Tango Amor offers milonga lessons and dancing at Chi, an art gallery and yoga studio in Dallas. "Milonga" is the name for this type of social dance event as well as the form of Tango danced.

These milonga events take place on the second Saturday of every month from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with a lesson for beginners at 8 a.m. Admission, which includes a lesson, costs $5 for students and $7 for non-students. Participants are encouraged to bring food and drinks to enjoy during the fun.

For more information, visit www.TangoAmor.com/Events or www.ChiDallas.com.

Milonga dancers

Local dancing guy Michael E. Wood makes good with a solo tap-and-song number in what's being billed as the "farewell touring production" of Riverdance, presented by the Dallas Pops at Fair Park Music Hall. The Poughkeepsie, N.Y., native, who was raised in Dallas, says he was always part of a choir but didn't put on tap shoes until he got to Oklahoma City University, where he graduated in 2008. He's making up for lost tap time now, with some flashy foot-stomping in this critically acclaimed Dublin-born tribute to Irish dance. Riverdance has played to more than 22 million people in 40 countries. It's set to end its U.S. tour on June 16, but will continue to tour in Europe.

- Nancy Churnin/Guide

Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 8 at 2 and 8 p.m. 909 First Ave., Fair Park, Dallas. $46.93-$127.13. Ticketmaster.

German filmmaker Wim Wenders captures the inventive dance world of legendary choreographer Pina Bausch. Wenders had conceived with Bausch a dance film like none seen before, one which would take the fullest advantage yet of new 3D technology to put the viewer deep inside Bausch's playful, thrillingly unpredictable pieces. After her untimely death in 2009, Wenders continued with the project, turning it into the most exciting tribute he could imagine. It opens in theaters Friday, Feb. 3 and has been nominated for the best documentary feature Academy Award this year.

Be mesmerized with this trailer:

As I write this entry, all I can do is quote the movie, "Love is a many splendored thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!" Then I shout (with the effect of an echo from a large, old theater in my head), "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

Although the story performed by Canada's Royal Winnepeg Ballet is not entirely the same, the unmistakable Bohemian essence is there as the tale unfolds in Paris, following the story of love and the famous, Moulin Rouge cabaret.

If you have an open night this weekend, consider fitting in a dance performance. OK, that sounded too casual, let me try again. If there is any way you can fit it in, you should make an open night this weekend to see a dance performance. Why? The AT&T Performing Arts Center will be hosting a performance by American Ballet Theatre for two nights.

I don't think I need to tell you how good the company is, or how long they have been around, so I will just tell you what to expect at this performance.

They will dance Seven Sonotas, a piece choreographed especially for the company by Alexei Ratmansky, and Duets, a series of modern works, for, you guessed it, two dancers, choreographed by Merce Cunningham. Cunningham is known for his abstract choreography so don't expect a classical ballet for this one. Also in the show will be Tchaikovcky Pas De Deux, a Balanchine Ballet, and Company B, a modern ballet by Paul Taylor, danced to music of the 1940s.

American Ballet Theatre will perform at the Winspear Opera House Friday and Saturday, Jan. 20 & 21 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available from $12 to $150 at attpac.org.

When I moved to Dallas, I looked for years to find somewhere to take dance classes. I wanted somewhere with classes for adults with true dance experience, but who aren't professionals. A lucky Google search finally gave me exactly what I was looking for.

Contemporary Ballet Dallas is a dance company and studio in Lakewood for anyone who loves dance. They offer classes for children of all ages and for adults of all levels. This is the part that is most unique. Their adult classes include many different styles and levels, and are offered during the day and, for the most part, in the evening.

Ever tried folk dancing? I can't say that I have, but I'm always up for learning a new type of dance.

The North Texas Traditional Dance Society is hosting Contra Barn Dance at the Carrollton Plaza Arts Center on Saturday night.

If your office is as busy as mine in hopes of working ahead for a few days off over the holidays, and your personal life consists solely of holiday parties and Christmas shopping, you could probably use a break. Some lighthearted entertainment might be just the thing to ease your stress.

The Texas Ballet Theater is performing their third annual rendition of "The Nutty Nutcracker." This show is a parody on the traditional story, and involves celebrity impersonations and comedic pop culture references galore.

"The Nutty Nutcracker" is next Friday, December 23, at Bass Performance Hall, but there is only one performance, and it usually sells out. Tickets are available on the Texas Ballet Theater's website.

Just to be clear this is not "The Nutcracker" you are used to, the Texas Ballet Theater's website describes the show as "a little naughty" and "adults only."

For more of what to expect, check out the photos and a review of the 2009 show.

I got a sneak peek of the Epiphany DanceArts Christmas performance when they invited me to their studio dress rehearsal earlier this week. As I was wondering what to expect, the company's business manager pointed out, "It's not a nutcracker. Sometimes variety is good." With all the Nutcracker performances going on in Dallas this season, that is probably true.

As the curtain opens to "Carol of the Bells," the dancers glide across the stage donning angel-like white dresses with sparkling silver and gold accents. They continue with traditional Christmas songs including "Breath of Heaven" and "What Child is This?" After intermission they turn up the energy with a couple lighter pieces, one even complete with footie pajamas. The choreographer, and one of the dancers in this piece, Sarah Smith, says she joined the company "to choreograph and be able to perform with a group of girls who encourage each other." She found what she was looking for and says she loves, "dancing with girls that have become friends."

I know, I know, you have heard enough about Twilight for one year, but I have just one more. It isn't actually about the movie, but the music.

This Saturday, MoveStudio is holding a Nia class to the music of Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1. Not familiar with Nia? Their website describes the style as blending "an invigorating cardio workout with global dance forms, martial arts, yoga, creative movement and powerful imagery."

As for the Twilight soundtrack...It's full of good music and has received its own praise. It includes the hits "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri, "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars, and songs from Iron & Wine, Cider Sky, and Aqualung & Lucy Schwartz.

The class is this Saturday, Dec. 3, from 10:20 to 11:20 a.m.

Photo by lululemon athletica, flickr.com

I had the best time talking to local adults who had danced in the Nutcracker as kids. I was aware that few kids who dance the Nutcracker go on to become professional dancers (although I do have Carolyn Judson, who is dancing the part of The Sugar Plum Fairy for Texas Ballet Theater in the mix!), but I was impressed by how a love of dance helped Logan Westby learn skills that helped him as a sailor, Bonnie Valant-Spaight become a scientist and Nancy Schaeffer, become a children's theater director (she is currently directing the dazzling Madeline's Christmas for the Dallas Children's Theater).

