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STAGE

bobrauschenbergamerica

This 2001 play by Charles Mee, the last production of Portland Playhouse’s inaugural season, attempts to capture in dramatic form the art, life and personality of the American collagist Robert Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg, who died last year, combined photos, found objects and paint in “combines” that paired bright splashes of color with monotone images of the past. The play is, similarly, a delightful visual pastiche of unconnected vignettes that begins with “The Star Spangled Banner” and ends with Walt Whitman. Some are unsettling, most are comical, and all are delightful to watch. The cast, directed by Brian Weaver, commits wholeheartedly to the playfulness of the script (Brian Allard is particularly entertaining as an addled astronomer), and the audience is pulled along with it. Of course, the free beer doesn’t hurt. In the spirit of collage, I present some excerpts from my notes: “bathtub truckdriver”; “utterly destroyed garbage can”; “martini Slip-n-Slide”; “pingpongpocalypse.” BEN WATERHOUSE. The Church, 602 NE Prescott St., 205-0715. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 5 pm Sundays. Closes April 26. $14-$19. Map

ComedySportz

[IMPROV] Fast-paced, competitive, family-friendly improv. ComedySportz, 1963 NW Kearney St., 236-8888. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays. $12. Map

Crazy Enough

[EXTENDED RUN] Portland Center Stage presents an autobiographical monologue with songs by Portland’s rock-’n’-roll valkyrie, Storm Large, who describes with vulgar humor her traumatic childhood experiences with her schizophrenic mother, slutty adolescence, heroin addiction, rejection from Lilith Fair, musical success and family reconciliation. She performs on a faux-brick catacomb set accompanied by her longtime collaborator James Beaton, plus a drummer and guitar player. Crazy Enough’s dozen songs, from quiet lullabies to rip-roaring anthems, are catchy and honest. Large is undeniably one of the strongest performers in Portland, and with this show she proves that, despite all the ball-busting bluster, she's also one of the smartest. BEN WATERHOUSE. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Thursdays, 2 pm Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Sundays through Aug. 16. $25.50-$48.50. Map

Distracted

What sort of person goes to the theater for parenting advice? Isn’t that like going to the art museum for help getting a mortgage? Whether you want it or not, Artists Rep will give you plenty in this unbearably preachy two-hour diatribe about raising a kid with attention-deficit disorder (that is, a kid who’s a pain in the ass) by Girl, Interrupted writer Lisa Loomer. Kimberly Howard and Leif Norby play wealthy, educated parents who try everything they can (Machiavellian parenting, weird diets, hoax therapies and drugs) to make their imaginative, rambunctious, foul-mouthed, annoying son (Steve Rathje) act like the good little robot his teachers want him to be before they realize that maybe they should just spend some time with him now and then rather than thinking about themselves all the time. I agree, though I think an occasional smack across the mouth might help with the swearing, but I’ll be damned if I understand why Loomer had to go on at such boring length about it. Though well performed and occasionally quite funny, the script lacks drama, personality and most of the other things one associates with art. It’s just 120 minutes of aggravation. Who is the audience for this sort of thing? Do the parents of difficult children really want to see other, richer parents complaining about the same problems? I’m baffled. BEN WATERHOUSE. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 241-1278. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Sunday, 11 am May 6, 13 and 27. $25-$47. Map

El Grito del Bronx

My takeaway from this frightening drama by Migdalia Cruz: If you let your family define who you are, it will kill you. Growing up brutalized by their father affected Magdalena (Cristi Miles) and Jesús (Matthew Dieckman) in different ways. She buried herself in books and bottled up her emotions; he murdered 19 people and wound up on death row. She runs away to Connecticut, but when her Jewish reporter boyfriend (Spencer Conway) asks her to marry him, she’s compelled to face down the demons of her past. Antonio Sonera directs this skillfully designed and well-acted production for Miracle Theatre without melodrama, balancing effectively humor and terror. Dieckman gives a laudable performance as a ruined man, dying of AIDS in a filthy prison cell, half-crazed but unrepentant. BEN WATERHOUSE. Miracle Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 7:30 pm Thursdays, 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes April 25. $20-$22. Map

Fabulous Bear!

