It’s only fitting that Rochester, N.Y., the city where the late David Bowie had a notorious brush with the authorities in 1976, would honor the legendary entertainer’s legacy through two of the city’s leading cultural institutions. This month both the Rochester City Ballet and the George Eastman Museum will pay tribute to David Bowie through the arts.

‘Put on your red shoes and dance the blues.’

Rochester City Ballet will perform “Under the Moonlight” a ballet set to the music of David Bowie as part of its “Ballet on the Edge” performances. The show takes place May 13-15 at Nazareth Arts Center. The stunning new ballet “Under the Moonlight” features iconic songs such as: “Changes,” “Heroes,” “Sorrow, “Let’s Dance,” and “God Only Knows.”

“Under the Moonlight,” choreographed by Artistic Director David Palmer, will be the first new work to Bowie’s music since the rock star’s death and represents months of negotiations with those who hold the rights to his music.

The RCB performances mark the first choreographed by new Artistic Director David Palmer.

“David Bowie is an iconic artist to my audience, my generation and me personally,” Palmer said. “His music has been an influence on how we have perceived the fabric of our lives.”

Guest artists for the RCB performance include two principal dancers from the Miami ballet, along with Rochester native Jim Nowakowski, who makes his first return to a Rochester stage since his success with “So You Think You Can Dance” and the Houston Ballet.

See an in-studio preview of the new performance here.

The RCB performance of “Ballet on the Edge” takes place May 13-15 at the Callahan Theater at Nazareth College.Tickets are $37 to $47 and are available at boxoffice.naz.edu.

Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps): David Bowie On Film

A lovingly drawn candlelit memorial on East Avenue (almost opposite the George Eastman Museum) following Bowie’s untimely death served as a constant reminder that many in the Greater Rochester community nurture special feelings for pop music’s smartest chameleon. Though he was never truly famous for his sporadic involvements with the film industry, he somehow managed to work with some of the most important filmmakers of the past fifty years: David Fincher, George Lucas, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Nagisa Oshima, Nicolas Roeg, Martin Scorsese, Tony Scott, and so on. Three carefully selected titles prove why only the best dared worked with Bowie, whose screen presence was so enormous and magnetic that it swallowed all but the most outrageous and innovative filmmakers’ visions.

Beginning May 19, the George Eastman Museum will screen three Bowie films, including “The Hunger,” “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” and “Labyrinth.” The David Bowie film series is presented in collaboration with ImageOut: The Rochester LGBT Film Festival.

For more information on the screening please visit eastman.org.