'Light Moves' review: Meditative digital-human mix

It's hard for performing artists to think big these days and actually pull it off. Shrinking budgets often lead to an overabundance of caution. That's what makes it all the more impressive that year after year, Margaret Jenkins consistently generates works of ideas and scale like "Light Moves," which the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company premiered Thursday night at the Novellus Theater as part of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts season.

Over the two-year process of creating "Light Moves," Jenkins - along with her collaborators, including composer Paul Dresher, video artist Naomie Kremer and poet Michael Palmer, as well as the eight dancers of her company - has judiciously edited the work, paring away some of the more distracting elements seen in previews last year.

'Light Moves' review: Meditative digital-human mix...

LEVYdance review: Sweet and surprising 'Romp'

Dance can move you, excite you, even delight, but it's hard to really surprise an audience these days, to keep them guessing. LEVYdance captures that exhilarating feeling that anything could happen with "Romp," which the three-member company - Benjamin Levy, Melodie Casta and Scott Marlowe - premiered on Thursday night at Z Space at Theater Artaud.

An audience of about 100 fits onto the stage of Artaud, where chairs have been arranged in small clusters evenly throughout the space. It creates a maze of cleverly arranged pathways, and before you can even register that the piece has begun, the performers, in street clothes, have inserted themselves into the maze dancing a high-octane folk dance to the music of Brass Menazerie. Bodies fly past your feet, arms swoop over your head, and hips gyrate in a thumping, joyous opening that fits neatly into the interstices of the audience arrangement, just barely missing actual physical contact by centimeters. Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times.

LEVYdance review: Sweet and surprising 'Romp'...

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Family Concert

Countless youngsters have discovered a love of music by playing the simplest of instruments, a recorder. That was what drew Marion Verbruggen, who began playing when she was 6, into the world of period-instrument music. Now one of the world's leading recorder virtuosos, Verbruggen will appear with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in a family concert Saturday afternoon - with an interactive twist.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Family Concert...

'From Wallflower to Dance Brigade'

It's likely she would never describe herself this way, but Krissy Keefer is a force of nature.

Founder of the feminist dance collective the Wallflower Order and its successor Dance Brigade, Keefer has been a provocateur and an institution in the modern dance community since 1975. And with its new show at the Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts this weekend, Dance Brigade celebrates Keefer's 35 years of modern dance theater.

Pragmatic and disarmingly direct, Keefer seems often to be in nonstop motion as she talks about her legacy - you get the sense that this boundless energy is the driving and organizing force behind the agitprop fury and dark humor that threads through much of her work.

From Wallflower to Dance Brigade...

Wayne McGregor's 'Entity' review: Order from chaos

A danced investigation of movement exploring the intersection of creativity and cognitive neuroscience: Is there anything that sounds drier and less sexy? And yet, that inspiration results in a giddy, sometimes thrilling, occasionally frustrating blend of motion, ideas and imagery in Wayne McGregor's "Entity," which his London company, Random Dance, performed last weekend at the Novellus Theater in its Bay Area debut as part of San Francisco Performance's fall season.

Parsed out in two acts - the first with music by composer Joby Talbot and the second an electronica score by Coldplay collaborator Jon Hopkins - "Entity" explores a kind of metascience, a creation examining the way we create. It's a heady topic to take on through the medium of dance, in which technique, speed and stamina have advanced to a dazzling degree and yet our understanding of the brain-body connection that inspires choreographic creativity is limited.

Wayne McGregor's 'Entity' review: Order from chaos...

Pirate Store brings bucks for educational programs

For the truly discerning pirate, there's really only one place to shop in San Francisco.

Eye patches, treasure shining kits and the handy Scurvy Begone, in convenient jelly bean form, are just a few of the delightful items to be found at the Pirate Store. Proceeds from the store benefit 826 Valencia, which provides writing education workshops, after-school tutoring and a wide range of other educational programs for kids.

Pirate Store brings bucks for educational programs...

Dance Magazine: The Turning Point

You’re about to graduate from high school and know you want to keep dancing. But how, where, and in what environment? Is your goal to dance professionally? And how much of the college experience do you want?