[PUPPETS] If it’s hard to remember as a parent what made you laugh before Chris Rock, let this production by Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre be a helpful reminder. The storyline, created by Polish puppeteer Jan Wilkowski in 1960, has a lonely bear named Timothy Rymchimchi befriend a dog when the bear goes to buy an egg for his father. The bear’s father doesn’t like the dog until the brave and resourceful pup prevents a fox from stealing the family’s possessions. The plot is thin and slow-paced to anybody older than 7, but that’s OK because it induces serious giggles from an audience of younger kids engaged by sight gags and chances to shout instructions. It’s an entertaining afternoon for children as young as 3. Be sure to arrive early enough so your children have time to color the characters on paper, cut them out and put them on Popsicle sticks. And plan to stick around for a few minutes afterward as puppeteers patiently answer all your kids’ questions. HENRY AND BEN STERN. Winningstad Theatre, Portland Center for Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway., 248-0557. 11 am Saturdays, 2 and 4 pm Sundays. Closes April 19. $14-$16. Map

A Flea in Her Ear

Lakewood Theatre presents a 1907 French farce by Georges Feydeau about an insurance executive whose wife fears he may be disloyal and puts his fidelity to the test with an elaborate ruse. Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego., 635-3901. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 pm Sundays, 2 pm Sunday, April 19. Closes April 19. $23-$25. Map

Freakshow

Amalia, the woman with no arms and no legs, sits on her pedestal day in, day out, quietly doing Kegels under the shroud of her dress. Judith, the dog-faced girl, brushes her blond curls. In his cage, the Pinhead sings to himself. On the other side of the tent, Aquaboy, the Human Salamander, splashes in his fetid tank. Ruling over the motley crew is Mr. Flip, a half-deranged entrepreneur whose deformities are all of the mental sort. The final production of Theatre Vertigo’s season is occasionally titillating but difficult to enjoy. Playwright Carson Kreitzer delivers plenty of the promised freakishness but, despite the oddities on display, this show just isn’t very entertaining. The action, such as there is, occurs in very short bursts interspersed with long monologues. Yes, two romances are broken and one kindled, one man is assaulted and another fired, but the plot takes a back seat to the long-winded chatting. And while this is interesting for a while, one gets the impression Kreitzer wrote the play as a one-act that required a lot of filler to bulk it up to an evening-length work. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 306-0870. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays. Closes May 16. $15. Map

Frost/Nixon

If you count yourself among the many disappointed by Ron Howard’s Best Picture Oscar-nominated film, hear this: Peter Morgan’s 2006 stage play about British playboy and talk show host Peter Frost’s 1977 television interviews of Richard Nixon is, thank heavens, far superior to its overblown cinematic successor. Indeed, the only great advantage the silver screen rendition has over Rose Riordan’s production at Portland Center Stage is Frank Langella’s brilliant impersonation of the disgraced Nixon. Riordan’s star, Bill Christ, bears no resemblance at all to Tricky Dick besides possessing a large head and pugnacious glower, but he has both the rumbling voice and the barely suppressed rage down. The rest of the cast performs admirably; David Townsend preens with desperation as Frost and Adam Ludwig is the picture of sputtering left-wing pique as James Reston Jr. PCS will offer a $25 ticket to anyone who brings in presidential campaign memorabilia. BEN WATERHOUSE. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays, alternating 2 pm Saturday and 7:30 pm Sunday shows. Closes May 10. $30-$66.50. Map

Getting to Know You

Broadway Rose, known for its bright musical theater productions, presents a nonmusical play about musical theater by Thomas Carr. A retired musical actress grants an interview to a young reporter, kicking off "a journey that will dramatically change both their lives." Deb Fennell Auditorium, 9000 SW Durham Road, Tigard., 620-5262. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes May 10. $20-$30. Map

