Weekend Planner - Dance

A divertissement is a short ballet performed as an interlude in opera or the theater and this weekend East Street Dance Center School of Ballet will present an entire program of them.

PVPA's Catalyst dancers set to perform at Academy

Small groups of two and three students danced in sync, their quick steps reflecting the rapid beat of the music, while in the background two girls twirled around in their costumes as they watched. After a run-through with only a few minor missteps, the company's artistic director, Jennifer Polins, gave the students notes on their dancing.

Kathleen Mellen's Best Bets

ALIVE WITH DANCE

Turns out some students at UMass are stretching a lot more than their minds. Among those toiling on the Amherst campus are talented up-and-coming choreographers who study in an intensive dance program led by a renowned faculty. Tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. at UMass' Bowker Auditorium, "Alive With Dance" offers senior dancers a chance to present their creations to the public. Then, from April 26 to 28 at 8 p.m., at the Hampshire College Dance Studio Theater, an "Emerging Choreographers Series" will highlight new works by University Dancers and other Five College dancers. 545-2511

Suzanne Wilson's best bets

A DANCE HAPPENING

They've practiced for years and now six senior dance majors at Smith College in Northampton are ready for the capstone concert of their undergraduate careers. "Happening," as it's billed, takes place Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre at Smith. The concert includes dance with video, contemporary ballet and high-energy dance fusion. Admission is $9; $5 for students and seniors.

Weekend Planner - Dance

More than just a dance concert, "Ballet de L'Emotion" is what devotees of multi-tasking opera composer Richard Wagner would call a "total art work": a combination of dance, theater, music, visual art and poetry - in this case, all of it directed, choreographed, created and produced by students at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School.

Shake your body: Dance sound takes over America

NEW YORK - In the past, if you wanted to listen to a thumping, European-flavored dance jam on the radio, you waited for that Friday or Saturday night club mix.

Today, you can shake your body on that 7 a.m. drive to work.

Pioneer Valley Ballet to stage 'Cinderella' this weekend at Academy of Music

NORTHAMPTON - When 15-year-old Marikate McConnell appeared as a fairy in Pioneer Valley Ballet's first production of "Cinderella" five years ago, she says, she dreamed of being Cinderella. Now, her wish has come true. McConnell will dance the title role in PVB's production of the classic fairy tale this weekend at the Academy of Music in Northampton. McConnell, who lives in Holyoke and is a sophomore at Holyoke Catholic High School in Chicopee, has studied at the Easthampton ballet school since she was 8.

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