From the intensive training of a conservatory to the broad-based academics of dance programs in liberal arts colleges, a plethora of choices is available to dancers nowadays. Making a decision that could affect not only your next four years but also your whole career is intimidating, to say the least.

Read more: Dance Magazine – The Turning Point

Dance Magazine – Vanessa Zahorian

It’s been a long rehearsal day at San Francisco Ballet. Vanessa Zahorian walks into the company’s conference room apologizing for looking tired and for the informality of the loose rehearsal clothes she’s thrown over her lanky limbs. But there’s no need; her bright blue eyes sparkle with the all-American girl freshness that serves her so well onstage.

Trained at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the Kirov Academy, Zahorian is one of SFB’s most reliable principals—rarely injured and gifted with a solid technical facility that was evident from the time she joined the corps in 1997. She stays in top form through a mix of common sense and lessons learned over the years about what works best for her body.

Read more: Dance Magazine – Vanessa Zahorian

Dance Teacher magazine: Summer School

Busy teachers are always looking for ways to enrich curriculum, and adding dance is a great option. But it can be daunting for a teacher to come up with movement-oriented lessons on her own. The Luna Dance Institute’s (LDI) annual summer workshop, held at Mills College in Oakland, California, pairs six dance artists with six classroom teachers for a six-day intensive. Now in its 11th year, the Summer Institute includes discussions about child development and learning theories, practical investigations on how to incorporate dance into state and national curriculum standards and a year of follow-up coaching from LDI staff. And, thanks to funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and others, Luna is able to offer the whole experience for free.

Read more: Summer School 

'A Cat in Paris': Stylish animated film at Kabuki

Parents who wistfully crave the great storytelling and artistry of classic cel animation might consider letting the gracefully nimble feline of 'A Cat in Paris' take kids on the adventure of a lifetime. The film is presented as part of the 2011 San Francisco International Film Festival.

Created in stylish, hand-drawn 2-D animation by Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli and set among the rooftops of Paris, the film is a noir-ish thriller for the 8-and-up set.

Though younger children might find the story a complex one to follow - the festival will be showing an English-language version of the 65-minute film - the imaginative tale of the young Zoé and her heroic cat, Dino, has a modern-day fairy-tale feel, complete with chilling villains and a nail-biting, high-stakes chase over the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral.

'A Cat in Paris': Stylish animated film at Kabuki...

Imagination Playground: Architect focuses on fun

What if playgrounds exercised the mind as well as the body? A whole new kind of play space comes to the Bay Area Discovery Museum this weekend, with the unveiling of the Imagination Playground.

At a time when teaching kids construction skills and the value of working with their hands is garnering interest, the Imagination Playground brings together the concept of a safe, social space with the notion of unstructured free play.

Imagination Playground: Architect focuses on fun...

Bike About at the S.F. Zoo

What does a kangaroo have for breakfast? Does a flamingo need to stretch in the morning? Are snow leopards cranky when they awaken?

You can get answers to these and other burning questions at the San Francisco Zoo's monthly Bike About tour, the next of which takes place Saturday.

'It's great because you can have the zoo all to yourself,' says Sarah Riemer, who helps coordinate the early-morning tours during which docents guide small groups of families around the zoo."

Bike About at the S.F. Zoo...

Women's History Month: S.F. maritime park, piers

Women at sea are the focus as the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park celebrates Women's History month throughout March.

The festivities include the free photography exhibition 'Women Who Changed Maritime History' at the Visitors Center on Jefferson Street. On Saturday at 1 p.m., the kids can take a break and sit in for Maritime Story Time's 'The Tale of Henry and Harry.' On Sunday at 3 p.m., a park ranger will lead a tour of the small crafts at the Pier's floating docks.

Women's History Month: S.F. maritime park, piers...