And then there are the four Su sisters, who all went into medical fields. You can read all about it in my Guide cover story here.

PHOTOS: (top) Carolyn Judson as the Sugar Plum Fairy surrounded by a new, eager crop of kids in the Texas Ballet Theater's The Nutcracker. Carolyn talked about the first time she was in The Nutcracker as Clara at age 12, and her mother curled her hair every night, as her "favorite year of Nutcracker." (bottom) Logan Westby's favorite Nutcracker role for the Collin County Ballet Theatre was as a Russian dancer. He says he's used the skills he's learned in the Navy where he currently serves as a missile technician stationed in a submarine.

Pilobolus is coming to Dallas this weekend! If you aren't as excited as me, you clearly haven't seen them perform. I saw them at the Eisemann Center in Richardson a few years ago and can't wait to see them again.

This modern dance company has amazing talent combined with unparalleled choreography. They perform lifts and leaps you have never seen with music and costumes that are simple (and sometimes barely there) so they don't get in the way of the dancing, just add to it.

It seems the holidays come sooner each year, and this year is no exception. With Halloween barely passed us, signs of Christmas began to pop up everywhere this week. Retail stores changed their candy displays from black and orange to green and red. The ghosts and witches became Santa Claus and snowmen.

I can hear my co-workers making travel plans to see their relatives over our cubicle walls, and even the weather has started to get in a winter mood. I actually started my Christmas shopping this week, which is something I have adamantly postponed until after Thanksgiving in past years.

With all this holiday spirit in the atmosphere, one tradition that can't be missed is the Nutcracker Ballet. Clara and her Nutcracker Prince will be dancing across stages throughout the Metroplex this holiday season, so it will be easy to catch a performance near you.

Area schools to professional companies are dancing this favorite show, so here are some of the many places where you can find it.

Will Rodgers Auditorium
Nov. 18-19
Ballet Frontier of Texas

McFarlin Auditorium
Nov. 18-19
Moscow Ballet

Winspear Opera House
Nov. 25 - Dec. 4
Texas Ballet Theater

Eismann Center
Nov. 26-27
Chamberlain Performing Arts

Lewisville High School Stuver Auditorium
Nov. 26-27
LakeCities Ballet Theatre

Granville Arts Center
Dec. 2-4
Dallas Ballet Company

Garland High School
Dec. 3
Rowlett Dance Academy

Irving Arts Center
Dec. 3-4
Ballet Ensemble of Texas

Bass Performance Hall
Dec. 9-24
Texas Ballet Theater

Highland Park Middle Center
Dec. 10
Preston Center Dance

Irving Arts Center
Dec. 10-11
Colleyville Ballet

The dance at the top of mind of North Texans lately is not one you can find on stage in an auditorium or in a ballet studio. It is actually in a ballpark.

If you've been caught up in Rangers fever lately like me, and who hasn't, you have been entertained by not only the baseball talent, but also Ron Washington's excitement. Pretty much every home run and every great play toward to end of a tight game, mean a show of enthusiasm from the Texas Rangers' manager. It has become such a fan favorite that there is a camera on Washington at all times to catch every entertaining moment.

Melanie, Sasha, Marko and Tadd. Their names filled my living room for three hours a week all summer, and if they did yours, you want to be in Grand Prairie this Saturday. The final four, in addition to the rest of the top 10 "So You Think You Can Dancers" are nearing the end of their national tour, and will stop in Dallas this weekend.

"Celebrate Broadway 2!" will be performed this weekend at the Eisemann Center in Richardson. The show, performed by Chamberlain Performing Arts is a mix of Broadway musical numbers complete with ballet and jazz dance.

A couple of the numbers you can expect to see include pieces from "Moving Out," "The Lion King" and "Liza with a Z."

"West Side Story" was originally choreographed and directed by Jerome Robbins as a modern take on the story of "Romeo and Juliet." Of course "modern" means something different over 50 years later. The story, set in the 1950s, follows two rival New York City gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, and the two young lovers from opposite sides.

Upon hearing my plans to see the show Tuesday night, two guys I would not have expected it from, my friend's husband, and my boss, each broke into, "When you're a Jet, You're a Jet all the way..." that they still had memorized from their days as Jets in high school productions of "West Side Story."

OK, sometimes award ceremonies can be daunting, but if you don't plan to actually attend this one, at least get the Cliffsnotes here before you move on with your day. Let's face it, the honorees have worked (and danced) hard to be there, and have all had amazing experiences along the way.

"Hair," not to be confused with "Hairspray," is in short, a musical about the hippie culture of the '60s.

First performed over 40 years ago, and now fresh off a revival on Broadway, it contains all your typical 1960s stereotypes of drugs, sex, anti-war and protesting.

When it began, "Hair" was not a typical musical of the '60s, and made a statement being a far cry from shows like "Hello Dolly" and "Fiddler on the Roof" out at the time. Everything from the rock music, to the controversial social issues, to the cast, was nontraditional. The director didn't want classically trained dancers, but rather raw talent. All of this did not sit well with some audience members at the time and the theater actually dealt with a few bomb scares. Find out more about the turbulent origin of the show on the tour website.

This weekend is Octoberfest in Addison, a favorite of the city's many festivals, and it's not just due to the beer drinking that goes along with the traditional German affair, because even USA Today rated the event in the top 10 Octoberfests in America.

There is also a dachshund parade and a German Spelling Bee, as well as entertainment on three stages, so if you are headed there this weekend, take some time between glasses of St Pauli Girl to watch a performance.

The Alpine Dancers will take the stage several times throughout the weekend. This group consists of children and adults who perform traditional German folk dancing around the area.

Texanischer Schuhplattler Verien will perform the "Woodcutter Dance" which incorporates chopping wood into a traditional Bavarian folk dance.

STV Almrausch says they dance "hearty Schuhplattlers (shoe-slapping dances), intricate Ländlers (figure dances), and a variety of specialty dances."

And if you still haven't had enough folk dancing, Plano Senior High School German Folk Dancers and the state champion RL Turner German Folk Dance Team will be entertaining the strudel-eating crowd as well.

For more information about the festival and a full stage schedule, visit the Octoberfest website.

Since this is my first post, I am supposed to introduce myself. So...I'm Emilie and I will be writing about all things dance. Dance and writing are two of my favorite things, so it is a pretty natural fit. I also write about Dallas weddings and have a Dallas Bucket List column, but am excited to now write about dance in Dallas.

