Jordan Elizabeth Long, the former Southwest Virginia Ballet dancer who starred in "The Nutcracker" here two years ago, is headed to the Netherlands.

The 19-year-old Blacksburg native and daughter of Montgomery County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge Marc Long and Elizabeth Newton-Long has been invited to join the Het Nationale, or Dutch National Ballet. Her contract as a midtier dancer for the company starts Aug. 1, her mother said.

Long has been studying dance in Miami since she was 17 and currently performs with the Cuban Classical Ballet in Miami.

Amsterdam, the home of Rembrandt, Spinoza and Van Gogh, as well as the World War II hiding place of diarist Anne Frank, is a cosmopolitan arts and cultural center with fine museums and one of the world's great orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw. English is widely spoken there.

It is also known for its anything-goes atmosphere, which includes coffee shops that feature marijuana and "ladies of the night" who beckon openly to potential customers from windows in the Red Light District.

The ballerina's visit to Amsterdam to audition in January was an eye-opening experience, her mother said.

"We were out walking," Newton-Long recalled. "We did wander down a questionable street. Some of the displays in the windows were new to her. She's a pretty conservative girl."

Asked if she was uneasy about her daughter being so far from home, Newton-Long replied, "She's wanted to be a ballerina all her life. I can't do anything but be happy for her." She also said she's been saving up frequent flier miles

The ballerina herself, when asked how she felt about Amsterdam, said:

"It's different. But I like it."

See how they work, live

It's that time again, when area artists open up their studios to visitors for free.

The ninth annual Open Studios Tour will feature 10 homes and studios and 25 artists who will be on hand to show and discuss their work. The tour is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. April 26. Maps are available at Roanoke art galleries and openstudiosofroanoke.com.

Beat 'em down

If you're in the mood for something different, you probably can't get much different than the "Kandinsky Beat Down," at 8 and 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Squires Studio Theatre at Virginia Tech.

In addition to the Roanoke College-based chamber music trio, the event will feature a beat box artist, guitarist Cyrus Pace, soprano Nancy McDuffie, trumpeter John Adler and trombonist Jay Crone. Dancing throughout will be hip-hop artists The Boogaloo Crew.

Tickets are $5 ($3 for seniors and students) and are available at the UUSA Ticket Office in the Squires Student Center or by phone at (540) 231-5615.

If tickets are still available, they can also be purchased at the door one hour before performance time.

One more Kendig

Community High School will receive a Kendig Award for arts education from the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge on June 24. The school was inadvertently left off the arts council's first list of awardees.

Really big show in N.Y.

Roanoke Symphony Orchestra's music director David Stewart Wiley will conduct his other orchestra, the Long Island Philharmonic, in "Music in the Park" at 8 p.m. July 18 at Heckscher State Park in East Islip, N.Y.

The free program will feature works by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, John Phillip Sousa, Billy Joel and John Williams, and a fireworks display as a backdrop. Last year, more than 65,000 attended the event.