Carlos Acosta, in 'Swan Lake,' talks about future

Carlos Acosta, in 'Swan Lake,' talks about future:

At 37, the Cuban-born star Carlos Acosta has achieved the kind of international recognition accorded to the likes of Baryshnikov and Nureyev, although sitting in Ballet San Jose's studios, where he's rehearsing with Alexsandra Meijer for his guest appearance this weekend in Dennis Nahat's 'Swan Lake,' Acosta looks remarkably unassuming.

Flying from London to San Jose and jumping straight into rehearsals has left remnants of jetlag written on his handsome features, but when he stands up to dance, the exhaustion magically falls away, revealing the charismatic smile and trademark energy and style that has made him one of the true ballet superstars of his generation.

In a break between rehearsals, he spoke about the challenges of "Swan Lake," his thoughts on retirement and the future of ballet.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/23/DDP61HQ6K6.DTL#ixzz1F0w4Yrfz

Tulipmania: Pier 39 begins celebration of blooms

"I tell people that not all 39,000 bulbs will bloom at once,"says Denise Dirickson, the director of environmental services at Pier 39, where Tulipmania begins Saturday.

But 39,000 is about the number of bulbs that Dirickson and her team of gardeners planted in the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the coming weeks, they'll adorn the gardens and barrels around the pier with a riot of purples, pinks, oranges and yellows.

Tulipmania: Pier 39 begins celebration of blooms...

'Dances for Non/Fictional Bodies' review

Navigate through the many layers of esoteric images collaged together in Jess Curtis/Gravity's latest work, 'Dances for Non/Fictional Bodies,' which had its world premiere Thursday night in the Forum at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and you may come out the other side feeling a little lost.

Realigning our views of the human form seems to be the mission, wrapped up in neo-burlesque packaging. The six-member multinational cast takes us in directions that are by turns fanciful and non sequitur, as they drift, skulk and cavort with gusto through a spare white landscape furnished with an assortment of detritus that might have wandered in from other stories - boxing gloves, a ukulele, a single skate dangled over a naked mannequin, a porcelain tub, a refrigerator. They're all props in a strange quotidian drama.

'Dances for Non/Fictional Bodies' review...

Kids Create: Workshops in Mayan embroidery

Intricate and colorful, the geometric patterns of Mayan embroidery techniques will be a jumping-off point for the Kids Create workshop Sunday at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.

Aimed at kids from 5 to 10 years old, the Kids Create workshops, which meet the first Sunday of each month, focus on multicultural art activities, often tied into museum exhibitions like 'Modern Maya: Huipils From the Collection of Paul and Kathleen Vitale,' which opens Tuesday and runs through May 1. For this week's Kids Create event, youngsters will learn about the symbols and embroidery methods of the Mayans and apply them to making bookmarks, which they will be able to take home with them.

Kids Create: Workshops in Mayan embroidery...

Pointe magazine – Inside the audition for Lines Ballet

Inside the audition for Lines Ballet

There’s a feeling of quiet intensity in the air at San Francisco Dance Center, where ballet master Arturo Fernandez is leading an open audition for Alonzo King LINES Ballet. After barre, director Alonzo King slips into the studio. With minimal fanfare, he takes up a position to one side, observing the dancers as they begin an adagio combination. Although LINES holds open calls a few times a year, it’s rare, he says frankly, to hire someone directly from an audition. King prefers to have dancers spend some time with the company in classes so he can really “see who they are” before they join the 11-member contemporary troupe. “I am drawn to people who aren’t playing Simon Says,” says King, “but who really have given a lot of thought to the science of movement.”

Read more: Pointe magazine – Inside the audition for Lines Ballet

'Elixir of Love for Families - the Movie': opera

Maybe your introduction to opera was humming along with Bugs Bunny or Elmer Fudd as a kid - and a new generation of young operagoers might just be captivated by the catchy and familiar tunes after seeing a colorful, family-friendly version of 'The Elixir of Love' at the Herbst Theatre. The film screens three times on Sunday and Jan. 30.

Ruth Nott, education director for the San Francisco Opera, says the hourlong movie - filmed during its 2008 production - was created specifically to help introduce youngsters to the world of opera. Nott says the first such film - based on the opera's 2009 production of Mozart's 'Magic Flute' - was produced for use in schools and community outreach programs, but it received an overwhelmingly positive response from families.

