music by Philip Glass, excerpts from Chapters from a Broken Novel, Varone’s latest work influenced by quotes from books or movies, and Boats Leaving, an intensely personal exploration of relationships and community. The performance is set to a live musical accompaniment by the Coral Reef Senior High School Orchestra (directed by Alan Hudson) and Chorus (directed by John Rose). Doug Varone and performance journalist Celeste Fraser Delgado will present a preperformance “talk back” with the artist at 7 P.M. in the Center’s Black Box Theater. The talk back is free to the ticketed audience. The show is appropriate for all ages.

In addition to Doug Varone and Dancers scheduled performances, the company will lead community outreach and residency activities, which fulfill one of the missions of the Cultural Arts Center—to bring the arts to the community and the community to the arts. From May 10 through May 13 Doug Varone and Dancers will be at schools and venues throughout the south Miami-Dade area, including dance classes and workshops at Coral Reef Senior High School, and at both Miami Douglas MacArthur South Senior High School in Kendall and Daughters of Zion Academy in Homestead. The company will also hold a master class for local professional dancers at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center’s Black Box Theater on May 12. In addition, on May 10, the company will perform with musician Leon Foster Thomas at a fund raiser for INKUB8 in Wynwood.

For additional information on all “soft opening” performances scheduled for the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, call (786) 573-5316. For ticket information call (786) 573-5300 or to purchase tickets online visit www.ticketweb.com. The center is located at 10950 SW 211 St. in Cutler Bay (immediately west of the Turnpike).