Roses to Emil Kang, the director of Carolina Performing Arts, who pulled off a remarkable coup by bringing the magnificent Bolshoi Ballet to Memorial Hall.

In its 200-plus years of existence, the Bolshoi had never performed in the southeastern United States.

Thanks to Kang and his staff's years of persistent and patient effort, when the company finally did take the stage in the Southeast, it wasn't in Atlanta or Miami or Charlotte. It was right here in Chapel Hill.

Bringing the Bolshoi Ballet here was impressive, but even before that Kang had set a high bar for the performing arts at Carolina.

In his five years on the job at UNC, Kang has brought the town and campus a host of cultural offerings worthy of any major metropolis: The New York Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic and St. Petersburg Philharmonic; Branford Marsalis and Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea and Ornette Coleman; Pinchas Zukerman, Joshua Bell and Anne-Sophie Mutter; Diane Reeves, Kathleen Battle and Patti LuPone; Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham and the Carolina Ballet's annual Nutcracker.

And that's just a tiny part of the complete list. It goes on and on, and it ranges from the classical to the experimental.

Kang and his crew have done a superb job. They show no signs of resting on their laurels, either; the coming season, which begins in September, features performances by the artists as superb and diverse as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Pat Metheny, the Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg, Pilobolus and many more.

Roses to the East Chapel Hill High School cheerleading team, which last month won a national contest sponsored by Black Entertainment Television.

Competing against other cheerleading groups from around the nation on the network's "106 and Park Wild Out Wednesday" program, the East cheerleaders won going away, pulling in more than 60 percent of the online votes.

The team included Allison Blalock, Kaetetai Farrington, Erica Geer, Katherine Holcomb, Abriana Johnson, Alice Keith, Carlissa Purefoy, Della Purefoy, Essence Smith, Jasmine Thompson, Ayanna Wade, Tiaunna Weaver and Patrice Womble.

Vanessa Diggs and Tahvyea Rains coached the squad.

Go team!

Roses to Mike Abdallat, who took it upon himself to make his Subway restaurant in Southern Village the first standalone eatery in the state to earn certification from Leadership in Energy and Environmenntal Design program.

LEED, as it is universally known, evalutates buildings and other projects on the basis of energy efficiency, environmental performance and other eco-friendly factors.

Abdallat, with the support of his landlord, John Fugo, worked with Green Tech Consulting, a Cary-based company, to outfit the Southern Village Subway with green technologies: recycled materials, high efficiency energy systems, effective use of natural light, low-use water fixtures and other measures.

A ceremony Monday recognized his LEED-certified restaurant, which is the just the second one of the more than 30,000 Subways to be so classified.

Abdallat, who owns two other Subways, in Carrboro and Raleigh, said the improved technology is already paying off: his utility bills have been cut in half.

Please send suggestions for Roses & Raspberries to Dave Hart, associate editor, at dhart@nando.com.