I love dance whether I'm taking dance classes, performing on stage, just dancing for fun, or watching from the audience. Each summer I devote three hours a week to "So You Think You Can Dance," and "Center Stage" is one of my favorite movies. It inspires me to put on my pointe shoes every time. "Black Swan" and even "The Adjustment Bureau" were on my must-see list only because of the dancing.

As for Dallas, there are diverse and entertaining dance companies all over the Metroplex. Anyone who can't find performing arts in Dallas just isn't looking hard enough. It will be easy to find now though, because that is what I'm here to change. I will let you in on local performances, national touring companies coming to the area, unique classes, and other dance happenings around the city.

UPDATE
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José Cobles triggered a kinetic dancing frenzy Saturday night at the LCC's full house of fans. The "Roots of Bachata" concert featured the 87-year-old Cobles, who also goes by the nickname of "Puerto Plata." The show was part historical homage to an enduring, guitar-based art form.

Cobles' rendition of the famous Cuban ballad Guantanamera was a clear favorite and pulsated with steel guitarists and percussionists playing so tightly it seemed like one musical breath. The first band included Joan Soriano, who then led the second set of bachata and merengue melodies full of playful metaphor and plain pain.

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Looking for the next Buena Vista Social Club, the Cuban musicians whose rhythms vibrated globally in the late '90s thanks to promoter Ry Cooder?

Might check out the Latino Cultural Center this Saturday.

That's when Joan Soriano and Jose Cobles ("Puerto Plata") take to the stage at the cinnamon-hued art center. These musicians come from the Dominican Republican with a sound well-known to Afro-Latin dance maniacs and novices looking to glide to a less complicated Caribbean beat.

This is guitar-based bachata music with some bolero and meringue mixes. It comes from the poorer barrios of that island-nation. And Soriano's early music education reflected the financial poverty of his family. He strung a tin can with fishing wire and out flowed melodies of melancholy from a molasses-seeped voice.

As nimbly as the rabbits in the rabbit petting zoo planned for their Chinese New Year celebration, the Crow Collection of Asian Art is moving its free family festival from this Saturday to Saturday, Feb. 12. The popular event will still include family-fun art activities, face painting, storytelling, complimentary candy, tea sampling, yoga inspired by the animals of the Chinese Zodiac and a lion dance all honoring the Year of the Rabbit.

Look for it Saturday, Feb. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Crow Collection of Asian Art, 2010 Flora St., Dallas. 214-979-6430 or click here for more information.

PHOTO: A lion dance at a previous edition of a Chinese new year's celebration at Crow Collection of Asian Art.

Did you see all those hearts floating above the Sammons Center for the Arts this afternoon? That was the outpouring of love at a Dance Council of North Texas reception honoring Margaret Putnam's 30 years as a dance critic and tireless supporter of dance in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She was the longtime dance critic for The Dallas Morning News, and the Dallas Times-Herald, and is now writing for www.theaterjones.com. The cream of the dance- and musical theater-community crop turned out to fete Putnam -- TITAS co-founder Tom Adams served as master of ceremonies, and moving tributes were given by Texas Ballet Theater artistic director Ben Stevenson, Dallas Summer Musicals president and managing director Michael A. Jenkins, dancer-choreographer Bruce Wood and TITAS executive director Charles Santos, among others.

About 150 people toasted Putnam (who wore a bright purple wig). She has suffered major health problems in the last 10 years but is still writing, dancing, painting, drawing and working on ceramics. Tom Adams kicked off the two-hour soiree with a hilarious anecdote about coming up with a title for it: "We had a picture of her as Odette [in Swan Lake]. So, 'Odessa to Odette!' Perfect!" Putnam would have none of it: "I'm not from Odessa! I'm from Midland!" Adams: "It's Russian." Putnam: "I know that. But I'm from Midland!" So much for Odessa; the Dance Council finally settled on "Celebrate Thirty!" as the title.

Putnam was praised for her intelligence, curiosity, passion, sensitivity, honesty, humor and quiet -- but never timid -- sense of propriety. Woods described Putnam's writing: "We [dancers and choreographers] try to create an experience on stage. Her gift is that she's able to re-create that experience with words instead of steps on the page. ... We are eternally grateful."

Jenkins summed up his feelings, and those of the people in the room, with a quote from the musical Wicked: "Because we know you, we have been made better." The tributes were interspersed with lovely, short pieces by dancers from Texas Ballet Theater, Dallas Black Dance Theater, the Indian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Bruce Wood Dance Project and Delilahmuse.

Putnam closed the fest with typical brevity and wit. "I hate writing," she admitted. "It's such a chore, and you have to think." Reading from a piece in which she described being so moved by a performance that she began to cry ... she began to cry. Putnam cut short her remarks and invited the audience to imagine "what I might have said," before sitting down amid a prolonged standing ovation. But her critical side couldn't stay quiet: Springing up, she added a brief review: "Oh! And the dancing today was wonderful!"

PHOTO by Joy Tipping. Margaret Putnam (at left) is toasted by her fans.

From freelancer Manny Mendoza:

As its second season kicks off this weekend with a new work by noted Fort Worth choreographer Bruce Wood, Texas Dance Theatre is struggling to raise the money it needs to cover costs, artistic director Wil McKnight says.

As a result, the fledgling contemporary ballet company has been forced to cancel three of four scheduled performances. The season was supposed to open last Friday and Saturday at the Eisemann Center in Richardson, followed by shows this Friday and Saturday at the Scott Theatre in Fort Worth.

Now, Texas Dance Theatre will perform the opener one night only on Saturday at the Scott. "I'm counting pennies," McKnight says. "We're still new. We need more exposure."

Congratulations to Fort Worth dancer Regan Strand, who won the local MTV dance contest, celebrating the movie Burlesque, at Studio 22 dance studio in Dallas. The local winners go on to an online contest. Click here for more on the contest.

Think you have what it takes to be the next big thing? How about winning $5,000 and a spot on MTV? Screen Gems, MTV, 106.1 Kiss FM, and Studio 22 are celebrating the opening of the new movie, Burlesque (out Nov. 24), to find the best dancer in the nation. The contest will be held Sunday, Oct. 24 at Studio 22, 14902 Preston Road, Dallas, TX 75254.

The Dallas winner will be given $300 and 10 VIP tickets to an advance screening of the film.

