THURSDAY

DANCE

SAVION GLOVER

Most dance forms have a strong relationship with music, but there aren’t too many in which the dancer is a musician as well. Tap, with its intimate association to rhythm, is an outstanding example of that double role, and Glover is an amazing practitioner. The last time he was in town, it was with all the trimmings of his Broadway hit, Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk; this time he’s just a guy with some musicians and tap shoes in Improvography, his investigation of the rhythmic connection between his feet and the floor. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., March 31. $20–$45. Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., 206-292-ARTS. SANDRA KURTZ

THURSDAY

VISUAL ARTS

LIN TIANMIAO

One of the first pieces you’ll stumble onto at “Between Past and Present,” SAM’s excellent exhibit of contemporary Chinese video and photography, is Lin’s supersized self-portrait, Braiding (pictured here installed at the CourtYard Gallery in Beijing). Hidden behind the arresting, ghostly image is a nervelike network of hundreds of threads that come together in a huge rope—a potent but elegant meditation on identity. Lin will visit Seattle to talk about her work, as well as the current cultural and political climate facing artists who test the limits of authority in China. 7 p.m. Thurs., March 31. $5–$10. Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St., 206-654-3100. ANDREW ENGELSON

FRIDAY

FILM

THE LAWLESS BREED

Twenty years after his death, let’s simply appreciate Rock Hudson as an actor, not as a symbol of the closet or AIDS. The Grand Illusion begins a three-title salute with this 1953 Western, in which Hudson plays outlaw John Wesley Hardin. The Civil War just over, he snarls, “There’s no more law in Texas! Only Yankee law!” He also rebels against his overbearing preacher father. Killing strictly in self-defense, Hudson looks more comfortable as a cardsharp than a gunman; it’s an early role, and his serenely confident screen persona hasn’t gelled just yet. When others question whether he’ll return from the outlaw’s path, he seems genuinely angry, declaring, “A man can change, can’t he?” You see something of Hudson’s real ambition there, as he claws his way up the studio ladder. Fri., April 1–Thurs., April 8. $5–$7.50. Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 206-523-3935. BRIAN MILLER

MONDAY

MUSIC

BUCK 65

Richard Terfry isn’t a typical rapper—he’s white, he’s from Nova Scotia, he rhymes about craftsmanship and centaurs, his ego appears modest, his beats on the whole are functional if not torpid. But he’s not a typical indie rapper, either, because even when he plays the sympathy card, it’s not usually for himself but for someone else (his mother, to whom 2001’s Man Overboard is dedicated, for example). He’s also got ridiculous charisma live. Get to know him via V2’s superb new compilation, This Right Here Is Buck 65, then see him onstage, where his instincts are as unerring as his lyrics. Handsome Boy Modeling School headline; Rondo Brothers open, with Buck 65 in the middle. 8 p.m. Mon., April 4. $20 adv. Showbox, 1426 First Ave., 206-628-3151. MICHAELANGELO MATOS

WEDNESDAY

BOOKS

JORDAN FISHER SMITH

Part Dragnet and part Walden Pond, Smith’s memoir, Nature Noir: A Park Ranger’s Patrol in the Sierra (Houghton Mifflin, $24), combines naturalism with law enforcement. He spent some 14 years arresting drunks and rowdies in a California state park; the wonder of it is that he never got too jaded to appreciate “a condemned landscape”—supposedly to be drowned by a dam—returning to health after mining and other frontier- days indignities. Like John McPhee, whom he acknowledges, he sees how nature resists man’s intrusions in unexpected ways. And besides the drunks with guns, he also has to worry about a fatal mountain-lion attack. 7:30 p.m. Wed., April 6. Free. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., 206-634-3400. BRIAN MILLER