Glorious

“I was blessed with the gift of excessive volume,” declares soprano wannabe Florence Foster Jenkins. The portly New York City warbler was also cursed with an indifference to rhythm, timbre, pitch and other nuances of singing. Yet she somehow swung a 30-year recital career performing—or desecrating—Mozart, Strauss and other composers. Glorious!, one of two recent plays recounting Jenkins’ story, could have played it as a straight farce, indulging in the impulse to lambaste Jenkins’ self-delusion and the venality of her accompanist/co-conspirator, Cosme McMoon, who knew just how horrible Jenkins sounded yet stayed with her because she paid well. Instead, it makes theirs a tragicomic story: a wannabe whose love of great music and desperate need for affection blind, or rather deafen, her to the fact that she can’t sing it. Director Donald Horn and his excellent cast adopt this sympathetic approach. Singer/actor Barbara Irvin, veteran of opera and musical theater who teaches voice at Reed College, plays Jenkins as an oblivious idealist who doesn’t know the joke’s on her. The script pacing falters when it uses Jenkins’ inability to comprehend either McMoon’s barely closeted gayness or her Latina maid’s Spanish as over-obvious metaphors for her general cluelessness, but the actors’ chemistry keeps us rooting for them till the end. BRETT CAMPBELL. The CoHo Theatre, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 239-5919. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays. Closes April 25. $18-$23. Map

Grease

[TOURING SHOW] From the Fred Meyer Broadway Across America press release: "'American Idol' winner Taylor Hicks will star as 'Teen Angel.'" Since when does one song constitute a starring role? Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 241-1802. 7:30 pm Tuesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 1 and 6:30 pm Sunday, April 21-26. $23.50-$68.50. Map

I Am My Own Wife

Northwest Academy senior Jacob Storms performs the challenging solo play by Doug Wright about the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, an East German transvestite who survived both the Nazis and the Stasi. Northwest Academy Studios, 714 SW 11th Ave., 421-7434. 7:30 pm Fridays-Saturdays. Closes April 25. Free. Map

Joel McHale

[STAND-UP] The actor and comedian, best known for hosting E!'s The Soup, makes mostly celebrity gags—funny ones! Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway., 224-4400. 8 pm Friday, April 17. $32.50-$35. Map

The Light-Fingered Five

[IMPROV] Aimé Kelly and company perform to benefit the Oregon Humane Society. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., lf5.org. 7:30 pm Tuesday, April 21. $10 at the door. Map

Living Out

A play by Lisa Loomer (Girl, Interrupted) about a Salvadoran nanny and her white employer. Steeped in the geography and culture of Los Angeles, the show attempts to tackle the difficulties of both wealthy and poor working mothers. Portland Actors Conservatory, 1436 SW Montgomery St., 274-1717. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 pm Sunday April 26. Closes April 26. $15-$25. Map

A Magical Melodrama at the Golden Garter Theatre

People still do nostalgic melodrama? Why? No one who actually witnessed a turn-of-the-century melodrama is still alive to enjoy them. If you want to boo the actors, why not just head down to Portland Center Stage and hiss at Nixon? Magenta Theater, 606 Main St., Vancouver., 360-687-7891. 7 pm Thursday-Saturday, 3 pm Sunday, April 16-19. $10-$16. Map

Miz Kitty's Parlour

[VARIETY] Jazz by Dee, Doug & Doc; comedy by Loren Hoskins; songs by CJ MacDuffe; juggling by David Clay; circus music by Heroes & Villains; seasonal songs by Bo Peep & Mike Danner Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., 223-4527. 7 pm Saturday, April 18. $12. Map

Next Train to Moscow

[READING] Portland Theatre Works presents George Taylor's play about a woman who decides her life has far too much in common with that of a Chekhov character and goes all the way, moping around in black. Then things get strange... Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., ptwks.org. 7 pm Monday, April 20. Free. Map

Night by Day

Julianne R. Johnson-Weiss, accompanied by Tom Grant, performs a one-woman revue of the life and songs of Billie Holiday. The CoHo Theatre, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 239-5919. 2 pm Sundays. Closes April 19. $28. Map

Razzle Dazzle Die!