-Check-in begins at 2:00 and the Contest begins at 3:00
-Only individuals can compete and they must be between 13-30. Amateurs only, please.
-Dance must be family-friendly!
-The one-minute music can be found at http://burlesque.mtv.com
-Pre-registration is encouraged and can be expedited by emailing DanceContest@moroch.com
-Local winner will be awarded $300 and the video of their performance goes on the MTV website and competes against 19 others to win the national $5000 prize.

One year ago today Dallas' grand AT&T Performing Arts Center opened its doors to begin sharing theater, opera, Broadway, dance and music experiences with us.

It started last October with gala talks from stars Bruce Willis and Kristin Chenoweth. The inaugural 2009-2010 Lexus Broadway Series brought South Pacific, August: Osage County, Spring Awakening and Avenue Q to the Winspear Opera House. The Dallas Theater Center brought A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Christmas Carol, Give It Up!, The Beauty Plays, Death of a Salesman, and It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman to the Wyly Theatre. The Dallas Opera brought Otello, Così fan tutte, Don Pasquale, Madame Butterfly and the world premiere of Moby-Dick.

And those are just the big ones. There have been countless more events at the Center since, including Brinker International Forums featuring guests like Sir David Frost and Frank Langella, weekly Patio Sessions of live music, Blue Man Group, and more.

So, just as our critics have taken a moment to reflect on how the Center's been holding up over past year, let's share our experiences too.

Use the comments section below to talk about what you've seen at the Center, and continuing reading for a recap of my experiences there too.

The center has announced the 2010-11 seasons of TITAS, Jazz Roots and the Brinker International Forum. Highlights include a one-man show by Al Pacino, a concert by Diane Reeves and dance from Momix.

Complete details follow. See the story in GuideSunday.

The very fine Meadows Symphony Orchestra has been featured in annual gala concerts benefitting SMU's Meadows School of the Arts scholarship funds. But for Saturday night's installment, the orchestra was in the Winspear Opera House pit, accompanying the Meadows Dance Ensemble.

That was a first for the dancers, who left very strong impressions. It was also, as Meadows dean Jose Antonio Bowen, the first full evening of dance in the Winspear to be accompanied by a full, live orchestra. (Texas Ballet Theater, in precarious financial condition, is using recordings these days.) Bowen also said the event had raised a record-setting $375,000.

Sadly, Meadows Symphony music director Paul Phillips wasn't there to conduct. Having fallen at home earlier in the week, he had suffered two broken vertebrae and will need to have his head immobilized for a while. Second-year grad student Gregory Grabowski filled in ably, although the push-me-pull-me parts of Ravel's "La valse" weren't always quite together. And, maybe because he and the musicians were unfamiliar with the acoustic, fortissimos sounded overblown. (Dallas Opera Orchestra musicians have complained they can't hear themselves or one another in the Winspear pit.)

I won't pretend to write a dance review, but, seeing the Meadows dancers for the first time, I was impressed. They did quite a creditable job with Balanchine's "Serenade." And "An American in Paris," choreographed by faculty member Danny Buraczeski, struck me as a smart melange/updating of Agnes de Mille and a little bit of Alvin Ailey. Pascal Rioult's "Wien," on the other hand, seemed an arbitrarily brutalist interpretation of Ravel's original balletic concept for "La valse." But it was sharply done.

Paul Phillips, music director of Southern Methodist University's superb Meadows Symphony Orchestra, fell at his home Tuesday and fractured vertebrae in his neck. I'm told he'll have to wear one of those screw-on "cages" to stabilize his head and neck until the fractures mend, and he won't be conducting for a while.

He was supposed to conduct Saturday's Meadows School gala at the Winspear Opera House, but his graduate student, Gregory Grabowski, will fill in. No word yet on how SMU will fill his job in the meantime.

Paul, who recently made a distinguished debut as guest conductor of the Dallas Symphony, is a real jewel on the local music scene, and a gentleman of the old school. Let's all wish him a speedy recovery.

Dani Stinger is one of the student dancers performing Wien at an SMU Meadows School of the Arts gala Saturday at Winspear Opera House. Via email, special contributor Manny Mendoza asked Stinger for her impressions of the piece, which deals with the rise of Nazis and their effect on Viennese society. Joyce Herring, associate artistic director of Rioult, a New York dance company whose artistic director, Pascal Rioult, created Wien, came to SMU for two weeks to teach it to Stinger and the other students. (Look for Mendoza's preview of the gala in Saturday's GuideDaily section.) Here's what Stinger had to say:

As if Romeo and Juliet weren't romantic enough, Texas Ballet Theater rendered it even more so with the announcement Friday night that the evening's lead dancers, the sublimely gifted Carl Coomer, from England, and Leticia Oliveira, from Brazil, had become engaged that afternoon. This brought a cooing "awwwwww" from the audience at the Winspear, and probably helped earn the duo a standing ovation -- although it was surely deserved, based on the prowess of their dancing and acting alone.

Ben Stevenson's lush production, which played at Bass Hall in February, could almost have been made for the Winspear. The gorgeous Renaissance sets and costumes by David Walker (lent by the Houston Ballet), fit splendidly into the magnificence of the Winspear, with the balconies of Verona seeming to blend right into the brushed-gold balconies of the opera house.

There's been a lot of controversy about the use of recorded music this season, but Prokofiev's glorious, emotionally draining score sounded pretty terrific Friday night, prerecorded or no. The entire cast, led by the superb Coomer and Oliveira, brought both technical precision and unusually potent acting to their roles. Oliveira's Act 3 breakdown after Romeo's departure was particularly moving. Lucas Priolo, as Mercutio and Peter Zweifel, as Tybalt, also had standout moments.

And despite the tale's mostly somber tone, there was also quite a bit of welcome humor. Company members portraying a silly troupe of traveling performers in Act 2 especially seemed to enchant the younger members of the audience (and the young at heart; a gray-haired couple sitting near me could barely contain their joyful giggles).

