TCloud Gate Dance Theater
8 p.m. Saturday
Northrop Auditorium
$27-39; 25 percent student discount

he poetic beauty of Chinese calligraphy is rerouted into a new form – dance. The newly touring “Cursive” is brought to Minnesota by the Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan.

The show uses elegant ritual dances to emulate Chinese calligraphy painting movements.

The group is composed of 19 members and is grounded in Asian folklore and myths. The members are experts in dance, Tai Chi, meditation and Chinese Opera movement.

The show also uses traditional dance movements and molds them with modern concepts in this graceful theatrical show from Taiwan. (Jenny Phan)

Remember the old saying, “Nothing lasts forever?” Maybe it’s true, but the Blind Boys of Alabama have been performing for more than 60 years and they are still touring, still performing and still making non-believers say “Hallelujah!” In fact, they won back-to-back Grammy awards in 2002 for “Spirit of the Century” and in 2003 for “Higher Ground,” and tonight this seven-member group is booked for a concert on the University campus.

They have worked the gospel circuit for about 40 years, but in 1983 their appearance in an off-Broadway and Broadway musical brought their music to a new audience. They’ve added contemporary songs and new arrangements to their treasured style, so head to Ted Mann Concert Hall tonight and check it out. (Katie Wilber)

One of the favorite acts at 2001’s Nordic Roots Festival, Finnish folk group Varttina return to the Twin Cities to support their 10th album “Iki.” Famous for intense and uninhibited harmonies backed with frantic violins and pulsating drum beats, this album finds the female vocalists more relaxed and mellow. But this only enhances Varttina’s beauty. Just when you are about to float away with one of their magical melodies, they stop you and pull you back down to earth with a rapid and screeching romp. (Keri Carlson)

While Hollywood continues its slick appropriation of Hong Kong-style action – with “Matrix” and “Kill Bill” type films – here’s a chance to see how they do it in Hong Kong.

“Fulltime Killer” does not provide as much bang as John Woo’s early-’90s masterpieces (“Hard-Boiled”), but it’s still a nice piece of blood-soaked work.

The story, as you might have guessed, has to do with a disgruntled assassin who is only the number two killer in town. He challenges the number one assassin, and as you can imagine, slow-motion bullet showers ensue. The film screens as part of Asian Media Access’ monthly Asian film series at the Oak Street Cinema and Riverview Theater. Go to www.amamedia.org for more info. (Tom Horgen)

History has an odd way of obscuring personalities.

When Georg Buchner died he was 25 and a political radical, natural science scholar and professor at Zurich University. However, he is remembered as an author of three plays that were not produced until 30 years after his death.

Two finished plays, “Danton’s Death” and “Leonce and Lena,” clearly focus around his characters’ political activism. But scholars have had a hard time trying to understand where Buchner was headed with his unfinished work “Woyzeck.”

This play tells the story of a lonely soldier whom the Captain, doctor and even his cheating wife cuckold. Based on a real historical case, the real Woyzeck murders his wife and is subsequently executed.

In Xperimental Theatre’s production of “Woyzeck,” Maija Brown and Jeanne Willcoxon, theater arts PhD students, rework Buchner’s unfinished text. Instead of using Buchner’s play, the directors take fragments from “Woyzeck” and place them in a circus-like setting. (Greg Corradini)

This promises to be one of the blowout events of the year. Diaspora Flow, a local arts organization bringing higher visibility to art by people of color, has put together two nights as serious as a heart attack. Heads up: This is political. This is art with a social purpose and agenda to shake you out of that Minnesota-nice coma you’ve been lingering in. Are you scared? Loosen up and go with it.

Highlights include Toronto group LAL, whose fusion of diverse musical styles has garnered the group international acclaim. Check out their dreamy, hypnotic music and lyrical genius now so you can say, “I saw them back before they blew up.”

Dance is also featured. Ananya Chatterjea, University professor of dance, will perform with choreographer Rennie Harris. Harris is a familiar name to dancers and the rest of you ought to take notice. His work tests the limits of dance as expression of the personal and political in an athletic explosion.

Truth be told, there is too much happening to write about in one blurb. For less than a pizza, you will have never been entertained, educated and hyperstimulated like this before. Local and international musicians, dancers and visual artists round out the event. Don’t miss this one. (Gabriel Shapiro)