Best of dance in 2012

High: "Onegin" at San Francisco Ballet: John Cranko's ravishing "Onegin" inspired not only luscious dancing but also transformative performances of enormous dramatic depth, from the corps to the principal and across four casts of dancers at San Francisco Ballet. Everywhere you looked onstage, the dancing transcended mere steps, confirming yet again that this is a ballet that has the power not only to change the way you think about artists you've watched for years, but also to change the way you see dance forever.

Low: The ousting of Dennis Nahat at Ballet San Jose: In a split that was as unpleasant as it was confounding, in January, Ballet San Jose's board abruptly removed Dennis Nahat as artistic director of the company he founded, while commencing a partnership with American Ballet Theatre. After a shakeup in the ranks, and a precipitous reorganization of artistic leadership, the company seems to have regained some of its footing. But while no one disputes that change is part of the artistic life of any organization, it didn't have to happen this way.

Most improved: Emerging Pictures' "Ballet in Cinema": In times past, balletomanes resorted to secretly traded, shaky and shady videotapes if they wanted to savor the Bolshoi performing "The Bright Stream" or catch a glimpse of the Nederlands Dans Theatre in between infrequent U.S. tours. Now "Ballet in Cinema" has made it possible to see everything from the Royal Ballet's latest "Swan Lake" to Martha Clarke works at La Scala, right in the comfort of your own neighborhood movie theater. Of course, nothing beats seeing live performance, but if a jaunt to the great theaters of Europe isn't in your immediate future, this comes close.

MVP: San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival: Hundreds of world dance performing troupes and organizations make their home in the Bay Area, and for 34 years the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival has brought that enormous diversity of dance to the stage - Indian bharatanatyam, Brazilian capoeira, West African dance, Argentine folklórico, Appalachian clogging, flamenco, Celtic dance - the list is both dazzling and exhaustive. Whether the troupe is earthy or airy, traditional or avant-garde, the Ethnic Dance Festival creates a milieu in which Chinese lion dances can coexist with Ewe warrior dances from Ghana while offering a lens on the human experience that can be thrilling, touching, informative and entertaining, often all in the same evening.

Top 10

Los Farruco: (Bay Area Flamenco Festival, Sept. 30). Every performance of Los Farruco feels like flamenco as it should be - low on frills and furbelows but high on octane and electric in its execution.

"Swan Lake": (Mariinsky Ballet, Cal Performances, Oct. 10). The iconic Mariinsky proved once again that true beauty in classical ballet is found not only in the elegant details but also the meticulous and loving attention to tradition.

Clas/Sick Hip Hop Festival: (Dec. 1) Marc Bauthi Joseph's brilliant informal format put the audience on the same floor with icons of hip-hop, and when you saw the look of inspiration in the eyes of the younger dancers crowded around the feet of Nonstop and I Dummy, admiring, analyzing and absorbing dance, suddenly it felt as if theatrical dance had fresh relevance to a new generation.

Renee Robinson performing with Alvin Ailey: (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cal Performances, March 17) We didn't know it then, but it was the last time the Bay Area would see Renee Robinson in her iconic yellow dress rocking our souls in Alvin Ailey's joyous "Revelations." The inimitable Robinson, who retired in December after 31 years with the company, spread her infectious enthusiasm like a gospel, and we were her willing acolytes.

Boy Blue's "Emancipation of Expressionism": (San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest, Nov. 18) Hip-hop at its most expressive took on the inexorable momentum of a freight train when London's Boy Blue performed at the hip-hop festival crackling with adrenaline, barely reined in by mathematical precision.

Katherine Wells in "Helen": (Robert Moses' Kin, March 30) Was Robert Moses creating a tribute to an unforgettable woman? The remarkable Katherine Wells was mesmerizing, seductive and authoritative - a dancer that you can't stop watching, no matter what she's doing or where she is onstage. KT Nelson's "Transit": (ODC Dancing Downtown, March 17) Max Chen's quirky and inventive sculptures only added to the velocity and dynamic range of KT Nelson's wistful portrait of the pulse and hum of urban life.

"Constellation": (Lines Ballet, Oct. 19) The stars aligned in one of Alonzo King's most satisfying and playful works, an array of thrilling and kinetic dance framed by Jim Campbell's innovative LED light designs.

Ohad Naharin's "Max": (Batsheva Dance Company, San Francisco Performances, Feb. 23) Ohad Naharin's visceral Gaga technique and its interplay of muscle and bone was surprisingly compelling in a display that was as inviting as it was ritualistic.

"Tarantella": (Diablo Ballet, May 5) Robert Dekkers soared in lofty jumps and Hiromi Yamazaki flirted with intricate pointe work - together they brought to the notoriously tricky "Tarantella" a glamour and delightful vivacity - and a sense of fun too rarely seen in Balanchine's works.

Read more: Best of dance in 2012 

Christmas extravaganza lights up Livermore

This year, as he does every December, deacon Dave Rezendes takes the season of lights literally, with an awe-inspiring Christmas light extravaganza at his home on Hillcrest Avenue in Livermore.

For 30 years, Rezendes, an ordained deacon serving at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Livermore, has designed and constructed an eye-popping wonderland of Christmas lights in and around his home, which he calls Casa del Pomba, or House of the Dove. Each year there's a new theme, and each year it seems there are more lights, but the wonderment is always there.

Read more: Christmas extravaganza lights up Livermore

'Hard Nut,' Mark Morris, review: a crackup

There are days when you just need something to cheer you up, especially during a holiday season darkened by ineffable tragedy. If the drollery of Mark Morris' "The Hard Nut" - which returned to Cal Performances this weekend with shows that run through Dec. 23 - is insouciant entertainment that surely doesn't profess to change the world, it's also a gleeful romp with the power to make you laugh in moments when laughter is hard to come by.

In an essay titled "Why Comedy is Truer to Life Than Tragedy" this year, Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout observed, "In most human lives, absurdity and sorrow are woven together too tightly to be teased apart." I couldn't help but think of those words and consider the vital necessity for the sort of tension-relieving exhale that "The Hard Nut" provides as the lights went down at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall on Friday night. We need comedy, if only to help us cope with the cosmic absurdity that is human frailty.