[DINNER THEATER] Interactive murder-mystery musical dinner theater. Food by Timothy Fuhrman, murder by Eddie May. Pine Street Bistro, 221 SW Pine St., 524-4366. 7:30-9:30 pm Fridays-Saturdays. $69 per person. Map

Red Dress Bingo: Red Eye

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence host a bingo-night pre-party for the Portland Red Dress Party. PPAA, 618 SE Alder St., portlandsisters.net. 4 pm Sunday, April 19. $15. Map

Richard II

Northwest Classical Theatre Company mounts an all-female production of the first episode of Shakespeare's history of the War of the Roses, starring Paige Jones and Cecily Overman: "She is come to ope the purple testament of bleeding war." Shoe Box Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 971-224-3740. 7 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes May 24. $15-$18. Map

Ron Feingold

[STAND-UP] This guy's demo reel starts with a dumb mysoginist joke ("Why a the wimminz so unpredictable?") and moves straight into a capella crooning. Harvey's Comedy Club, 436 NW 6th Ave., 241-0338. 8 pm Thursday, 7:30 and 10 pm Friday, 5, 7:30 and 10 pm Saturday, 7 pm Sunday, April 16-19. $15. Map

Scratch PDX

[VARIETY] Portland's monthly performing-arts "open stage." Hipbone Studio, 1847 E Burnside St., scratchpdx.com. 9 pm Saturday, April 18. $8. Map

Soap St. Theater

A live soap opera/sketch comedy series written and directed by Eric Martin Reid, with a new episode each week performed barely rehearsed by some very funny people, including Adrienne Flagg, Melik Malkasian and Sean McGrath. Blue Monk, 3341 SE Belmont St., 205-0715. 7 and 9 pm Tuesdays through May 12. $8. Map

Something Special

[IMPROV] Erin Cunningham and Brad Fortier create shows about awkwardness from audience suggestions. The Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway., 224-2227. 10:30 pm Sundays. Closes May 9. $5-$8. Map

A Sunbeam

PassinArt presents a play by John Henry Redwood: Celia dotes on her disabled son, Sol, to such an extent that her relationship with her husband, Maceo, gets rocky. Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N Interstate Ave., 288-4070. 7:30 pm Thursdays, 8 pm Fridays, 3 and 8 pm Saturdays. Closes April 25. $17.50-$20. Map

Trail of Evidence

New Century Players presents a murder mystery set in 1850s Oregon to celebrate the state's sesquicentennial. The Ainsworth House, 19130 Lot Whitcomb Drive, Oregon City., 367-2620. 6:30 pm Fridays-Saturdays. Closes April 25. $45. Map

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Twilight Rep presents Edward Albee's oft-produced masterpiece about a marriage gone horribly wrong. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 312-6789. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes April 26. $15-$18 (cash only). Map

Wilson Culture night

Wilson High School's annual evening of international food and performance. Wilson High School, 1151 SW Vermont St., 5-8 pm Saturday, April 18. $2. Map

ZooZoo

Imago pulls together favorite scenes from the company’s two puppet/pantomime/masque shows, Frogz and Biglittlethings, for a tour-friendly bundle of surprising visual delights that runs a little over an hour. Glowing eyes wobble in the darkness, polar bears molest the audience, rabbits attempt to hitchhike, a giant paper bag takes on a life of its own, penguins play musical chairs, and ninjas in red velvet pajamas have a paper fight. Jerry Mouawad and Carol Triffle have been doing this stuff for decades, but the shtick hasn’t gotten old yet. Go for a matinee, and the kids in attendance will teach you how to really enjoy a day at the theater. BEN WATERHOUSE. Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 231-3959. 7 pm Fridays, 2 and 7 pm Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes May 10. $15 kids, $28 adults. Map

