Dance

Andrew Wainer Huntington Beach eighth-grader Megan Pulfer is back. Almost seven months after doctors at the Los Angeles Children's Hospital patched a 2-centimeter hole in her heart, Megan acted and danced in a performance of "The Nutcracker" last weekend. The play was presented by Ballet Etudes, a Huntington Beach youth ballet company. Last January doctors diagnosed Megan with three separate heart conditions, but both Megan and her mother Cindy say the operation has been a great help.

A local restaurant will be given its dance permits despite concerns from neighbors about noise and disruptions. The planning commission unanimously approved dancing at La Petite Paris nearly one year after police stripped the tiny club of its entertainment permits. Owner Bill Pham told the commission that his Adams Avenue eatery has cleaned up its image, hired extra security and drawn in a new clientele that won't disturb neighbors living behind the restaurant. The City Council could still revoke the dance permit, but planning commissioners hope the protective measures they put in place will suffice.

{LDQUO}Mad Hot Ballroom" is a delightful documentary about three groups of fifth-graders from New York City public schools whose lives gain class and dignity by their participation in a citywide ballroom dancing competition. Told in the spirit of "Spellbound," last year's charming documentary of school youngsters in a national spelling bee, "Mad Hot Ballroom" also examines the home lives of several of the children who learn poise and the benefits of team participation, and the effect this has on the process of growing up. Sometimes touching and oft times hilarious, "Mad Hot Ballroom" is as engaging for the audience as the dance competition is for the young students.

Many performers will tell you they hope to move their audiences, but Golden West College dance instructor Nannette Brodie really means it. “We want the audience to be moved by what we’re doing,” Brodie said. “We want them to want to get up and dance.” The college’s dance department will try to do just that this weekend when it presents its annual dance show “Move Me.” The show incorporates dances and music that span generations and come from around the globe.

Mike Sciacca Allison Ulrich says she'll never forget the phone call she received in early May. It was one that left her in a brief state of disbelief. It also made her cry. Most importantly, it allowed her to continue the pursuit of her dream, to dance professionally. That call came from the admissions department at the Juilliard School, and it went to Ulrich's cellphone, to let her know she had been accepted to the prestigious academy.

Kendra Shattles Madison Shattles is 13 years old and has been a ballet and jazz dancer for many years at the dance studio OCDC in Huntington Beach.  3 years ago when Madison was10 she was told she has scoliosis.  Over the last 3 year's Madison had to wear a full torso body brace 23 hour a day 7 days a week.  During dance Madison was able to remove the brace but during all other times the brace must be worn in order to keep the curve in her back from getting worse.  The brace was unable to keep the curve from moving and on this past November 17th 2009 Madison had scolioses surgery.

At Trash Bag Fashion Show, performing arts students choreograph movements of plastic-clad models.In this class, it pays to look like trash. A halter-top made from garbage bags? Fabulous, darling. An evening gown compiled from perforated plastic strips and matching twist-tie? Honey, you're getting an A+. Proving that anyone can look good in garbage, about 80 students from Huntington Beach High's Academy for the Performing Arts participated in the second annual Dance Department Trash Bag Fashion Show Saturday at the Huntington Beach Art Center.

Mike Sciacca When Jose Silva put on his first pair of dancing shoes some 25 years ago, he discovered a rhythm that came naturally to him. A few years later, those first moves grew into a true love for the art of dancing, and triggered dreams of a future on the stage and in production. "I really wanted to dance professionally and now, I not only am doing that, but am working toward eventually choreographing and directing my own shows," said the 33-year-old.

Five graduating eighth-graders were presented the Mayor's Award from St. Bonaventure School on Tuesday for making the honor roll every year since fourth grade. Jennifer Nyguen, Casey Roccanova, Jade Jimenez, Brian Nicalek and Thomas Ursano were singled out at the Huntington Beach private school's end-of-the-year honor roll breakfast. Nicalek's award is especially sweet because the student went through three surgical procedures last year to remove a brain tumor and is still undergoing treatment.

Dave Brooks One doesn't have to fly across the Pacific to enjoy a taste of the aloha spirit. Through the end of August, a Costa Mesa Polynesian entertainment troupe is holding a series of performances at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach. Pete Mallory's Surf City Sunset Grille hosts the weekly event, which treats visitors to a cross-cultural tour of the many islands of the Pacific through a lively music and dance show, along with a Polynesian buffet and Hawaiian gifts.