This is a production you don't want to miss. There's a matinee at 2 p.m. today, with Lisa Kaczmarek and Zweifel in the lead roles, one at 8 p.m. tonight with Carolyn Judson and Eddy Tovar, and a final performance at 2 p.m. Sunday with Judson and Priolo. For tickets, call the AT&T Performing Arts Center at 214-880-0202 or visit the Web site at www.attpac.org.
PHOTO by Rodger Mallison/Special Contributor

At Saturday night's gala for Lyric Stage, Broadway legend Tommy Tune started off one song, "I'm old-fashioned ..." And that pretty much sums it up: The 6-foot-6-inch Wichita Falls native, who wore bright red cowboy boots with taps, is "classic showman" personified. Accompanied by the six-member Manhattan Rhythm Kings, Tune sang, danced and reminisced through 90 minutes of pure magic at the Irving Arts Center's beautiful Carpenter Performance Hall. He calls the show "Steps in Time," and started off giving a tutorial to the audience in the elements of single, double and triple time-steps, the "square root of all American classic tap." He made it look so simple, I'm sure we all thought we could just jump up there and join right in.

But that's Tune's gift -- he makes everything look suave, sophisticated and easy-as-pie, gliding through the most intricate steps with otherworldly grace and that mile-wide grin (it's hard to watch his feet sometimes, because that smile is so enchanting). He took the audience through a whirlwind tour of his life, from his 1965 Broadway debut as a chorus boy (when asked how tall he was at the audition, he told them, "5-foot-17-and-three-quarters," because guys his size normally didn't get chorus roles). Since moving from the chorus into the spotlight, he has won nine Tony awards for acting, choreography and direction.

Saturday night's show included anecdotes about Broadway's greatest, from Carol Channing to Charles "Honi" Coles to Kitty Carlisle Hart to Barbra Streisand, but the most amazing thing was adding up the years as he talked. OK, he started on Broadway in the mid-1960s. He just said he was a senior in high school in 1957. That means he was born in ... 1939???? Is that possible? He's 70? Somewhere in an attic, a portrait of Tommy Tune is growing old. The man himself? He hasn't even begun that journey.

PHOTO by Joy Tipping: Tommy Tune, second from left, with members of the Manhattan Rhythm Kings

WaterTower Theatre has dictated my schedule (and that of all alternative-theater happy Dallas folks) for the first half of March by announcing the line-up of its 2010 Out of the Loop Festival. The roster isn't quite complete (no news of what show WTT itself is producing this time around, for instance). But it's a full, full list anyhow.

You can see the whole press release past the break.

The musicians protesting Texas Ballet Theater's use of recorded music for "Nutcracker" have a great--if unwitting--ally in whoever put together the actual playback system at the Winspear Opera House. The sound Thursday night ranged from passable to awful.

And there was a really embarrassing couple of minutes when the "Arabian" dancers came onstage, but the speakers seemed to be emitting a mix of "Arabian" and "Chinese." The dancers gamely kept dancing until whoever was running the playback got the right music on. Talk about small-town...

About the sound, now. In the Overture, there was no bass. After that, there was too much: orchestral double basses were pumped up to levels like those "boom cars" that rattle our windows at stoplights. Violins sounded like choruses of dentists' drills, oboes like saxophones. Horns actually sounded OK. And pretty much everything was too loud and echoey. My home stereo system sounds a LOT better than this, and so does yours.

The sound seemed to come from big speakers hidden at the sides of the proscenium. But either there were other speakers elsewhere in the hall, or the hall was doing its acoustical thing really well in spreading the sound around.

But the sound was not nice. Bring back the orchestra.

TBT is trying to bring itself back from financial disaster, and one wishes the company nothing but well. But for this holiday "hit," the Winspear looked maybe 1/3 full Thursday. That's probably a slow night, but still...

They're calling this the "farewell tour" of the dance phenomenon Riverdance, and while I'm usually skeptical of such claims (how many of those has Cher had? Garth Brooks?), the guy at the merchandise stand at Bass Hall on Tuesday night assured me it's true. If that's the case, and even if it's not, this tour is definitely worth the trip to Fort Worth, even in slushy weather. The weather actually seems appropriate, given all the Celtic mist, lighting and thunder that comprise the show's special effects.

I admit to somehow having missed Riverdance in its previous incarnations; I had an image of a straight line of dancers doing that no-arm-movements, flying-feet Irish dancing, and that was about it. But the show is much more than Irish step dancing, although there's plenty of that. It also seamlessly weaves in dances as diverse as the "Russian Dervish" and the Spanish flamenco, along with dazzling musicianship from the five-piece band (fiddler Patrick Mangan and drummer-percussionist-bodhran player Mark Alfred deserve a show all their own).

Want to get your kids excited about dance? Want to get yourself excited about dance? Cancel whatever you had planned for tonight and head to the Majestic Theatre for the 8 p.m. performance of Tap Dogs, the utterly astonishing tap show created by choreographer Dein Perry.

This show has no plot, no costumes (unless you count plaid shirts, jeans and raggy shorts), no dialogue, absolutely no jazz hands -- this is macho tap. It's just six unbelievably talented guys, on a construction-site set, tapping and tapping and tapping till you're exhausted just watching them. It has moments of humor, but mostly it's just sheer exhilaration at the sight of these guys doing things with their feet that mere mortals wouldn't dare attempt. They dance on tilted platforms (including one that splits underneath as they're dancing), on stairs, on water -- one guy even dances upside down. They dance with buckets and flashlights and spark-shooting welding tools.

You'll leave ready to hear the rhythm in just about anything -- as I'm typing this, I'm imagining what those guys could do with a giant keyboard. Really, just go. Tickets cost $20-$49. Ticketmaster.

The advantage of the Winspear Opera House's horseshoe shape is that it brings so many seats relatively close to the stage. But people who've gotten seats toward the front of the side balconies are complaining about partial views of the stage. The problem is worst on the top two levels; in the worst seats you can only see about 1/4 of the stage. The sound, for both voices and orchestra, is great up there, but you won't have much sense of what's happening dramatically.

"Those seats are very flawed," says Susan Chizeck, who was in the next-to-top side balcony for Sunday's "Otello." "And I heard from several other people who wen't happy. Everybody on our row got up and left at the first intermission."

The Dallas Opera has had "fewer than 40 complaints" about sightlines and supertitle visibility in those seats, says PR rep Suzanne Calvin. Adds marketing director Jennifer Schuder: "To my knowledge right now, we've been able to accomodate everybody who has requested a change."

Those are definitely cheap seats: five-opera subscriptions for as little as $75. But, unlike some other opera companies, the Dallas Opera so far has no warning on its ticket-purchase web site that these are partial-view seats. (And the seats are bolted to the floor, so you can't scoot 'em closer to the rail.)

"We're looking at that," Schuder says. "I think we need to get through 'Otello' and look at all the data. We may not offer those as subscription seats, just for single-ticket sales. They're already value-priced."