CLASSICAL

 J. Melvin Butler

The organist at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle plays music for Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. First Presbyterian Church, 1200 SW Alder St., 228-7331. 3 pm Sunday, April 19. $8-$10. Map

Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas

One of the world’s greatest living Scottish fiddlers and the young San Francisco cellist (who’s also worked with Natalie MacMaster and Mark O’Connor) return for another night of engaging duets. Celtic music fans should be there. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 222-2031. 7:30 pm Sunday, April 19. $20 advance, $25 at the door. Map

Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan

Kalakendra’s latest concert honors the late, legendary Bismillah Khan, who died in 2006 and was to the shehnai (a quadruple-reed instrument) what Ravi Shankar is to the sitar, Coleman Hawkins to the tenor sax or Eric Clapton to the electric guitar. Hussain Khan is one of his most accomplished successors, able to coax a relatively soft, nuanced tone out of the oboelike instrument. He’ll be joined by award-winning Ramesh Mishra on sarangi (the beautiful bowed lute) and Subhen Chatterjee on tabla in ragas and other Hindustani folk and classical music. First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave., 800-992-8499. 8 pm Friday, April 17. $20-$25. Map

Bridgetown Sextet

This fundraiser for the Jazz Society of Oregon presents the raw music of that rich period in the 1920s  and ’30s when blues was morphing into jazz, played by some of the city’s top jazzers, including Lars Campbell and Andrew Oliver. Tony Starlight's, 3728 NE Sandy Blvd., 517-8584. 8 pm Thursday, April 16. $7. Map

Bunsen/Buser-Molatore/Reese

Michael Bunsen purveys electronic sounds, Giles Buser-Molatore & Ensemble unveil new choral works, and Adam Reese does live mixing in this Portland New Music Society show. Enterbeing, 1603 NE Alberta St., 808-0385. 8 pm Thursday, April 16. Donation. Map

FearNoMusic

This concert by one of the city’s most venturesome music ensembles would be a top pick if it merely featured performances of 14 forward-looking musical works by some of the 20th century’s finest composers—Ligeti, Webern, Morton Feldman, Kaija Saariaho, Iannis Xenakis and more, including some alive and well composers you certainly don’t hear every year: Mary Wright, Karim Al-Zand, Reza Vali, Michael Lowenstern, Benedict Mason, et al. It does that, and it also accompanies their music with 11 contemporary films and videos, curated by local video and graphic artists Anna and Leo Daedalus of HELSINQI productions, created by artists from Lisbon to Portland, Paris to London, Amsterdam to Albuquerque and other far-flung locales. Sounds like a multimedia adventure for ears and eyes alike. Colonial Heights Prebyterian Church, 2828 SE Stephens St., 490-3170. 8 pm Friday, April 17. $5-$20. Map

Gabriel Kahane

Classical fans may know Gabriel’s pianist-conductor father, Jeffrey, a fixture at the Oregon Bach Festival who now conducts the Colorado Symphony. His progeny’s intriguing sophisticated pop certainly displays classical influences, particularly in the unusual (for pop) forms, song cycles such as his Craigslistlieder (developed from actual anonymous posts), and collaborations with classical stars like Hilary Hahn. But he’s also worked with Sufjan Stevens and Chris Thile, and once described himself as "the bastard child of Alban Berg and Rufus Wainwright." Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 8 pm Thursday, April 16. $15. Map

Girls' Choirs

Choirs from Wilson High, Reynolds High, Rowe MS, Portland Symphonic Girl Choir and the Youth Choir of Central Oregon perform works composed and conducted by artist-in-residence David L. Brunner. Zion Lutheran Church, 1015 SW 18th Ave., 226-6162. 3 pm Sunday, April 19. $5-$10. Map

