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