'Elixir of Love for Families - the Movie': opera...

Chinatown Alleyway Tours guided by local youths

In San Francisco's Chinatown, many tourists - indeed, many longtime Bay Area residents - never make it past the silk purses and bamboo backscratchers in shops lining Grant Avenue. But if you want to get to the heart of Chinatown, see it through the eyes of the kids who grew up there and who now lead the Chinatown Alleyway Tours, offered every Saturday morning from Portsmouth Square.

These are not your typical tours, pointing out only the cosmetic highlights of one of San Francisco's oldest immigrant communities. The guides who lead the tours - usually a few of them at a time - are savvy, lively storytellers and knowledgeable politically, as well as historically. A couple of hours spent with them walking down the byways and alleys will help you get to know a side of the neighborhood behind the touristy side of the largest Chinese community outside of Asia.

Chinatown Alleyway Tours guided by local youths...

Cheryl Burke goes from TV to 'Tango'

It's only a few weeks after Cheryl Burke and her partner, NBA star Rick Fox, were eliminated from 'Dancing With the Stars,' but the 26-year-old Atherton native, now appearing in 'Forever Tango,' looks composed as she sinks into a chair on the stage of the Marines' Memorial Theatre and crosses her ankles gracefully. Her black spike heels look as if they'd be the perfect height for dancing a tango with a small forward, but these are not dancing shoes, she laughs, as she launches chattily into topics ranging from 'Dancing With the Stars' to being a dance beginner again.

Cheryl Burke goes from TV to 'Tango'...

Holiday Trains: San Francisco Main Library display

The little boy is covering all the buttons he can manage with his hands. As soon as a train stops, he pushes one of the oversize red buttons to send it on its way, but it's easy to see why he's obsessive: There is something magical about the San Francisco Public Library's Holiday Train exhibit.

The kids can thank Roberto Lombardi, the Main Library's director of facilities for the delightful display of holiday trains, now in its fifth year. Along with other volunteers from his division, Lombardi, an amateur train collector, constructed the display of electric toy trains and sets up the snowbound village each year in front of the library's Fisher Children's Center on the second floor.

Holiday Trains: San Francisco Main Library display...

San Francisco Ballet duo: From Russia with love

Slumped quietly under a barre in San Francisco Ballet's studios, Artem Yachmennikov exudes a certain intensity as he watches Elena Kazakova rehearse for Helgi Tomasson's 'Nutcracker,' which opens Thursday at the War Memorial Opera House.

He makes no comment and seems to barely move while the statuesque and elegant Kazakova works out a series of turns with her partner, soloist Vito Mazzeo. But if you follow his eyes, Yachmennikov, who joined San Francisco Ballet with Kazakova in July, has the unmistakable look of a man smitten. In fact, it was in the studio - when they both danced for the Bolshoi in 2008 - that he fell in love.

San Francisco Ballet duo: From Russia with love...

Parol workshops: Filipino Christmas star lanterns

For some, holiday decorations mean Christmas trees and wreaths, but in the Philippines, you're more likely to see festive star-shaped lanterns called parols adorning the streets and homes.

'Parol lanterns are traditional Filipino Christmas decorations representing the star of Bethlehem,' says Marcus Ante, public programs coordinator at the Exploratorium, who says the parol - from the Spanish word farol, or lantern - originated in the Pampanga province of the Philippines.

Parol workshops: Filipino Christmas star lanterns...

Reindeer Romp: Check out these caribou at S.F. Zoo

This winter, while Dasher, Dancer and company are getting ready for their midnight trek 'round the world, their counterparts Holly, Velvet, Peppermint and Belle will be doing a little reindeer PR for the herd at the San Francisco Zoo.

Starting Saturday, the four reindeer steers will be on view in a special corral on the zoo's Patas Lawn for admirers to observe up close, and though they won't be able to pet the deer, Jim Nappi, assistant curator of hoofstock at the zoo, says that these companionable animals are not shy.

Reindeer Romp: Check out these caribou at S.F. Zoo...