Gordon Lee and Rough Jazz, Andrew Oliver Sextet

One of the city’s best-known veteran groups (Lee on piano, John Gross on tenor sax, Dan Schulte on bass and Alan Jones on drums) plays at 10 pm, after one of its most promising young groups opens. Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th Ave., 295-6542. 8 pm Friday, April 17. $10. Map

Michael Vlatkovich

The veteran L.A.-based trombonist displays his free improv skills in several contexts. Tugboat Brewing, 711 SW Ankeny St., 226-2508. 9 pm Wednesday and Saturday, April 15 and 18, with Greg Scholl and Mark Burdon. Gallery Homeland, 2505 SE 11th Ave. 8:30 pm Thursday, April 16, with poet Dottie Grossman, Lisa Radon and Tim Duroche. Sliding scale. Map

Mixed Medleys Quartet

Clarinetist Jules Elias, cellist  Jane Halling, pianist Marlise Stroebe and bassist Tina Frost play music of J.S. Bach, Pergolesi, Gershwin, Rick Sowash and more. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 222-2031. Noon Tuesday, April 21. Free. Map

Oregon Repertory Singers

The venerable choir concludes its 35th season with music from Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation, Henry Purcell’s Come Ye Sons of Art, the closing movement of Mendelssohn’s second symphony and the winner of the new composition prize named after ORS’s music director, Gil Seeley. First United Methodist Church, 1838 SW Jefferson St., 230-0652. 3:30 pm Sunday, 7:30 pm Monday, April 19-20. $20-$35. Map

Oregon Symphony

Former music director James DePriest returns, accompanied by another veteran, pianist Garrick Ohlsson, in a program featuring Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto, Sibelius’ first symphony and one of those welcome contemporary works that appeals to traditionalists and new music fans alike, popular and acclaimed composer Christopher Theofanidis’s 2000 Rainbow Body, which has been performed by six dozen orchestras and counting. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway., 228-1353. 7:30 pm Saturday-Sunday, 8 pm Monday, April 18-20. $15-$120. Map

Portland Youth Philharmonic

Small ensembles drawn from the orchestra perform a piano trio by Mendelssohn, a string quartet (op. 59 no. 3) by Beethoven, Brahms’ piano quintet and Paul Hindemith’s charming A Little Chamber Music for wind quintet. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 223-5939. 3 pm Sunday, April 19. $10-$12. Map

Vagabond Opera

The klezmer-Balkan-neo-classical-Eurocabaret troupe crosses the river and brings its wild bellydance and flaming stage antics to the 'burbs. Emil Fries Auditorium, 2214 E 13th St., Vancouver., 800-838-3006. 8 pm Saturday, April 18. $20. Map

Vancouver Symphony

The concert’s first half showcases the three winners of the orchestra’s annual Young Artists Competition, while the second features excerpts from Richard Wagner’s operas. Skyview High School, 1300 NW 139th St., Vancouver., 360-735-7278. 3 pm Saturday, 7 pm Sunday, April 18-19. $7-$40. Map

DANCE

Chunky Move

A pair of Australians, Chunky Move artistic director Gideon Obarzanek and choreographer Lucy Guerin, have devised one of the most frustrating, fun and inquisitive dance-theater hybrids to come to town for quite a while. Why is it so interesting and yet so infuriating? Because you only get to see half of the show. Two-Faced Bastard, part of White Bird’s ’09 Uncaged Series, plays with what it means to perform (and to watch) by placing a tall curtain of vertical blinds right down the center of the downtown Portland YWCA’s gymnasium. The audience sits on bleachers on both sides of the court—watching one show, and only overhearing and catching glimpses of the other through the blinds. On one side, the dark, quirky hour-long work kicks off with a row of people sitting, discussing the nature of performing. On the other side, it’s a full-on dance solo—a woman in a yellow baby-doll dress spinning and stretching, all windmill arms and mile-long legs. Throughout the evening, the competing shows transform the gym into an interrogation chamber, dance party, slow-motion movie monster fight and a romance between man, woman and dining room set. And then there’s the truly weird shit—things that you may or may not ever see, depending on your seat. KELLY CLARKE. YWCA of Greater Portland, 1111 SW 10th Ave., 255-7611. 8 pm Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 8 pm Saturday-Sunday, April 15-19. $26, $16 students & seniors. Tickets at whitebird.org or Ticketmaster. Map

