Kaleidoscope

Twenty-three Southern California companies and solo artists have been selected to perform in the revived Dance Kaleidoscope festival this July at Cal State L.A. The festival, an annual summer event last performed here in 1985, will be presented at the university's East Los Angeles campus in the State Playhouse. It will consist of three mixed-bill programs, each repeated once, scheduled for July 21, 22, 23 and 28, 29 and 30.

"Dance Kaleidoscope" was born as a sprawling, something-for-everyone grab-bag--a variety show in which the most distinctive segments invariably cancelled one another out. No longer. After nine editions plus a couple of years off, this annual showcase for local companies has dared to organize its resources. Not only did the Sunday afternoon "Kaleidoscope" program at Cal State L.A.

When the 16th-Century Mogul sultan of the formidable city-fortress of Golconda near here fell in love with a Hindu dancer, he set in motion events that gave this town its name. Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah, then ruler of India's central and arid Deccan plateau, first took the lovely Bhagyamati as his mistress, gave her the title Haider Mahal, later married her and began to build a new city that he named Hyderabad in her honor. The Deccan plain was and still is an amalgam of Hindu, Persian, Turkish and Muslim cultures, all in harmony and all adapting the art, architecture, food and dress of each other.

HOW are those New Year's resolutions coming along? Drink your daily oh-so-healthful goji berry smoothie? Have you counted those calories, hit the gym, hugged the kids or curbed your cussing -- yet? Good. Then you won't mind adding something to your to-do list. Act now and enroll yourself in a 12-step program that lets you put flowers -- lots of them -- into your garden every blessed day of the year.

Kaleidoscope Theatre Ensemble presents "An Evening of Education Through Entertainment" at 6 p.m. today at the downtown Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St. The fundraising event will include music, monologues, guest singers and performers, a staged reading of the group's new educational theater piece "Chavez -- Rise of a Leader," and scenes from the five productions Kaleidoscope has created for schools during its 2004-05 season. Tickets are $25, $50, $75 and $100.

The Kaleidoscope center in Mission Viejo is continuing to sign new tenants, including Orange County newcomers Crunch Fitness and Burke Williams Day Spa and Massage Centre. New York-based Crunch is a place to go if you're inclined to trim down, beef up or spin, while Santa Monica-based Burke Williams offers specialized face and body treatments, such as the Salt Glo, Mud Masque and Seaweed Wrap.

The 1991 Kaleidoscope Festival celebrating cultural diversity in Orange County will take place today and Sunday at UC Irvine. Among the more than 100 performances at the festival will be those by American Indian dancers, Irish bands, the Chinese Opera Society and Caribbean fire dancers. Cultural displays will include a Japanese tea house and African-American hair weaving techniques. The festival also includes ethnic food booths and storytelling and puppet shows for children.

IN THE COLORFUL, complex world of Kaleido, where more than 300 kaleidoscopes are on display, perpetual motion is only a motion away. There are $3.50 paper kaleidoscopes and more expensive wonders, such as the $7,000 dream scope. But the piece de resistance is the spectacular party scope ($2,400), which allows four people to simultaneously experience an endless tidal wave of design.

As construction starts on a 200,000-square-foot entertainment mall, the City Council will meet today to settle parking and access issues connected with the so-called Kaleidoscope project. The city became partners last year with the developer, Pacific Development Partners Inc., investing $2 million to build the mall, which is to include specialty shops and entertainment such as a theater complex and a community concert venue.

It's always tempting to look at the annual Dance Kaleidoscope series as an index of Southern California creative trends when it more accurately reflects the priorities of that year's selection panel. At worst, academic rectitude reigns.