Read more: 'Hard Nut,' Mark Morris, review: a crackup

2 'Nutcracker' versions convey tradition

You can't help but enjoy the wide-eyed, lively enthusiasm that greeted the first "Nutcrackers" of the season this weekend, both at San Francisco Ballet and Ballet San Jose. While newcomers to the ballet found in every trick and turn the awe of discovery, for longtime viewers the annual "Nutcracker" tests our ability to be transported yet again by the magic of childhood dreams.

And there's plenty of theatrical wizardry to appreciate in Helgi Tomasson's version of the holiday classic, which opened on Friday night at the War Memorial Opera House, the Tchaikovsky score nicely paced under the baton of Martin West. Now in its ninth outing, the San Francisco Ballet production efficiently weaves the tale of young Clara's adventures with her Nutcracker prince, aided immensely in the first act by Michael Yeargan's sets - which go from the sleek Victorian to monumental - and in the second act by Martin Pakledinaz's exuberant and fanciful costumes.

Read more: 2 'Nutcracker' versions convey tradition

S.F. Olympians Festival: Hit and myths

As in the days of Greek mythology, the gods war with the Titans again - only this time, we lowly humans can decide the winners at the San Francisco Olympians Festival: Titans vs. Olympians, a 12-night series of play readings that continues for the next two weeks at San Francisco's Exit Theatre.

The festival is the brainchild of Stuart Bousel, who says it grew out of a lifelong love of Greek mythology and theater. An actor, director and playwright, Bousel came up with the idea of a series of new plays about old themes in 2009, while directing a production of Aristophanes' "The Frogs." A lively conversation in a car with his actors led to a wishful discussion of why there weren't more performances of Greek plays.

Read More: S.F. Olympians Festival: Hit and myths

Latkepalooza: No need to be Jewish

Perhaps one of the fondest memories a kid can have of Hanukkah is the smell of hot potato latkes fried in oil, and sweet sufganiyot - and the yummy treats are a highlight of Sunday's annual Latkepalooza, hosted by the Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City.

The Festival of Lights, as Hanukkah is known as, is the holiday that remembers the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C., when the Jewish hero Judah Maccabee took back the city from the Greeks. Purifying the sacred temple space after the victory required keeping the temple's menorah lit for eight days, but the Maccabees, as Judah's fellow revolutionaries were known as, discovered there was only enough oil for one day. In the miracle of Hanukkah, the menorah remained lighted for eight days.

Read more: Latkepalooza: No need to be Jewish

Dance Studio Life: Augusta Moore's Bohemian Ballet

“You want to use those butt muscles for good and not evil,” Augusta Moore cheerfully calls out at the start of Saturday morning ballet class in the bright, spacious studio on the second floor of ODC’s Shotwell Street building in San Francisco.

Everyone is lying prone, legs floating in the air behind them, while Moore strolls amid the bodies like a benign drill sergeant. None of this would be unusual in modern dance class, but this is intermediate ballet. Director of ODC’s ballet program since the prominent San Francisco arts organization and dance company opened ODC Dance Commons in 2005, Moore is a beloved teacher to many ballet students. But rather than always starting class with a conventional set of pliés or tendus, Moore often has students take a few minutes at the beginning of barre to identify and activate particular muscle groups. It is this kinesthetically aware approach—along with Moore’s tirelessly encouraging outlook, rigorous classicism, and irreverent personality—that draws a devoted following to her classes.

Read More: Bohemian Ballet at Dance Studio Life

Women make a move into hip-hop

Once exploited as sexy decoration, women are making moves both feminine and fierce in the hip-hop world, holding their own as true contenders from the social dance battleground of the breaking scene to the crews of theatrical hip-hop performers. And though this weekend's Clas/Sick Hip Hop festival at the Yerba Buena Center Forum will feature an evenhanded mix of male and female hip-hoppers from across generations, one can't help noticing that women are rising to prominence in what was once a male-dominated culture.

"We need to get this message across that women are out here on the planet doing amazing physical moves," says New York b-girl Ana "Rokafella" Garcia, who has also made a film about the b-girls of her generation titled "All the Ladies Say."

Read more: Women make a move into hip-hop

'The Christmas Ballet' review: Smuin's baby

Without a doubt when Michael Smuin unveiled "The Christmas Ballet" 17 years ago, he hoped it would become a holiday classic, and it's a testament to the finesse and enthusiasm of Smuin Ballet's current artistic team that it has become just that.

On Wednesday night, as hula girls daintily strutted to the ukulele strains of "Christmas Island" across the stage of the Mountain View Performing Arts Center - the second stop on the company's holiday minitour that culminates in two weeks at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts - a guy in the audience murmured, "This is my favorite." And that's the beauty of "The Christmas Ballet": No matter how you feel about the holidays, there's a favorite episode to be found in this show.

Read more: 'The Christmas Ballet' review: Smuin's baby

Garrett Moulton: Dance partners in life too

"Have fun" is the pointed directive that Janice Garrett offers as the dancers of Garrett Moulton Productions ready for a samba across the second-floor studio one afternoon at the ODC Commons.

That hardly seems like a necessary instruction, as a few of them are already gleefully bobbing vibrant puffs of tissue-paper headdresses like mischievous Dr. Seuss creatures, as costume designer Margaret Hatcher fits a leafy green vine-covered tutu on another dancer, and composer Peter Whitehead warms up on a pennywhistle, a rainbow-colored child's xylophone and a heart-shaped banjo that looks as if it was made from a baking pan.

Read more: Garrett Moulton: Dance partners in life too

Sidra Bell, LEVYdance in residency

Upon first walking into LEVYdance's Heron Street rehearsal studio, it's hard to find choreographer Sidra Bell. Dancers Scott Marlowe, Yu Kondo Reigen, Paul Vickers, Josiane Valbuena and Sarah Woods are moving in pairs and solos throughout the sea-foam green space and the artistic director of the 10-year-old company, Benjamin Levy, lurks watchfully behind a table to one side of the studio.