A Decade of Dance West

Dance West, a pre-professional dance company housed at the PDX ’burbs’ Arts & Communication Magnet Academy (the Beaverton School District’s answer to Fame), celebrates 10 years of choreography and the hardworking students who have danced it. The bill includes ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap and even aerial works from dance makers like Billy Ell, Les Watanabe, Randy Davis, Terry Brock, Heather Cornell and group artistic director Julane Stites. Visit dancewestcompany.com for more info. KELLY CLARKE. PCC Sylvania Little Theatre, 12000 SW 49th Ave., 224-8499. 7 pm Friday, 2 and 7 pm Saturday, April 17-18. $15, $10 kids or students. Call or visit ticketswest.com for tickets. Map

Heavy Rotation (Class)

Change is good. Choreographers Kathleen Keogh and Noelle Stiles’ smart new dance class series, Heavy Rotation, invites a new local dancer to teach every two weeks. The innovative, community-building experiment continues through June with everybody from Wendy Hambidge to Tahni Holt, and creators Keogh and Stiles at the helm. Visit noellestiles.com/HEAVY-ROTATION.html for a full schedule. KELLY CLARKE. The Headwaters at Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 289-3499. 5:45-7:30 pm Tuesdays through June 23. $12 drop-in, $60 for a six-class card. Map

Oregon Ballet Theatre

For OBT’s spring program, Brooklyn-born choreographer Nicolo Fonte, whose Bolero captured the company last year, returns with Left Unsaid, a stunning workout for six dancers set to Bach. Fonte’s contemporary take on ballet is silky and muscular, often teetering between graceful and grotesque. OBT artistic director Christopher Stowell has improved the technical chops of this company tremendously over the past few years, but what emerges in this piece is the precision and passion of his dancers—a balance that has been tough for the company to find in the past. This is an uneven evening of dance, both in vibe and execution—Left Unsaid is buttressed between two solid, entertaining pieces: William Forsythe’s technical double-dare The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude and Balanchine’s cheeky Tarantella duet. But Hush, the new piece choreographer James Kudelka made just for OBT, is a genuine bummer. The abstract piece takes on “an arc that goes from childhood through adulthood to the end of life.” But Hush’s mushy, monotonous choreography and the discordant pinging of live harp music squash that arc flat. Luckily, strong performances in the evening’s other pieces make this program well worth experiencing. KELLY CLARKE. Newmark Theatre, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway., 248-4335. 2 pm Saturday-Sunday, April 25-26. 7:30 pm Thursday-Sunday, April 23-26. $15-$122. All ages. Visit obt.org or ticketmaster.com for tickets. Map

Rose City Shimmy Burlesque Revue

Another week, another opportunity to watch saucy, sultry, soon-to-be-nekkid ladies discard items of clothing piece by sequined, spangled piece. This time it’s Baby Le’Strange and Itty Bitty Bang Bang’s “traditional” Rose City Shimmy Revue, which showcases the fleshy talents of both bawdy ladies (roller skates, glitter, excellent chassis) as well as the stunningly outfitted Hai Fleisch and fan dancer Charlotte Treuse. Plus, a raffle, free haircuts and Gothfox pasties. KELLY CLARKE. Hawthorne Theatre, 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 233-7100. 10 pm Thursdays, April 9 and 16. $8. 21+. Visit rosecityshimmy.com for more info. Map

Sinferno Cabaret

A fiery combo of striptease, jugglers, magicians and, yes, fire dancers, doused with a bit of classic rock-’n’-roll sleaze. Because, c’mon, it’s Dante’s. Dante's, 1 SW 3rd Ave., 226-6630. 8:30 pm Sundays. $7. 21+. Map