Have you had a bad experience with sightlines at the Winspear?

Someone just asked me if it is a coincidence that the City gets these big beautiful arts buildings at the same time that City budget cuts reduced arts funding. The Bath House Cultural Center budget was reduced by about 50%, for example. Is this irony or what?

If I could only go to a few arts events per year I would rather go to the now endangered Bath House at White Rock Lake. It still has a neighborhood feel. Great shows. A lot of independent theaters work there, along with dance and music programs, art shows, workshops, camps. It's a place for us. Locals. People with some money but not alot of money to spend on the arts. People who like to look at a lake during intermission. People who like to find small arts organizations to support with their loyal attendance and some funding.

Thirty years ago the Bath House opened as the first cultural center in the City of Dallas. No, it didn't cost 300 million dollars to refurbish and it only seats about 100 people, but it's our heart, our home and it has a great history. It has a legacy.

If you are receiving donation requests in the mail for the Bath House- please, please, please throw them a life line. They need it. Dallas needs it.

Could be we need the Bath House as much as we need the Arts Center.

One of our designers was underwhelmed by the audience at the Scene 2 gala Thursday night:

"A high-class opera house deserves a high-class audience, and sadly Dallas is in need of a little...class. The nearly (merely) two-hour grand opening of the AT&T Performing Arts Center last night was spectacular, except for the steady hum of whispers, cell phones being used as flash lights and regular ups-and-downs during performances. And then there was the anxious applause that started too soon and the sadly overheard "man, this is long" comment. Seems like we might need to dust off and crack open our Miss Manners guide to poised and perfect audience behavior."

One problem at the new Winspear Opera House is inherent in the shape of the room -- wider from side to side, but shallower, than, say, the more typically shaped Bass Hall. That makes the room feel remarkably intimate, especially to the people in the center boxes and balconies. But the angles are going to be pretty bad for viewers (though not listeners) on the extreme sides of the orchestra level and the side boxes and balconies. I was on the extreme outer edge of the orchestra last night, and crucial moments in the pas de deux by New York City Ballet star Wendy Whelan and her substitute partner, Damian Smith, I had to take on faith. They were in upstage corners of the performing area, and they were simply invisible from where I sat.

This probably won't be much of a problem for operagoers. They are more focused on hearing than seeing, and canny directors generally don't put crucial scenes on those parts of the stage anyhow -- too risky for sound as well as sight. But for dance events and the touring musical theater shows that will be playing the Winspear, it could be quite frustrating.

At the Vienna Staatsoper many years ago, I bought side balcony seats at the last minute for a Gotterdammerung with an all-star cast headlined by Birgit Nilsson and Christa Ludwig. We were almost directly above the orchestra, and that massive sound from the Vienna Philharmonic was what the Winspear pit sound reminded me of on Thursday. But those were advertised as partial-view seats. For opera, it made a glorious memory. But on that same trip I was in seats at a German opera house that cut off too much from the ballet stage, and I remember not being at all happy.

My colleague Scott Cantrell had a early deadline and had to miss some of Scene 2, the second of three gala performances opening the new ATTPAC, last night. And anyhow, we were strictly forbidden from "reviewing" the performances, for no apparent reason. But surely no one can object when I say that last night's program at the Winspear Opera House was marvelously designed...and the final two three numbers were extraordinary. Christopher Wheeldon (whom many of the top dance critics call today's heir to the legacy of Balanchine and Robbins) created a large-ish work especially for the occasion, Tales of Offenbach. Let me cheat a little by saying that the piece's charm and bust-a-gut humor would make it a hit in the repertoire of any dance company in the world. The audience went wild for it.

The last number the two opera soloists, Thomas Hampson and Denyce Graves, performed -- the duet from Verdi's Macbeth in which the title couple murder the offstage king -- was hair-raising. International stage director Tim Albery helped the two stars act the piece to the hilt, and it was their best singing all night. Then the Dallas Opera chorus and orchestra wound up with choruses from the last act of Wagner's Die Meistersinger. Thrilling. When WILL we get to hear this masterwork in Dallas?

Bravi tutti!

I finally got to see the Winspear Opera House's much ballyhooed chandelier and stage curtain Thursday night.

Designed by the building's architects, Foster + Partners, the chandelier is a set of more than 300 slender lighted tubes suspended in an inverted cone pattern. But as performance time approaches--in a witty response to the retreating chandeliers at New York's Metropolitan Opera House--the tubes retract into the ceiling, leaving just stars of light. It's airy and downright magical.

ATTPAC commissioned artist Guillermo Kuitca to decorate the stage curtain. In red and gold squiggles, it's another of his abstractions from seating designs of opera houses and concert halls, and it's striking. But, as with the Winspear's interior walls, it would be more attractive if the base color were anything but brown. Yuk.

The architects were certainly right to want a dark color in the room, so as to concentrate attentions on the stage. But anything but brown would have been less dreary.

For all the nice words about making the AT&T Performing Arts Center open and accessible, the City of Dallas worked pretty hard Thursday night to make it as impenetrable as Fort Knox.

I'd planned to have dinner at One Arts Plaza down the street, then walk the one block to the Winspear Opera House. But, no, the city had that block blocked off; you couldn't get there from here, or vice versa. A security guy said it was because the street improvements weren't finished, but the street looked far better than most downtown. So what should have been a one-block walk turned into a senseless three-block walk.

Dumb! And annoying as heck.

I really like architect Spencer de Grey's insistence that both people coming off the street and those coming up from the underground parking garage enter the Winspear Opera House TOGETHER. And, at least in clement weather, the porte cochere out front seems to work nicely enough.

But ALL that audience--all 2,200 people for a full house--gets threaded through only TWO doors. That doesn't make much sense, and it made for longish lines at the Thursday night opening gala. And it could be downright dangerous in the event (heaven forbid) of a fire.

Here are some addenda from Danielle Georgiou about the Texas Ballet Theater concert reviewed here.

Texas Ballet Theater's
restaging of George Balanchine's Serenade (right) left me entranced by the graceful quality of the dancers, but they missed a few details vital to Balanchine's technique. In his style, precision and an honesty of emotion is key. At times, the piece felt under-rehearsed: The allegro quality of the pointe-work dragged, the synchronicity was off, and subtleness of the slightly gestures was overperformed. The gesturing hand motif introduced at the beginning is supposed to be rather flat, but some of the dancers slipped into this loose, wiggling gesture changing the motif entirely. We were not left wondering if the dancers are gesturing a "hello" to someone or shielding their eyes from something. For Balanchine, it is all in the details. Nevertheless, the seductive quality of the movement was chilling, and it was overall a powerful performance.