Like any dance performance, Festival Ballet Theatre's production of "Don Quixote" puts its cast through many tempo changes. Its two leads, though, may be operating on a particularly difficult time scale when they join rehearsals Thursday. Which is to say, they may still be on China time. The Fountain Valley-based dance company has enlisted Cory Stearns and Hee Seo, a pair of principal dancers with American Ballet Theatre, to join its regular troupe Saturday and Sunday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

Allynne Noelle was portraying a Turning Girl in "Symphony in 3 Movements" when she snapped her Lisfranc ligament. With adrenaline coursing through her veins, the Huntington Beach-born ballerina didn't discover her injury until she fell out of bed the next morning, overwhelmed by pain. A soloist at the Miami City Ballet in November 2009, Noelle knew that the turnaround time was too short for the company to replace her before its matinee performance in a few hours. A combination of Aleve and "the show must go on" attitude got her through the rigorous Balanchine ballet, as well as the next 10 months.

It was tough for Yvonne Bantoft to show up to the Friday Nite Funtime Dance at Edison Community Center last Friday. Bantoft had taken her husband to the emergency room that morning, which made it hard for the event director to go to the two-hour dance, but by the end of the night, she was happy she attended. "There's just a lot of things going on right now," Bantoft said. "It's been a day, but being here and seeing all the happy faces is what does it. … All the smiles and making my brother happy, that's what's most important to me. " Bantoft's parents, Joe and Dolores Segura, started Friday Nite Funtime Dances, which take place the third Friday of each month for adults with developmental disabilities, at the Edison Community Center 26 years ago and are still involved, despite health issues.

Patrons and dance aficionados came together Saturday night for the Laguna Dance Festival's 7th annual "Stars of Dance" gala performance at the Laguna Playhouse. Special guests Tiler Peck and Joaquin DeLuz of the New York City Ballet paved the way for a string of transfixing performances by the likes of Colorado Ballet, Ballet X, Smuin Ballet, and students from UC Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Despite valiant efforts from the Colorado Ballet and Smuin Ballet duos to measure up, Peck and DeLuz stole the show.

Since its founding in 1940, the esteemed American Ballet Theatre has appeared in a total of 132 cities, 42 countries and all 50 states. And throughout its 72-year history, the New York-based company has commissioned works by all of the great choreographic minds of the 20th century: George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille and Twyla Tharp, among others. Now, at the tender age of 18, Fountain Valley ballet dancer Jamie Kopit can call the ABT her home. Kopit began dancing at the age of four at Southland Ballet Academy in Fountain Valley, shortly after her oldest sister enrolled in classes there.

When Salwa Rizkalla's father signed her up for ballet lessons, she went to class begrudgingly. But those lessons set the 10-year-old on a path to grandeur, first as a professional ballet dancer and later as a teacher. The artistic director of Fountain Valley's Festival Ballet Theatre and owner of Southland Ballet Academy began her career in her native country of Egypt. Around that time, when Gamal Abdel Nasser was president, the best of the world's performing arts, from Shakespeare and Italian opera to Russian ballet and symphonies, were featured nonstop in Egypt.

COSTA MESA - Bonnie Hall was there when the cultural ground in Orange County shifted to the rousing sounds of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. On opening night, Sept. 29, 1986, the soprano and other members of the Pacific Chorale sang the vocal climax of the symphony's final movement. They and another O.C.-based chorale accompanied conductor Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a concert inaugurating the county's first world-class music and dance venue. The Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa was born.

The official title of Sunday's show at Golden West College is Bands and Bellies VIII. To a scorekeeper, though, it's more like Bands and Bellies 1, Community 7. Over the last two years, producers Alec C. Marken and Sarah "al Nour" Baxter have hosted seven Bands and Bellies shows, which bring together musicians, dancers and other artists. Of those shows, only one was a for-profit endeavor. The rest of the time, Marken and Baxter have diverted all of their net proceeds to nonprofits or charitable causes.

When Bo Jackson starred in multiple sports two decades ago, Nike ran a famous commercial in which fellow athletes touted his eclectic knowledge - "Bo knows baseball," "Bo knows football" and so on. If Old World Village ever runs an ad campaign for its annual Oktoberfest celebration, it may want to call it "Herb Knows. " The Herb in question is Herbert Schwarz, a.k.a. the Herbmeister, who has served as Oktoberfest master of ceremonies for 29 years. To name a few: Herb knows the donkey song.

Lexi Harvey's dining room looked Monday morning like the prom section of a department store with tulle, sparkles and jewel-toned dresses draped over the back of chairs. The dresses aren't for the 17-year-old, who said she only owns about three, but for her peers who can't afford to buy one themselves. "It started as a project," she said. "But it turned into something I'm really passionate about. " School dances can easily cost $150 per dance for tickets, dresses, accessories and a limo, and while many in Huntington Beach are fortunate financially, not everyone is, Lexi said.