It's only after a long moment that you hear Bell's voice coming from deep in a corner of the room, where she's hunkered down on the floor with a laptop, from which she controls the soundscape that underlies her latest commission "less," a work LEVYdance premieres this weekend at the ODC Theater.

Not that Bell is by any means retiring by nature. But what becomes clear is that her working style is to step out of the way of the dancers, both figuratively and literally.

Read more: Sidra Bell, LEVYdance in residency

Come Out and Play: For kids, grown-ups

"I like the games that let grown-ups and kids play together," says Come Out and Play co-founder Catherine Herdlick. "I think it's really important for kids to see adults letting loose."

The festival of public games and activities, which starts Saturday in San Francisco, harnesses that childlike impulse to turn any park or public space into a playground via safe, kid-friendly - as well as adult-friendly - games devised by artists and game designers.

Read more: Come Out and Play: For kids, grown-ups

S.F. International Hip Hop DanceFest

Mad skills are in the house this weekend, when 16 hip-hop companies and crews from all over the world take the stage at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre for the San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest.

This is the 14th year for the high-octane festival, dreamed up by Bay Area hip-hop maven Micaya, who launched the first edition back in 1999 at Theatre Artaud. This year, the two programs, which run from Friday through Sunday, feature artists, including Oakland's Mix'd Ingrdnts and San Francisco's SoulForce Dance Company and international crews ILL-Abilities, England's Boy Blue and Norway's dEEp doWN dopEiZM.

Read more: S.F. International Hip Hop DanceFest

Sidra Bell, LEVYdance in residency

Upon first walking into LEVYdance's Heron Street rehearsal studio, it's hard to find choreographer Sidra Bell. Dancers Scott Marlowe, Yu Kondo Reigen, Paul Vickers, Josiane Valbuena and Sarah Woods are moving in pairs and solos throughout the sea-foam green space and the artistic director of the 10-year-old company, Benjamin Levy, lurks watchfully behind a table to one side of the studio.

It's only after a long moment that you hear Bell's voice coming from deep in a corner of the room, where she's hunkered down on the floor with a laptop, from which she controls the soundscape that underlies her latest commission "less," a work LEVYdance premieres this weekend at the ODC Theater.

Not that Bell is by any means retiring by nature. But what becomes clear is that her working style is to step out of the way of the dancers, both figuratively and literally.

Read more: Sidra Bell, LEVYdance in residency

Dance Teacher: Recital Madness

When it comes to the big show, most studio and school directors pride themselves on being as organized and in control as a four-star general to keep things from running off the rails. But from costume mishaps to little angel meltdowns to tech snafus, disasters of any size and scale can strike during the run-up to a production. What are the biggest hurdles a director faces when putting together a performance, and what can you do to keep things on track?

Lights Out

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and it doesn’t necessarily get easier,” says Campbell Midgley, who has run Queen City Ballet in Montana for 12 years. “I keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, so I guess I’m insane!”

Read more: Recital Madness

'The Fish in My Head': Comic spectacle

Slapstick comedy and goofy acrobatics will charm kids and grown-ups alike when Cal Performances presents the Dell'Arte Company in "The Fish in My Head" on Sunday.

Directed and designed by Ronlin Foreman, "The Fish in My Head" incorporates circus spectacle and acrobatics, like stilt-walking, with broad physical comedy and songs to bring fantasy to life - from a dreamlike, stormy underwater world to Marx Brothers-style drollery and one-liners.

Read More: 'The Fish in My Head': Comic spectacle

'The Hula Show 2012' review: Sultry hip-hop

The warm spirit of aloha is palpable throughout the evening in Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu's colorful "The Hula Show 2012," which opened Saturday at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre.

Directed by Patrick Makuakane, the 27-year-old Na Lei Hulu, whose name means "the many-feathered wreaths at the summit, held in high esteem," performs work that interweaves traditional and modern with a deceptive ease and flow. The dancers might hula to 19th century chants and then shift immediately into a dark vision of Faithless' "Crazy English Summer."

Read more: 'The Hula Show 2012' review: Sultry hip-hop 

Kids create at Leap Sandcastle Contest

It won't just be about playing in the sand and surf at the 29th annual Leap Sandcastle Contest.

The contest aims to raise $225,000 through donations and sponsorships for Leap, Arts in Education, an organization that brings arts programs to elementary and middle schools. And this weekend's contest will showcase fanciful constructions made only of sand and water and built around the theme of "things that jump."

It's an opportunity not only to have a little fun, but also to teach kids about design and construction.

Read more: Kids create at Leap Sandcastle Contest

Lenora Lee Dance, 'The Escape'

"I try to create works that are personal and historical to my own family, and also talk about themes in the broader American historical narrative," says Lenora Lee, whose company celebrates its fifth anniversary this weekend at Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco.

"Although my work might be specifically about the Chinese American experience," she says, "I find that audiences of all backgrounds can relate to the stories. The loss, grief, separations, beauty, conflict - those are core to everyone."

Read more: Lenora Lee Dance, 'The Escape'

Review: Smuin Ballet season opener

Revenge might have been served cold, but the dancing was offered with more heated vibrancy in Adam Hougland's "Cold Virtues," which had its West Coast premiere when Smuin Ballet opened its season at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre last weekend.

Hougland, who created this piece in 2003 for Louisville Ballet, where he is principal choreographer, is one of a generation of young choreographers whose refreshing vernacular blends balletic form with the heft and universal expressiveness of hieratic gesture. It's a delicate mix that can at times look too studied and academic, but Hougland has a knack for creating a tapestry of inventive movement and evocative shapes that convey the essence of his story without coming off as pedantic.

Read more: Review: Smuin Ballet season opener

Glass Pumpkin Patch, Richmond: Art blooms

Would-be Cinderellas looking for an elegant fantasy pumpkin might think about choosing from the dazzling glass pumpkins that go on display this weekend in the Glass Pumpkin Patch at the Cohn-Stone Studios in Richmond.

"There will be hundreds of them 'blooming' in our garden," glass artist Molly Stone says.

