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