SMALL STAGE, BIG STARS
Dances for a Small Stage is always entertaining, but the lineup for the 15th installment is especially hot. While you’re sipping a cold one at the Royal Canadian Legion (2205 Commercial Drive) this Tuesday and Wednesday (January 23 and 24), drink in choreography by some of the country’s shining stars, including Montreal’s Deborah Dunn; Vancouver’s Amber Funk Barton, Martha Carter, and Ballet British Columbia dancer Chengxin Wei; and Serge Bennathan (shown here), former artistic director of Toronto’s Dancemakers who now calls our fair city home. You’ll get a sneak peek at Bennathan’s Invisible Life of Joseph Finch when Electric Company actor Jonathon Young performs an excerpt. All this plus hip-hop by Shay Kuebler make for a fine night on the Drive.

CHANSON PROS
The Hilliard Ensemble is one of the finest vocal chamber groups in the world and arguably the most stylistically agile. At UBC Recital Hall (6361 Memorial Road) tonight (January 18), the English quartet performs compositions by past masters and a couple of contemporary ones, too. Most of the evening, entitled Doulce Mémoire, is devoted to early French and English music, and features works by 15th-century composer Guillaume Dufay and several 16th-century masters of the chanson, as well as the great Elizabethans John Bennet, Thomas Weelkes, and Giles Farnaby. Not all the fare is ancient, however—the four male singers also present works by contemporary Estonian composer Veljo Tormis and “Whale Rant”, commissioned from former Vancouver composer and viola-player Elizabeth Liddle.

REVOLTING SEX
Beggars Would Ride, the latest from theatre artist Conrad Alexandrowicz, promises “revolution (with sexual overtones) on an estate in a fantastic Otherworld”. Apparently, the servants in this land speak a bizarre language that combines Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss, and A Clockwork Orange. If that’s not enough, there will be music, satire, and a couple of very gifted actors: Allan Morgan and Damon Calderwood. Alexandrowicz (The Wines of Tuscany, The Singer Falls Silent) is a remarkably innovative guy. His company, Wild Excursions Performance, presents Beggars from January 24 to 27 (Wednesday to Saturday) at the Waterfront Theatre as part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.

IN THE POCKET
Vancouver’s newest new-music ensemble celebrates the talents of a young veteran of the local avant-garde. When the Colin MacDonald Pocket Orchestra makes its debut at the Western Front on Sunday (January 21), it will, naturally, feature the music of bandleader and soprano-sax virtuoso MacDonald, but it will also explore scores from a few of his primary influences, notably British minimalist Michael Nyman and Bang on a Can stalwart David Lang. With musicians ranging from jazz trombonist Brad Muirhead to composer/pianist Ya-Wen Vivienne Wang in the 11-piece line-up, the Pocket Orchestra already sounds like it’s going to be a winning concept.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival is known for interdisciplinary experiments, and its most multimedia program happens tonight and tomorrow (January 18 and 19) at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre. Music and video combine for an evening of serene sights and sounds, as Bill Viola creates a visual evocation of Edgar Varése’s Deserts, composer Stefan Smulovitz collaborates with artists Hadley + Maxwell, and George Lewis creates a score for late video pioneer Kate Craig’s Mary Lou.

A BHANGRA-UP JOB
There’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on downtown this week, as a festival devoted to the masala-hot dance form of bhangra heats up the January chill. Vancouverites can get in on the City of Bhangra action in several ways, from a workshop this evening (January 18) at the Scotiabank Dance Centre to a final international competition at the Orpheum on Saturday night (January 20). But this year’s highlight is Friday night’s (January 19) traditional stage production called bhangra: authentic, which whisks audiences through a whirlwind tour of the history of the traditional Punjabi art form.