Throughout the month of October, Stone and her husband and collaborator Michael Cohn will turn their 6,000-square-foot studios and adjacent garden in Richmond into a veritable wonderland of glass pumpkins of all sizes in brilliant shades of orange, green, gold, and ruby red.

Read more: Glass Pumpkin Patch, Richmond: Art blooms

Dance Teacher magazine: Filling the Gap

Preparing high school seniors for college-level dance is never easy. Most students are unfamiliar with the options available, and preparing for auditions and more advanced technique is a huge undertaking. But at the School Without Walls in Washington, DC, dance teacher Heather Pultz has created a unique after-school program that introduces students to college dance early on. They meet and work with undergraduate George Washington University dance majors, attend performances and get audition feedback from GW dance department professors. “I wanted my kids to see dance as a real-world profession and a serious discipline,” she says. “The college students have a great work ethic. I wanted to encourage that academic pre-professional mind-set, and this was an easy way to foster it.”

Pultz’s program can be seen as a small-scale version of the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards’ initiative to align K–12 arts education with higher ed. One goal of the new standards for arts education is to prepare students for college-level study by creating a basis for new AP courses and exams in the arts. But Pultz has seen a more immediate benefit by taking college preparation into her own hands. Not only does she foster an awareness of college dance, she provides opportunities in the arts that her students might otherwise not experience.

Read more: Dance Teacher magazine: Filling the Gap

Flamenco a way of life for Los Farruco

Stormy, soulful, inspired, extemporaneous and often temperamental, flamenco gitano or gypsy flamenco is considered by some to be the highest form of the art. To see flamenco puro is to experience more than just a performance - it is an entree into a conversation in which the singers, the musicians and the dancers have myriad sentiments and convictions to share - with each other, with us and with a higher power.

"Gypsy flamenco is very much a real transmission of emotion and the culture that they live and breathe," says Nina Menendez, the organizer of the Bay Area Flamenco Festival, which begins Monday.

Read more: Flamenco a way of life for Los Farruco 

Carlos Molina highlights new ballet 'Fausto'

There's a laconic ease to Carlos Molina's demeanor as the former soloist from American Ballet Theatre works with a willowy Annabelle Henry in a pas de deux from "Fausto," a new work that Napoles Ballet premieres this weekend at the Cowell Theater.

For a moment, his economy of movement might be mistaken for passivity. It's the end of a long day of rehearsals at the Shan Yee Poon studios in the Richmond district, and beside the sharp, almost adamantine shapes and trajectories that choreographer Luis Napoles demonstrates for them, Molina's small nods and quiet comments suggest a certain lassitude.

Read More: Carlos Molina highlights new ballet 'Fausto'

Autumn Moon Festival: Chinatown tradition

Lions, dragons and mooncakes are highlights of the 22nd Autumn Moon Festival, which takes place this weekend along Chinatown's Grant Avenue.

This year's festival is dedicated to May Louie, who started the festival in 1991 and who passed away in February at age 87, says entertainment coordinator Cynthia Yee.

Working with merchants in Chinatown, Louie hoped the celebration would help draw visitors back to Chinatown after the devastation of the Loma Prieta earthquake. The tradition of a moon festival around the time of the autumnal equinox, however, dates back thousands of years in China.

Read More: Autumn Moon Festival: Chinatown tradition

Sumo wrestling: Champions exhibition

Entertainment for the gods will come to the people Saturday, when the ancient art of sumo wrestling takes center stage in a free exhibition in Japantown's Peace Plaza.

Three professional wrestlers will take part in the day's events, including the imposing Mongolian-born Byambajav "Byamba" Ulambayar, a three-time world sumo champion who stands 6-foot-1, weighs 370 pounds and was featured in the movie "Ocean's Thirteen." He'll be joined by Kelly Gneiting, a 6-foot, 430-pound native of Idaho who trained in Japan and has not only been a U.S. sumo champion, but - after running the Los Angeles Marathon in 2008 and 2011 - also became the Guinness world record holder as the heaviest person to run a marathon.

Read More: Sumo wrestling: Champions exhibition

Last call for WestWave Dance Festival

"Sometimes you do yourself in," says Joan Lazarus, director of the 21-year-old WestWave Dance Festival, which presents Maurya Kerr's Tinypistol on Monday at Z Space.

It's a single performance that closes the door on the history of this summer tradition, headed for 17 years by Lazarus, who says she leaves WestWave with few regrets after a rewarding and difficult year. 

In the 31 years since Lazarus arrived in the Bay Area, she has been a maven in the unsung arena of arts administration - an unabashed cheerleader for the dance scene, who served as executive director of Oakland Ballet, managed the Cowell Theater, guided the capital campaign for ODC's new facility and helped steer the annual Bay Area Celebrates National Dance Week, in addition to running her own nonprofit DanceArt, which sponsored the WestWave Dance festival every summer. And yet Lazarus is philosophical about her departure and the confluence of events that have led to it.

Highs and lows 

Speaking by phone from her offices in Steamboat Springs, Colo., where she is now executive director of the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School, Lazarus spoke frankly about a whirlwind year that went from the high of WestWave's 20th anniversary season to a funding desert that left the festival with only one performance and serious questions about its viability.

Under the aegis of DanceArt since 1998, WestWave boasted more than 2,000 performances, featuring hundreds of choreographers from the Bay Area and beyond. Lazarus often worked on it without a salary to keep the budget for the festival, which ran around $75,000, as small as possible.

"WestWave was a bargain, and that's one of the reasons I would get so frustrated," Lazarus says. "Because what we could manage to do for that small amount of money was tremendous - it was very lean and mean, but we needed at least that much to do it, and it's just gotten harder and harder to raise."

Lazarus describes the funding challenges of the past year as "the perfect storm," in which the festival strangely became a victim of its own success.

After a banner 20th anniversary season that featured nine programs and stretched from July through October, Lazarus hoped the momentum would continue. She sought grants from a dozen agencies, but was disappointed to find that only a handful of funders were prepared to support the festival. "They said, 'You had such a great year last year that we're sure you'll be able to garner new support, so we decided to give to someone else,' " she says.