Bruce Wood has been missed since he folded his eponymous Fort Worth dance company in 2006. Now, the world-class choreographer is back with his first new piece in three years and with plans to start a new company in Dallas.

Manny Mendoza caught up with Wood for a story about Texas Dance Theatre. TDT will premiere Wood's A Prayer for Mary Catherine at Scott Theatre on Friday. He and TDT artistic director Wil McKnight met at the Sundance Square boot store where Wood works.

"He said he was a choreographer and was trying to start a dance company," Wood says. "The girl who he was with told him that I had had a dance company. I said we should talk, and that maybe I could give him some advice as to avoid making the same mistakes I had made. So we met some time later and it turned out that our professional backgrounds were similar, so it was easy to talk to him."

Texas Ballet Theater announced this afternoon at the Trammell Crow Center that it has raised $2.4 million and will be out of debt for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

But no live music for the season that begins Oct. 2 in Fort Worth's Bass Performance Hall with "The Russian Masters." Debut at the Winspear Opera House of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts comes Nov. 27 with The Nutcracker. Also at the Winspear will be Romeo and Juliet (March 12-14) and The Sleeping Beauty (June 11-13).

Manny Mendoza writes in today's GuideDaily about Alonso King's Lines Ballet, which TITAS presents today and Saturday at SMU's McFarlin Auditorium. Here a video of the troupe's work.

Texas Ballet Theater announced Thursday its plans to present The Fly Ball, which it's calling "the largest single fundraising event of the year." It's booked for Saturday, April 18, at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel. In past years, ballet officials said, The Fly Ball was hosted by Phazar Aerocorp at Meacham International Airport, with guests flying in "from far-away locations." The ballet company says this year's event will be "the first major event" since the grand opening of the Omni Fort Worth Hotel, where the theme will be French in nature: "La Vie En Rose." Honorary chair is recording artist Lyle Lovett. The Fly Ball begins at 7:30 p.m. on April 18 with cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and a silent auction featuring more than 75 items, including jewelry, gift packages and other items. The live auction features big ticket items including a Chanel J12 watch, a replica Louis Vuitton trunk, a fabulous Italian dinner catered by Chef Alessio Franceschetti, and a trip to Rancho La Puerta spa in California. The evening's entertainment, according to Texas Ballet Theater, will be "highlighted by sleight-of-hand magicians, mimes and casino-style gambling with all proceeds benefiting the ballet. Guests are also invited to dance to the music of 'The Wonders' and 'Johnny Reno and the Lounge Kings.' " Individual tickets are priced at $350 per person. Priority underwriting table sponsorships range from $5,000 to $100,000. Info: Call 817-763-0207, ext. 107, or visit this Web site.

Photo: A scene from Texas Ballet Theater's recent performance of Cleopatra

The Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs is developing a new master plan for the future of the Kalita Humphreys Theater, home of the Dallas Theater Center for the last 50 years. A team of a dozen distinguished consultants has been studying the history of the building (designed by none other than Frank Lloyd Wright, arguably the most famous architect in history). Now they're seeking input from arts groups and the public at large. I went to the Tuesday meeting at the South Dallas Cultural Center. There's another, open to everybody, at the Latino Cultural Center at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

With the DTC moving to the Wyly Theatre in the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, the fate of the historical building is up in the air. The city wants to exploit (in a good way) the historical and aesthetic heritage -- without turning it into a mere museum. Theatre Three's Jac Alder spoke out eloquently at the Tuesday meeting for the need to have the needs of potential arts users uppermost in mind. Architect Ann Abernathy of Booziotis & Company, the architects who are the primary consultants, clearly wants to make sure Wright's intentions are to the fore. It's an interesting balance to be worked up.

The one thing I spoke up about was my own ambivalence about the new lobby space and south entrance added about 20 years ago. It's handsome in its own way and much improves the building's comfort and usability. But every time I enter the door, I'm struck by how un-Frank Lloyd Wright the addition is. (Wright loved narrow, cramped spaces like the original lobby.) I'm glad the decision about how to resolve that issue isn't in my hands: I have no idea what I'd do.

Attention, dance-lovers on a budget: You can check out Paul Taylor Dance Company rehearsing on Saturday for free. The rehearsal's at 3:15 p.m. at Eisemann Center in Richardson.

The performance is at 8 p.m. on Saturday. The inventive company, which took the No. 2 spot on The Dallas Morning News' list of top dance events in 2007, was founded in 1954.

The Fort Worth Symphony has been hired to provide live music for three Metropolitan Classical Ballet productions next season--the fall and spring programs as well as the annual "Nutcracker." The contract with the Arlington-based company is for approximately $85,000.

Another ballet company, the financially troubled Texas Ballet Theater, recently pulled out of a $350,000 contract with the FWSO.

A former dancer with Texas Ballet Theater, Margo McCann has been named managing director of the company, the chairwoman of its board of directors announced Thursday.
The board's executive committee voted unanimously to select McCann, whom it credited for helping execute "a number of new initiatives" for a company that has suffered financial struggles in recent months.
"Margo's background as a principal dancer and her experience in all aspects of production, company management, marketing, accounting and development make her the best choice for managing director for Texas Ballet Theater," Board Chairwoman Suzanne Charriere said in a statement. "She has exceeded the board's expectations as interim managing director over the past six months, and we are proud to affirm her appointment as one of the key directors to lead the ballet into a new and exciting chapter of our history." (Please click below to read on.)

Photo: Margo McCann

Media types had a chance to meet new Dallas Center for the Performing Art pres/CEO Mark Nerenhausen Monday. Nerenhausen took over last week, after 11 years running the Brouward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Nerenhausen is a man of no few words. Did any single question elicit an answer less than five minutes long? As he admitted, being on the job only a week didn't prepare him for much in the way of specific answers. But that didn't stop him from philosophizing at length on things like "making the arts available." Prize statement: "Our job is to create desireable outcomes."

He did acknowledge that most new performing arts centers have run up deficits in their first years, but he said that's no different from startup businesses. He said there's a "three- to four-year cycle before a PAC really hits its stride."

He also said there are only about 30 performing arts complexes in the country, as opposed to one-off theaters, and only about 12 in the DCPA's league.

