Clogging falls in step across America

Afternoon sunlight pours through the windows of ODC's Shotwell studios as Ian Enriquez's clogging class thunders away in the first-floor studio.

Sweating and intently focused, the dozen or so dancers track his moves and repeat them. Any misstep will be plainly heard, but the class - which is peppered with students from all age groups - pounds gamely away at the wooden floor to the not-exactly bluegrass strains of 'Let's Hear It for the Boy.'

Read more at the SF Chronicle website.

Albany Middle School teacher puts on the hits

There's an earnest cluster of middle school kids up on the stage singing, but it sounds as if the volume is low.

"Exit signs!" booms a voice from the back of the theater. Everyone lifts their chins, and the voices project to the green exit signs at the back of Albany High School's Little Theater as a great bear of a man dressed in jeans and a black Lahaina Divers T-shirt strides up the aisle.

It's the first dress rehearsal of Albany Middle School's annual musical, and veteran drama teacher Tom Gamba is steering the 90-plus-student cast of his latest, "The Directors," toward Thursday's opening night.

Read more at the SF Chronicle website.

Dance Review: Lerman's solemn, moving 'Dances' grips audience

'Try that word out loud - genocide,' says dancer Benjamin Wegman during Sunday night's performance of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's 'Small Dances About Big Ideas' at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco. 'It's a lot for one person to take in,' he concedes.

Tackling difficult issues - mass killings, bodies exhumed and identified, rape, torture - Lerman and her 11 dancers trace stories from the Holocaust to the mass killings in Bosnia and Rwanda. They're told often through specific histories, not only of victims, but also of those who sought justice, a "bone woman" who traces the graves of victims of the Rwandan genocide, the Polish activist Raphael Lemkin, who first used the term "genocide" and three Fates, led by the regal Martha Wittman, who interweave among the victims and the judges.

Read more at SF Chronicle.com.

Ditching your lawn? Plan replacement carefully

Estimates vary, but those lush, green turf grass lawns can account for 50 to 80 percent of a household's yearly water usage - adding up to thousands of gallons of water per acre of lawn."

Conserving the copious amounts of water that thirsty lawns suck up has become such a priority that counties from Marin to Santa Clara are offering homeowners rebates for removing their lawns. Even small businesses are offering incentives, such as the Ploughshares Nursery's "Tear Out Your Lawn" challenge in which customers can get 20 percent off drought-tolerant plants through May 31 if they remove 40 percent of their lawns.

Read more at the SF Chronicle website.

Jelly Belly Stickerpalooza: Fun that sticks

Move over, Willy Wonka. The Chocolate Factory might be fun, but for a truly scrumdiddlyumptious outing mixed in with a bit of sticker creativity, check out the Jelly Belly Factory's Stickerpalooza, which started on Wednesday and runs through Friday at the factory's Fairfield (Solano County) location.

Although the factory tour is a memorable and fun trip for the family, lines for it can be long during spring break. But if you have an intrepid member of your party who's willing to wait in the tour line, the rest of your group can have fun with Stickerpalooza, says Barbara Marino, a spokesperson for Mrs. Grossman's. The beloved Petaluma sticker company, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is bringing a bit of sticker fun to the candy factory. It certainly beats staring at the jelly-bean portrait of Ronald Reagan for half an hour.

Read more at Jelly Belly Stickerpalooza: Fun that sticks.

Mudflat Festival: Learn about Richardson Bay

If you have a hankering to get down and dirty, head off to the Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary's second annual Mudflat Festival. Timed to coincide with the reopening of Richardson Bay sanctuary's 900 acres to boats and public access, the event on Saturday will feature wildflower walks, a compost demo, plus art and poetry exhibits featuring works by kids from all over the Bay Area. The centerpiece, though, will be the opening of the beach area for kids to play in the mudflats and the tide pools.

Read more at SFGate.