Without enough money to secure a theater, much less move forward with planned programming, Lazarus e-mailed the hundreds of friends, artists and administrators with whom she had worked over the years, but was again disappointed to receive only 30 responses.

"And it wasn't the artists who donated - only about three or four choreographers pitched in, and that was a very clear indicator to me," she says pragmatically. "Organizations and projects have life cycles like anything else. So when I had the offer in April to come to Perry-Mansfield, it made my decision really easy. It wasn't, 'Oh, you can't leave because WestWave needs you to keep going.' It felt like my time here was done."

The forthright Lazarus is quick to note that WestWave stalwarts like Janice Garrett, Amy Seiwert and Benjamin Levy were able to use the festival's open-ended, "try anything" approach to their advantage, testing ideas for new premieres without having to produce themselves. And Lazarus has often seen WestWave as an opportunity to give a boost to promising talents.

Three works 

One such artist is Maurya Kerr, whose Tinypistol company will present three works at WestWave's only performance this year. Kerr first came to Lazarus' attention during last year's gala, when she was looking for a ballet choreographer for the program.

"Someone recommended Maurya, so I called and said, 'You know, I haven't seen any of your work, but I'm just going to ask you, is it good?' " Lazarus recounts, chuckling at the memory. "And she said, 'Yeah, I think you'd be happy.' Working with her was so easy - when I needed information she sent it, her company showed up on time, they didn't whine, they didn't ask for things we couldn't provide. She just did it, and it was fantastic."

Lazarus held on to that memory while planning this year's offerings. Then, with only $7,000 in the bank from a few long-standing supporters, she made a decision based on gut instinct. "After the 20th anniversary gala last year, I had asked Maurya if she'd ever shown a full evening of work, and she said no. So I offered her a full evening. Even as things began to dwindle this year, I was unwilling to take back this offer," she says simply.

"And if little WestWave can offer an opportunity to someone who doesn't have an organization yet, who doesn't write grants, who just has a strong body of work - well, it's a real privilege to be the person who can make that happen for them. As everything else slipped away, I had to make the choice. We could only do one concert - I could either present five artists who've done this before, or I can still do this for her, and to do that felt really nice."

WestWave Dance: Maurya Kerr's Tinypistol. 8 p.m. Monday. Z Space, 450 Florida St., S.F. $18-$23. www.westwavedance.org, www.brownpapertickets.com. 

Read more:Last call for WestWave Dance Festival

Family Paddle at City Kayak in S.F.

Maybe your kayaking dreams are a bit more modest than sprinting your way to gold in the K1 200-meter kayak race at the Olympics, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a couple of hours out on the water with the kids during City Kayak's Saturday morning Family Paddles.

Although City Kayak offers adventure kayaking trips that take you farther afield, the Family Paddle is designed for moms and dads who want to go on manageable excursions that are comfortable even for beginners and younger kids, says Ted Choi, the owner of the 9-year-old City Kayak.

Read more on the Family Paddle at City Kayak in S.F. on SFGate

Five Brooks Ranch offers horseback rides

Five Brooks Ranch offers horseback rides - SFGate: If you and the kids have hiked around Point Reyes and are looking for a different kind of perspective on the national park, a few hours of riding the trails on horseback can be a great way to spend a summer afternoon.

At Five Brooks Ranch, guided trail rides in the Point Reyes National Seashore area offer an unparalleled opportunity for riders to get closer to nature, says Andrew Loose, the ranch's owner. Led by experienced and patient guides, groups of riders can explore the Olema Valley area, and there's no need to worry if you've never ridden before, he adds.

Read more on SFGate.

The Bay Model in Sausalito

Bay Model in Sausalito, a photo by mehunt on Flickr.

At first sight, the San Francisco Bay Model is utterly overwhelming.

Standing on the observation platform, above the acre-and-a-half scale reconstruction of the Bay Area's waterways, you can scan from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta across San Pablo Bay to the Pacific Ocean. As you descend the ramps to walk closer to the edge of the waterways, you can examine the Port of Oakland and Alameda, or gaze across the Marin Headlands, the Golden Gate and beyond.

This fascinating and unique facility is one of the Bay Area's best open secrets - a remarkable tool that enables visitors to visualize and put the ecology of the bay's watershed into context. It's a terrific way to educate kids about the effects humans can have on our natural water systems. Best of all, it's free...

San Francisco Bay Model, Sausalito on SFGate.

Picklewater Free Circus Festival in Union Square

If you're the kind of kid, big or small, who can't walk past a street circus without stopping, then you might want to amble by Union Square for an afternoon of clowning and acrobatics, as Union Square Live presents the Picklewater Free Circus Festival, a month of free Sunday shows. "There are not a lot of low-cost options for entertainment for families out there," saysAbraham Dover, the founder and producer of the festival, who also clowns himself. "And this is a free afternoon of professional-quality circus entertainment."

 Picklewater Free Circus on SFGate.com

Foothill College Observatory: Zoom in on moon, sun

Sure you can look at the sun, the moon and the stars anytime you want, but stargazers young and old will appreciate getting a closer view with the help of a good telescope. To that end, the Peninsula Astronomical Society runs regular free public viewing nights at the Foothill College Observatory in Los Altos on Fridays and solar observing on Saturday mornings.

It's a wonderful way to open a window on the universe for young astronomers, who can glimpse Saturn's rings or peer into the craters on the moon through the observatory's 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector. Volunteers from the astronomical society are on hand to point the scope at interesting objects in the sky and explain what you're seeing.

Foothill College Observatory: Zoom in on moon, sun - SFGate

Balboa Park Community Mosaic Event this weekend

Anyone feeling a bit artistic has a chance to set the idea of community in stone this weekend by helping to create the mosaics that will decorate San Francisco's newly renovated Balboa Park.
Students from Denman Middle School and Lick-Wilmerding High School have been hard at work on mosaics for the stairs in the playground area near San Jose Avenue. This weekend, anyone who would like to join in can work on another set of steps as well as the circular mosaics set into the sidewalks.
Read more at SFGate.com

All material is copyright to Mary Ellen Hunt. Please contact the author directly for permission to reprint.