An irreverent list from LA Times art critic Christopher Knight:

The culture industry is cosmopolitan, so flag-waving options are few.
The culture industry is pluralistic, but Congress is only marginally so.
As corporations, arts institutions are nonprofit, so there's no money to be made via lobbyists.
Culture is girlie, not manly.
The arts often look at sexual experience -- eek!

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Jeremy Piven says his decision to abruptly leave the Broadway revival of "Speed-the-Plow" in mid-run because of mercury poisoning was "a completely humbling experience."

Speaking publicly Sunday for the first time about the incident, Piven told former football star Tiki Barber during NBC's Golden Globes red-carpet show: "I don't know if they've ever taken you out of a game or if you've had to kind of stop a season short, but that's basically what the doctors did to me. I could have gone against doctors orders. I didn't. I'm just grateful to be here to be honest with you."

Piven departed the critically praised production of David Mamet's comedy in December, less than two months after the show opened in New York.

The New York Times Sunday Travel section listed Dallas at No. 17 in its "44 Places to Go in 2009" story. The reason: the Dallas Arts District, with the Winspear Opera House and Wyly Theatre set to open in October. Dallas rated behind Vienna, the Galapagos and Hawaii, but ahead of Rome, the Florida Keys, Stockholm and Buffalo.

Funny: This major development wasn't noticed in a certain local newspaper's story on major local developments coming up in 2009.

For anyone who really loves the dance aspects of Dancing With the Stars, moreso than the celebrity factor (who'll be next season's Cloris Leachman??), the live tour is actually a lot more fun than the show. The version that came to American Airlines Center on Sunday night showcased the show's professionals more than the stars -- Toni Braxton, Maurice Green, Lance Bass, Marlee Matlin and Cody Linley -- and rightly so. The choreography, by dancer Maxsim Chmerkovskiy, was more complex and exciting than that usually seen on the show, probably because for the most part it wasn't an experienced dancer working with amateur celebrities, but two or more pros at the top of their game.

The show had a couple of surprise appearances -- Mark Ballas, who was injured a little more than a week ago and had said he expected to be out of the tour for a couple of weeks, showed up seeming completely healed. And Lewisville native Cody Linley, co-star of Hannah Montana, also showed up unannounced. Mark and fellow dancer Derek Hough were slated to appear at House of Blues with their band immediately after the AAC show.

If I were a judge -- well, maybe not that one in the middle who's always grumpy -- I'd give the DWTS tour a solid 8 -- with 10s all around for Maxsim and his partner, Karina Smirnoff. When they're onstage, everyone else pretty much disappears. Of the "star" stars, Lance Bass and Maurice Green ably proved why they were fan favorites during Season Seven, making it look almost easy.

Look for a full review online Monday afternoon at guidelive.com.

I just had an email in my box that Clive Barnes has died -- still a working dance and theater critic at 81. Clive added the New York Times theater beat to the dance-critic job he already had back in 1967, and he was the voice of the Times during the years I lived in and around New York. He was a very good, if not infallible, dance critic. In retrospect, though, he was not a good influence on us East Coast theatergoers during those years. He lured us into some real duds (one was called After the Rain, as I recall). And he discouraged me from seeing the original productions of Sondheim's Company and Follies, which he panned -- and which I have bitterly regretted ever since.

After the Times ousted him, he went over to the New York Post, where his writing became increasingly garrulous and his opinions little heeded. They pushed him down to second chair a few years ago -- but he bounced back when the lead critic fell ill. I've seen him frequently at critics' previews over the last decade, a strange reminder of my remote youth.

I wonder what will happen to that job now. Many newspapers around the company are doing without theater critics...but they can't do that in NEW YORK, can they...?

Texas Ballet Theater has had a lot of drama going on lately that has little to do with the stage. That's why dance critic Margaret Putnam thinks its performance Friday night was especially electrifying and ironic. Check out the review here; it also contains links to our coverage of the company's recent financial woes and comeback.

(Photo by G.J. McCarthy / DMN: Leticia Oliveira and Andre Silva perform during the Diana and Acteon segment at dress rehearsal on Thursday.)

Earlier this afternoon I interviewed Grover Dale, an original Broadway cast member of West Side Story who is in Iriving to direct that show for Lyric Stage. He has an amazing history (he was Anthony Perkins' domestic partner and Anita Morris' husband -- their son is actor James Badge Dale). Also an amazing resume -- to quote from his dance eduction webiste, www.answers4dancers.com:

It never would have occurred to him that he would be cast in the original company of West Side Story, be discovered by Noel Coward in Paris, be praised by Judy Garland in London, be fired by Agnes de Mille in New York, beat out Dustin Hoffman for an acting role on a daytime soap, swim with Esther Williams on CBS' first color broadcast, teach Barbra Streisand the "lindy" for "The Way We Were," splatter a rotten tomato on Debbie Reynold's face in the film of "Unsinkable Molly Brown," dine in the south of France with Orson Wells and Marlene Deitrich, or co-direct a Bway musical with Jerome Robbins.

Teco Theatrical Productions will host the official grand opening of its new Oak Cliff space, the Bishop Arts Theater Center wth multiple events on the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 14. Read the continuation for exact details and schedule.

WRR-FM (101) and design jeweler Bachendorf's will host a special two-hour live broadcast benefiting Texas Ballet Theater from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Originating in the Bachendorf's store, at 8400 Preston Rd., the broadcast will be hosted by WRR's Christopher Hackett, and will include interviews with TBT officials and dancers, including artistic director Ben Stevenson and interim managing director Margo McCann.

The loss of at least one major sponsor has left the ballet company in precarious financial condition just weeks before the opening of the 2008-2009 season.

Guide Live reported Saturday that TBT's trip to the China Shanghair International Arts Festival was in jeopardy because of a financial shortfall. The company needed to raise at least $75,000 by today to make the trip. According to Robin Arena, chairwoman of TBT, "China is such a dream for us."

But the company fell far short of its goal and had to cancel the trip. Watch GuideLive.com for more details.

Before select performances of The Drowsy Chaperone, you can check out free outdoor tap performances outside Fair Park Music Hall as part of the National Tap Dance Celebration. Check 'em out Tuesday (June 3) from 7 to 8 p.m., as well as June 7, 8, 14 and 15 from 1 to 2 p.m. Tuesday's performance features Buster Cooper, who Michael Granberry profiled earlier this year.