20/20

Rene Micheo Cervilio Amador leaps into New Works, Cincinnati Ballet's mixed-repertory season opener

If you've been keeping up with your CityBeat reading you're well aware that just as outside temperatures are cooling, the fall arts season is briskly warming up.

It's 20/20 time again and there's a plethora of options for dance aficionados in ENJOY THE ARTS' 20-day-and-night festival. For its lone appearance for the rest of '06, MOVING ART DANCE COMPANY presents MOVING ART, a nod to its namesake where dancers become living sculptures on view from all sides, with a sketch artist capturing their forms as they create shapes. (7-9 p.m. Oct. 5, Mr. Pitiful's,1323 Main St., Over-the-Rhine.) Little aspiring dancers who can't sit still might enjoy the aptly-titled JOURNEY WITH PETER PAN: A STOMP, WIGGLE AND TUMBLE INTERACTIVE ADVENTURE, presented by the longstanding ANNELIESE VON OETTINGEN SCHOOL OF BALLET AND BALLET COMPANIES at the Cheviot Public Library (371 Robb Ave.) at 1 p.m. Saturday. As the title suggests, children of all ages will be encouraged to participate in this free event. For a broad-spectrum sampler of the upcoming dance season, EVERYTHING THAT MOVES IV is a good bet. This annual collaborative showcase has it all: student performers to esteemed professional companies, ballet to modern, swing to waltz, hula to African and more.

If you've been keeping up with your CityBeat reading you're well aware that just as outside temperatures are cooling, the fall arts season is briskly warming up. ...

It's 20/20 time again and there's a plethora of options for dance aficionados in ENJOY THE ARTS' 20-day-and-night festival. For its lone appearance for the rest of '06, MOVING ART DANCE COMPANY presents MOVING ART, a nod to its namesake where dancers become living sculptures on view from all sides, with a sketch artist capturing their forms as they create shapes. (7-9 p.m. Oct. 5, Mr. Pitiful's,1323 Main St., Over-the-Rhine.) Little aspiring dancers who can't sit still might enjoy the aptly-titled JOURNEY WITH PETER PAN: A STOMP, WIGGLE AND TUMBLE INTERACTIVE ADVENTURE, presented by the longstanding ANNELIESE VON OETTINGEN SCHOOL OF BALLET AND BALLET COMPANIES at the Cheviot Public Library (371 Robb Ave.) at 1 p.m. Saturday. As the title suggests, children of all ages will be encouraged to participate in this free event. For a broad-spectrum sampler of the upcoming dance season, EVERYTHING THAT MOVES IV is a good bet. This annual collaborative showcase has it all: student performers to esteemed professional companies, ballet to modern, swing to waltz, hula to African and more. (5-8 p.m. Oct. 3, Cincinnati Ballet studios, 1555 Central Pkwy., Over-the-Rhine). www.20days20nights.com. ...

Parents take note: BI-OKOTO DRUM AND DANCE THEATRE is now offering children's African drumming, dance and Yoruba language classes free of charge! See www.biokoto.com. ...

At the other end of the spectrum, if you've ever dreamed of gliding around a ballroom in a dramatic waltz, the CINCINNATI HISTORICAL DANCE SOCIETY is offering classes in the graceful form for just $5 per person on Wednesday evenings through Oct. 25 at the Church of the Ascension and Holy Trinity (334 Burns Ave., Wyoming). Sweep your partner off her feet in time for Sweetest Day! 513-733-2092. ...

If you'd prefer to kick back and watch some waltzing — alongside a host of vintage dances, head to CRAZY FOR DANCE 1800-1920 at XU's Gallagher Center on Saturday where Cincinnati's Flying Cloud Academy of Vintage Dance, Lexington's Vintage Dance Society and The Terpsichorean Delights Dance Assembly of Dayton (including Madame Gigi's Outrageous French Can-Can Dancers) will join forces in a rare showcase. In full authentic period dress, the troupes will waltz, can-can, foxtrot, Charleston, quadrille, one-step and more through five eras of social dance delights. I can almost hear the rustle of billowy skirts sweeping across the floor. Tickets: 859-491-5526. ...

Jumping back into modern times, the 10 finalists from TV's popular SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE take the stage for one night only at the Aronoff center Wednesday. The rub? The show is sold out. 513-621-ARTS. ...

CINCINNATI BALLET's annual NEW WORKS program allows audiences a thrilling chance to catch the company at its most contemporary and in its most intimate setting, the Ballet's own Mickey Jarson Kaplan Performance Studio (1555 Central Pkwy., Over-the-Rhine). I expect that the high theatricality and emotional impact the mixed-repertory program promises — tackling such themes as 9/11, Greek Olympic ideals, female complexities and more — will be enhanced by the close proximity of spectators to performers. My vote for the most experimental work would be TRACES, from the modernistic Italian choreographer Luca Veggetti, a multimedia piece exploring what remains once the ephemeral art of dance stops. (Think images of shoe scuffs left behind.) This world premiere represents a sequel to Veggeti's mesmerizing work On the Edge of Silence that premiered in last year's New Works. In celebration of the company's male dancers, acclaimed choreographer Kirk Peterson offers JAVELIN, where Gods and mankind converge in a show of strength and spirit, underscored by Olympian physicality and the classic Greek ideal. MICHEAL TORKE — the noted American composer of the score sharing the same title — will be appearing for an informal pre-concert discussion at 7:30 on Thursday. Lynne Taylor-Corbett's LOST AND FOUND offers a timely view of 9/11, a look at the crisis' more humanistic side. A sought-after choreographer of far-reaching talents, Taylor-Corbett has garnered accolades in a variety of styles, including Tony nominations for her work on the Broadway hit Swing!. (Sept. 28-Oct. 8.) 513-621-5282.