Scott Wells & Dancers meld athleticism, artistry

Sitting on a sunlit stoop near his lower Pacific Heights studios, the genial Scott Wells looks more like a regular guy out for a cup of coffee than the freewheeling choreographer whose works have sent dancers swooping on skateboards, pitted balletic Baryshnikovs in a boxing match with Rocky Balboa, and melded the physicality of contact improv with the finesse of dance.

Wells has a love of pure movement that is palpable in the scores of works he has produced over the years. It's that kind of audacious athleticism that takes front and center when his company, Scott Wells & Dancers, presents the obstacle course capering of "Parkour-Deux" juxtaposed with a military-inspired precision of "Special Forces" during its 20th anniversary season at CounterPULSE this weekend.

Scott Wells & Dancers meld athleticism, artistry

LEVYdance-Foundry alliance's promising prospects

Behind the heavy curtain in the lobby of Studio Gracia, hidden in a San Francisco SoMa alleyway, there's grooving going on. A pulsing beat echoes throughout the spacious refurbished warehouse home of LEVYdance as the dancers stretch and warm up under a disco ball in the mint-green studio.

Artistic associate and dancer Scott Marlowe joins in the good-natured joking that ensues when LEVYdance founder Benjamin Levy bounds irrepressibly across the polished hardwood floor, falling to the ground and pinwheeling his legs wildly.

"Don't worry," Levy shouts as he slides past a group of dancers in splits, "We're not doing floor work today ..."

LEVYdance-Foundry alliance's promising prospects

'Les Miserables' by Oakland School for the Arts

"Timely and inspiring."

That's how teacher Michael Berry-Berlinski describes "Les Miserables," the popular musical by Claude-Michel Schonberg, which the students of the Oakland School for the Arts will perform Thursday at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Oakland.

Based on Victor Hugo's 1862 novel recounting the student uprisings in Paris in the 19th century, "Les Miserables" follows the interwoven stories of the heroic Jean Valjean, the relentless Javert, who pursues him, the tragic Fantine and her daughter Cosette, and the idealistic student Marius.

"It's a story for all time, as appropriate now as it was years ago," says Berry-Berlinski. "The youth of a nation standing up and fighting for a cause - something that resonates with young people today, especially here in Oakland."

'Les Miserables' by Oakland School for the Arts

Diablo Ballet review: Eclectic mix springs to life

From contemplative to winsome to slightly daffy, Diablo Ballet gracefully navigated a delicate balance in the second of its "Inside the Dancer's Studio" series at the Shadelands Arts Center in Walnut Creek last weekend on a program that included four premieres, as well as the crowd-pleasing George Balanchine duet "Tarantella."

A dozen or so cafe tables, scattered in front of more standard seating, set a more informal atmosphere and brought viewers within inches of the performers. It's got to be a little disquieting to dance the high-octane "Tarantella" that near to your audience, but Hiromi Yamazaki and Robert Dekkers found just the right amount of bounce-and-go mixed with genuine warmth to put together a terrific performance. Expertly staged by Oregon Ballet Theatre director Christopher Stowell and Diablo artistic director Lauren Jonas, this delightful little duet to the music of Louis Gottschalk - performed to recorded music here - is chock-full of deceptively tricky and yet fluffy-looking moments that Dekkers and Yamazaki tossed off with ease. Dekkers had just the right kind of lively, clean jumps and pliant ballon for this kind of piece, while Yamazaki added a flirty joie de vivre.

Diablo Ballet review: Eclectic mix springs to life

Ballet San Jose 'Cinderella' review: a funny turn

Broad comedy almost won out over fairy tale appeal in Ben Stevenson's "Cinderella," which Ballet San Jose performed Friday at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. But in a production that boasted all the essential elements of the much-loved story of the rags-to-riches Cinderella and her Prince Charming, even the rollicking wickedness of the ugly stepsisters couldn't outshine the romance.

Story ballets like "Cinderella" make a good choice for Ballet San Jose, a company for which character byplay and storytelling is a particular strength. If the comedic timing for the various players wasn't always spot-on, there was no lack of energy and esprit onstage.

Ballet San Jose 'Cinderella' review: a funny turn

Free Comic Book Day

For comic book aficionados, nothing beats the visceral appeal of holding a real comic book in your hand, paging through the vibrant art and smelling the ink on the pages.

On Saturday, comic fans of any age can feed their love for the genre during Free Comic Book Day, an annual extravaganza in which more than 2,000 retailers in 50 countries will give away special editions of favorite comics - from Disney heroines to Marvel and DC superheroes to the offbeat charms of manga.

"Over 3 1/2 million comics were available for giveaways last year," says Joe Field of Flying Colors Comics in Concord. "And more than a million people showed up to stores, so it's really the world's largest comic book-related event."

Free Comic Book Day

Dance Magazine: Courtney Elizabeth Technique My Way

“The idea of ‘Technique My Way’ really tickled me,” says San Francisco Ballet soloist Courtney Elizabeth with disarming candidness. “I never thought of myself as a technical dancer.”

Elizabeth may be modest, but her performances reveal not only a steadiness—born of early Cecchetti and RAD training at Charlotte School of Ballet, followed by guidance from Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux at North Carolina Dance Theatre—but also the spark of a quick mind. After a stint as a company apprentice, Elizabeth joined SFB’s corps in 2003. Her versatility and maturity led to her promotion to soloist last year. Dance Magazine talked with Elizabeth about the daily discipline behind her liveliness and ease—including the discipline of letting go when the workday is done.

Read More: Dance Magazine: Courtney Elizabeth Technique My Way

Luna Dance Institute in full swing as it turns 20

Rapt fascination was written on the faces of the two dozen schoolkids sitting scattered around the perimeter of Luna Dance Institute's main studio in an industrial building in the heart of Emeryville on Wednesday. Occasionally a teetering balance or a particular movement drew a quiet giggle, but for the most part, the students were mesmerized by the institute's "20/20 Points of View," in which Melissa Caywood of Deborah Slater Dance Theater performed a solo from Slater's latest work in progress.

