Desmond Richardson

Tall, sinewy women, their necks thin and erect, mingle in wispy dresses on the arms of broad-shouldered men under the twinkling white lights of the canopied back patio at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons. As dusk fades and cocktails are served, the black-tie crowd moves with a particular rhythmic elegance. Maybe that's because some of the country's biggest names in dance are here. There are Debbie Allen, Diavolo Dance Theater's Jacques Heim, choreographer and one-time Joffrey prima ballerina Jodie Gates, as well as Complexions Contemporary Ballet co-founder and dancer Desmond Richardson.

Tall, sinewy women, their necks thin and erect, mingle in wispy dresses on the arms of broad-shouldered men under the twinkling white lights of the canopied back patio at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons. As dusk fades and cocktails are served, the black-tie crowd moves with a particular rhythmic elegance. Maybe that's because some of the country's biggest names in dance are here. There are Debbie Allen, Diavolo Dance Theater's Jacques Heim, choreographer and one-time Joffrey prima ballerina Jodie Gates, as well as Complexions Contemporary Ballet co-founder and dancer Desmond Richardson.

Dance Alexandra Ansanelli, 17, ballet dancer Look for: Ansanelli's debuts in three splashy vehicles--Peter Martins' "Fearful Symmetries" and "Barber Violin Concerto," plus George Balanchine's "Western Symphony"--during the Oct. 13-18 New York City Ballet engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Why she matters: For more than half a century, the glories of Balanchine choreography have depended on the presence of wonder women.

Dance Alexandra Ansanelli, 17, ballet dancer Look for: Ansanelli's debuts in three splashy vehicles--Peter Martins' "Fearful Symmetries" and "Barber Violin Concerto," plus George Balanchine's "Western Symphony"--during the Oct. 13-18 New York City Ballet engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Why she matters: For more than half a century, the glories of Balanchine choreography have depended on the presence of wonder women.

Representing Bermuda at the Athens Olympics last year, Cabinet minister Dale Butler bowed to tradition and dressed formally. Like many other men, he wore a shirt, a tie and a jacket. Unlike other men, he also wore knee socks and short pants. The ensemble was a hit with the ladies, Butler said, but as he was leaving a reception there, he encountered a Saudi prince in the elevator.

The Southern California premiere of Mark Morris' "Mozart Dances" and Kirov Ballet star Diana Vishneva in "Romeo and Juliet" will highlight the 2007-08 Dance at the Music Center season, announced by the Music Center of Los Angeles County. The Mark Morris Dance Group will perform "Mozart Dances," set to three complete Mozart works, Oct. 20-21 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The music consists of the Piano Concertos Nos. 11 and 27 and the Sonata in D for Two Pianos.

A challenging, uncompromising political dance drama, a plotless but evocative response to a Bartok score and a repeat of the evergreen "Revelations" with a new cast made up the second Ailey program by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on Thursday at the Wiltern Theatre. A protest against apartheid, "Masekela Langage" takes place within a shuttered lounge with wicker chairs, a slowly turning ceiling fan and a juke box prominent at the side.

Some works don't age well. When it was created, in 1966, John Butler's pas de deux "After Eden" (set to music by Lee Hoiby) may have seemed a balanced and interesting portrayal of our first parents trying to make it together after their expulsion from the garden.

Details about the vicious acid attack on Bolshoi Ballet artistic director Sergei Filin continue to unfurl after principal dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko's confession Wednesday. Now Dmitrichenko, 29, has admitted to masterminding the plot against Filin, but he said that he paid Yuri Zarutski about $1,600 to scare and hit Filin, not douse Filin in sulfuric acid. The drama and intrigue of these events -- as they continue to develop -- have not only shed a spotlight on bitter infighting within the Bolshoi, but have also sent the international dance world spinning with speculation.

The final Alvin Ailey program of the season at the Wiltern Theatre Sunday afternoon was one of those occasions when just about everything seemed glorious--the dancing, the choreography, even the die-hard fervor of the audience. Donald McKayle's "Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" was performed with an urgency that belied its 31 years. Its simple strength derives from stark movements set to the compelling rhythmic pulse of folk songs arranged by Robert de Cormier and Milton Okun.

Both the oldest and the most recent work from the season's repertory turned up on the Saturday evening program by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Wiltern: an Ailey mentor and a protege linked across nearly 40 years of dance. Back in 1950--the year Ailey made his debut as a dancer--Los Angeles' own Lester Horton combined the hip action of Afro-Caribbean dance with the filigree of limbs and neck characteristic of Southeast Asia.

Drums and police whistles invade the darkness and suddenly we see Karine Plantadit of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre moving with so much speed and sexual heat that it's easy to mistake her intensity for rage. Packed with sharp angles and short, assaultive phrases, her solo simultaneously delivers formal dance invention and a character sketch of a specific contemporary female.