DANCE

LEAPS AND BOUNDS An ensemble of young dancers from the Juilliard School and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Hell’s Kitchen Dance, perform with famed dancer and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov. The performance marks the troupe’s first New York City performance. Mr. Baryshnikov is the founder of the Baryshnikov Arts Center, a creative laboratory for a community of experimental artists working in the fields of dance, music, theater, film, design and visual arts. Among the highlights are Donna Uchizono’s “Leap to Tall” and Aszure Barton’s “Come In,” two dances commissioned and created at BAC in 2006. Featured dancers include Hristoula Harakas, Jonathan Alsberry, Shamel Pitts, and Emily Proctor. Friday, 8 p.m., Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, 3 p.m., Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 W. 37th St., between Ninth and Tenth avenues, 212-279-4200, $30.

FAMILY

READ IT UP The Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment is a nonprofit organization that educates children and city dwellers about the built and natural environments of the city. The organization hosts its 2nd annual literary fair, featuring poetry workshops, quilt-making, community Monopoly, model building, and mock neighborhood walk throughs with families and students from I.S. 49, P.S. 377, P.S. 375, and P.S. 196. A performance by the children’s indie rock band Audra Rox is also featured. Saturday, 11 a.m.–4 p.m., Prospect Park Tennis House, Prospect Park Drive West at 3rd, 9th, and 15th streets, Brooklyn, 718-788-8500, free.

MUSIC

OPENING EYES The Vision Festival continues with a showcase featuring its Lifetime Achievement Award winner, trumpeter Bill Dixon. He performs with the Sound Vision Orchestra, featuring Graham Haynes and Stephen Haynes on trumpet, cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, and trombonist Dick Griffin. Vocalist and poet Barry Wallenstein precedes Mr. Dixon’s performance. At 9:30, the Co-Pilots perform, featuring bassist Henry Grimes, pianist Marilyn Crispell, and Rashied Ali on drums. Closing out the night at 10:30 is Survival Unit III, featuring reedist Joe McPhee, cellist Fred Lonburg-Holm, and drummer Michael Zerang. Tonight, 7 p.m., Angel Orensanz Foundation, 172 Norfolk St., between Houston and Stanton streets, 800-838-3006, $125 for festival pass, $30 in advance per night, $35 at the doors.

VOICE OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE The Brooklyn Youth Chorus performs “SoundScapes,” three concerts to celebrate its 15th anniversary. The Grammy-award winning chorus features junior, prepatory, and intermediate divisions. Among the highlights are five world premieres from the BYC Commissioning Project. Those include a trilogy of works created by composers Paul Moravec, David Lang, and Nico Muhly on the theme of “Myths and Origins,” inspired by such texts and tales as Genesis and Old Norse mythology. Other selections include Joel Martin’s jazz-classical vocal suite, “Fauré’s En Sourdine” and “I Hear a Rhapsody.” A composers’ forum moderated by the education director at the New York Philharmonic, Theodore Wiprud, is at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, and a VIP reception follows the concert. Friday, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m., Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University, Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, 1 University Plaza, between Flatbush and DeKalb avenues, Brooklyn, 718-488-1624, $15 and $35 general, $70 includes entry to VIP reception.

THE BACK OF THE BUS “Mother of Exiles, Daughters of Song” is the theme of this year’s annual spring concert given by the Brooklyn Women’s Chorus. The multimedia performance addresses social issues including immigration and civil rights, and features spoken word and projected images. Among the selected works is Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee,” and “In America,” written by the director of the BWC, Bev Grant. Friday, 8 p.m., Brooklyn Society of Ethical Culture, Very Good Coffee House, 53 Prospect Park W. at 2nd Street, 718-230-4999, $10 general $6 children.

PHOTOGRAPHY

BLOSSOMING AROUND Carl Linneaus’s 1735 work “Systema Naturae” was the first to classify plants based on their reproductive anatomies. Patricia Heal borrowed Linneaus’s title for her latest exhibit, “Naturae,” a collection of photographs of flowers. Selections include “Papaver II” (2007), above left, and “Tulipa Psittacus I” (2007), right. Through Sunday, Wednesday–Sunday, noon–7 p.m., Robin Rice Gallery, 325 W. 11th St., between Washington and Greenwich streets, 212-366-6660, free.

READINGS

WOMAN AT 40 OVERBOARD As part of its “Live at Lincoln” series Barnes and Noble, Lincoln Center Triangle, hosts Mary South, who reads from “The Cure for Anything Is Saltwater: How I Threw My Life Overboard and Found Happiness at Sea” (HarperCollins). In her memoir, Ms. South, a successful New York book editor, recounts how a midlife crisis led her to give up her life in publishing and take up residence on a steel-hull trawler she bought before knowing how to captain it, the Bossano va. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., Barnes & Noble, Lincoln Center Triangle, 1972 Broadway at 66th Street, 212-595 6859, free.

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