"This has always been the dream," said Patricia Reedy, Luna Dance Institute's founder and director, "to bring together real working choreographers and kids - to get them thinking about how to get the kids engaged with dance."

It's been 20 years since Luna opened as a community dance space in Berkeley, a place that Reedy and her co-director, Nancy Ng, hoped would fill the need for rehearsal and class studios left by the loss of Citicentre Dance Theatre. Since 1992, the scope and complexity of Luna's programs have multiplied to include not only dance classes and summer camps for children and choreographic workshops for teens, but also professional development programs for teachers and dance artists, and support for school and community administrators who are interested in organizing dance programs in their home institutions.

Luna Dance Institute in full swing as it turns 20

Open Make: Trash: Exploratorium DIY clothes swap

What once might have gone to a landfill can become useful again at the Open Make: Trash program Saturday at the Exploratorium.

The Exploratorium's popular Open Make series has grown over the years from a small program for youngsters into a monthly public event. This month, the folks at the museum's Tinkering Studio have collaborated with Make magazine and Pixar Animation Studios to devise a special Earth Day celebration that looks at imaginative ways to reconfigure your trash into practical, interesting, even beautiful projects.

Open Make: Trash: Exploratorium DIY clothes swap

Ballet San Jose review: surprising turns

For better or worse, the recent revisions in leadership at Ballet San Jose have meant a redefinition of the company's identity, but promising, even surprising performances buttressed Ballet San Jose's mixed repertory program of company premieres this past weekend at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts.

George Balanchine's "Allegro Brillante" is, on balance, a sound addition to the company's repertoire - the kind of ballet that makes a good company stronger, even as it appeals to the audience.

There was plenty of brio from Friday night's cast, although for all the pep onstage, only a couple of the dancers looked comfortable enough to enjoy the luscious phrasing of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto - unfortunately danced to a noticeably poor-quality recording.

In the ballerina role, Junna Ige seemed nervous and tightly wound, resulting in careful, though nimble, pointework when you longed for her to give more amplitude to her steps to fill out the musical phrases and really make the choreography sing. By contrast, her partner Maykel Solas struck an appealing balance between buoyant enthusiasm and gallant partnering, often looking like he wanted nothing more in the world than to set her at ease.

Ballet San Jose review: surprising turns

SF Ballet review: Balanchine's 'Scotch Symphony'

George Balanchine's delightful 1952 "Scotch Symphony" returned to San Francisco Ballet's active repertoire with lively vigor on Friday night's opening of the company's all-Balanchine program at the War Memorial Opera House.

This highly atmospheric, though plotless, homage to Scotland takes inspiration from the pageantry of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and the heather-scented charms of the Romantic-era Bournonville classic "La Sylphide" as well as the music of Felix Mendelssohn's "Scotch Symphony" conducted with exuberant gusto by Martin West. Full of lively dancing, flashing kilts and jaunty tams, the ballet makes a happy vehicle for the freshness and energy of the corps, which was led in the first movement by Courtney Elizabeth with especial vivacity and sprightly attack.

The ballet is anchored, though, by the central pas de deux for a sylph-like ballerina and her lover, a duet that Yuan Yuan Tan and Davit Karapetyan imbued with a sweet longing on opening night. Balanchine fills this second movement with mysterious interludes - Tan flirts gently with Karapetyan, however romantic moments are enigmatically interrupted by the corps of men, who surround her protectively, blocking him from reaching her.

SF Ballet review: Balanchine's 'Scotch Symphony'

Caroline Rocher connects the dots to Lines Ballet

Afternoon rehearsal is serious business in the Lines Ballet studios, where Alonzo King is working with the dancers on his lavish "Scheherazade" for the company's upcoming season at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Intensity and concentration are written across Keelan Whitmore's face as he works with the lovely Caroline Rocher. She gives a little shimmy that ripples from her hips to her shoulders, but then a smile begins to break out across Rocher's face. It's the first sign that they've hit a piece of the choreography that doesn't quite feel right and it also signals one of Rocher's more endearing qualities. Even when things aren't going perfectly, her outlook is always upbeat.

King comes over to help them push the partnering in a new direction, and when they repeat, there's a fearless spontaneity in her movement, even as she places each foot, each limb with surgical precision.

The luminous Rocher joined Lines Ballet in 2007, arriving with an impressive resume of national and international credits. If at first she seemed a touch otherworldly, even tentative, in her approach to King's famously probing and challenging choreography, nevertheless, in the five seasons she's danced with the company she's imbued her performances with a rare warmth and intelligence and become a soulful and unpretentious interpreter of his work.

Caroline Rocher connects the dots to Lines Ballet

Spring Eggstravaganza: Golden Gate Park egg hunts

Why does a bunny bring eggs at Easter? If you can catch him hiding the eggs for Saturday's Spring Eggstravaganza in Golden Gate Park's Sharon Meadow, maybe you can ask him.

Sponsored by the Recreation and Park Department, this year's event has an "Alice in Recreation Land" theme. It will feature not only the obligatory Easter egg hunts, but also plenty of other amusements - including rides, jumpy houses, arts and crafts and a rib cook-off "Top Chef"-style, between Rec and Park and the city's Police and Fire departments.

The event will pack a lot in, according to Connie Chan, deputy director of public affairs, who says that the Recreation and Park team is expecting thousands of visitors for what has become a springtime tradition.

Spring Eggstravaganza: Golden Gate Park egg hunts

Pointe magazine – Upheaval at Ballet San Jose

Upheaval At Ballet San Jose
After a period of uncertainty during which Ballet San Jose artistic director Dennis Nahat’s authority was gradually eroded, the board officially removed him from the position this January. Nahat cofounded Cleveland Ballet in 1976, shepherded it through its dual-city days as San Jose Cleveland Ballet, then became artistic director and moved the company permanently to San Jose in 2000. “I have no idea what went wrong, but it felt like a hostile takeover,” Nahat said after learning he’d been pushed out.

