Local teens and youth groups are the focus in the annual DANCE This showcase, augmented this year by the Step Afrika! troupe. It performs step dance, rooted in African traditions and marching band choreography; its an idiom also popular with African American fraternities, and two from the UW will also perform tonight. (Theres also a 1 p.m. youth matinee on Friday.) Over a dozen local groups are featured, including the S.C.A.T.S. from Dearborn Park Elementary School (on Beacon Hill); the acronym is for Seattle Cirque & Acrobat Teams, a P.E. program now extended to two other public schools. The fitness regime, founded 30 years ago as an alternative to conventional sports, teaches tumbling skills, juggling, and jump ropeincluding the insanely fast and complicated Double-Dutch variety. Also on the bill: the drum ensemble Seattle Kokon Taiko, which pounds on the giant, resonant barrels thataccording to Japanese folkorewere based on empty sake barrels. But, needless to say, no booze will be poured tonight. BRIAN MILLER
Sat., July 11, 7:30 p.m., 2009