Like many ballet companies, BSJ has struggled financially in recent years. In an effort to boost its reach, in December the company announced a partnership with American Ballet Theatre. BSJ executive director Stephanie Ziesel explains that the idea grew from discussions with her sister, Mary Jo Ziesel, who serves as director of education and training at ABT. The initial concept was to incorporate ABT’s National Training Curriculum into the BSJ School, but the conversation soon expanded to involve a larger arrangement, in which BSJ would gain access to ABT’s repertoire and coaching staff.

Ziesel says that moving forward, the company will be led by a principal ballet master, former BSJ dancer Raymond Rodriguez, and an artistic advisor, former ABT II director Wes Chapman. “Wes has been engaged for the season,” says Ziesel, “while Ray is a permanent, full-time appointment.”

Ziesel says she wants Nahat to remain involved with BSJ. But none of Nahat’s ballets are on the group’s 2012 lineup, which features six works new to BSJ—including ABT staples like Robbins’ Interplay and Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante. “I hope that soon we can put this behind us and talk about the future,” says Ziesel. —Mary Ellen Hunt

Pointe magazine

Robert Moses Kin review: Sophisticated dance

Robert Moses' choreography not only moves you, it makes you want to move. A sexy jolt of the hips, a sinuous dip of the shoulders - as you watch the unfolding of his enigmatic "Helen," which premiered Friday night at the Yerba Buena Center season opener for Robert Moses' Kin, you might be thinking that you could steal a few of those moves next time you go out dancing.

His is sophisticated dance, smart work for smart people. Whether working with simple abstraction or agenda-tinged, spoken-word essays, it's clear that Moses has a lot of respect for the intelligence of his audience, and that means you leave one of his shows feeling not only stimulated, but satiated.

That's not to say that "Helen" is easily comprehended. What is the contentious relationship between the men and the women about? Is one of the women set up to be the legendary Helen of Troy? But then again, what does it matter when there is such gorgeous dancing onstage?

Robert Moses Kin review: Sophisticated dance

'The Secret History of Love' review: Soul mates

The eternal question of how to find your soul mate is at the heart of "The Secret History of Love," which made its debut on Thursday night at San Francisco's Dance Mission Theater.

Built upon reminiscences gathered by Sean Dorsey from interviews with gay, lesbian and transgender individuals, "The Secret History of Love" is sometimes a tour, sometimes docudrama and occasionally burlesque, although it also leaves a lingering sense that editing down the sprawl of material was difficult. The result is sometimes poignant but can also feel somewhat fractured and episodic.

There are strong performances onstage from Dorsey, along with collaborators Brian Fisher, Nol Simonse and Juan de la Rosa. As a group, the four share a kind of gestalt, moving, interlocking, even breathing with a persuasive consonance that makes the duets, trios and quartets a pleasure to watch.

'The Secret History of Love' review: Soul mates

Robert Moses' Kin poised for 'Helen' S.F. premiere

Underneath choreographer Robert Moses' urbane, composed exterior, you can almost feel the frothing intellectual energy of a mind always in motion. A conversation with Moses can range from sociopolitical ground, through poetry, and into music, art and philosophy with such ease that you wonder how he has time to think about all of this, as well as create new work for his 10-member company, Robert Moses' Kin, teach at Stanford University, raise his young kids with fellow choreographer and dancer Mary Carbonara, and still have time to sleep.

"Actually, I don't really sleep a lot," he says. "Now, I tend to go to bed when the kids go to bed at around 8:30, and I'm usually up by 1. Then I'm up and down through the evening, listening to music or writing, sometimes I'll just sit and consider stuff. I'm really up about 5, which is when my day gets going with other people because 5 a.m. is 8 a.m. in other places."

Robert Moses' Kin poised for 'Helen' S.F. premiere 

Dance: 26th Annual Izzie Awards presented

An atmosphere of casual collegiality pervaded the crowded ODC Theater on Monday night as the Bay Area dance world gathered for the 26th Annual Isadora Duncan Awards, affectionately known as the Izzies, hosted by choreographer Val Caniparoli and Oakland cultural maven Denise Pate-Pearson.

In the production categories, Lines Ballet's production of Alonzo King's "Scheherazade" was a big winner, taking home awards for music and visual design.

Miami City Ballet director Edward Villella was on hand to present a Sustained Achievement Award to Deborah DuBowy for her ongoing lecture series "Words on Dance."

Still, there was a sad irony in that Cathleen McCarthy and Joan Lazarus received kudos for their work with the WestWave Dance Festival in a year when harsh economic realities have forced a scaling back of much of the summer festival's performances. Among the literally thousands of artists whom WestWave has brought to the stage were Alex Ketley, Kara Davis, Katie Faulkner and Manuelito Biag, whose collaborative effort "Terra Incognita, Revisited," which debuted last year on a WestWave program, took home top choreographic and company performance honors.

For a complete list of nominees and winners, visit www.izzies.org.

Dance: 26th Annual Izzie Awards presented

S.F. Ballet Program 6 review: New territory

I could have used a road map to view Ashley Page's "Guide to Strange Places," which San Francisco Ballet premiered Friday night at the War Memorial Opera House, but unfortunately it wasn't until much later that I realized that there actually was a map in front of us nearly the whole time, a guide to parts unknown and unfathomable.

Urged on by the thumping, pulsing score of the same name by John Adams, the 18 dancers ricocheted off each other in quartets and pairs, showing off finely tuned musculature in Jon Morrell's body-hugging tops and shorts in various midnight shades of ruby, sapphire and emerald.

At the start, Frances Chung and Pascal Molat buzzed through complex machinations against a scrim painted like a vast road leading into darkness. That quickly gave way to scattered clusters of bodies pulsating with limb-cracking speed yet dwarfed by Morrell's burning weblike backdrop (lit by David Finn), which looked both ambiguously spidery and geometrically manmade. It is in fact a road map, though Page has said he prefers not to say to which strange place (suffice it to say that it is a highly recognizable location for many Bay Area audience members).

S.F. Ballet Program 6 review: New territory