Tucson Weekly: Cheap Thrills (June 4

Cheap Thrills HIGH TIME: A Time to Dance studio was started by longtime teacher Dee Dee Doell as a children's alternative to other high-priced studios she felt placed too much emphasis on competitiveness and unrealistic goals.
Five years later, her creation is going strong. It continues to grow, with steady performances throughout Tucson. And local audiences have responded in kind: The Christmas show drew a crowd of more than 400.
Now that tradition continues with their performance of The Maharajah's Wedding. Set in India during the Middle Ages, this full-length ballet focuses on the niggling little notion of man's desire for redemption. The drama will be followed by ballet, jazz and tap dance productions, all performed by the Time to Dance troupe, which ranges in age from 4-and-a-half to adult.
Performance is 2 p.m. Saturday, June 6, in the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway. Admission is free, with donations gratefully accepted. For information, call 327-5137.
REVIVAL REVIEW: The Mat Bevel Company fires up its eclectic notion of entertainment with the D-Day Revival Show, featuring the usual, eccentric Bevel-blend of performance art and live music.
Described as an "exotic vaudevillian showcase oasis," D-Day will include "ethnopercussionist" Swami Robbi Bobbi, Catacoustic Groove, Jimmy Carr and Friends, LouAnn Lucas, and of course the indomitable Bevel as himself.
Event is 8 p.m. Friday, June 5, in the Mat Bevel Institute,
530 N. Stone Ave. Admission is $5. Call 622-0192 for details.
HARD CORE: Tucson's concrete core fires up this weekend, when street corners and alleys come alive on June 6 for another Downtown Saturday Night. This week honors the upcoming Juneteenth celebration with performances by national touring group Harare, a newly commissioned work by top-notch dancer Barbea Williams, and more excellent West African dance by Denise Hawthorne Bey. The event is co-sponsored by the UA African American Student Affairs Center.
The Juneteenth festival will be held June 19 through 21 in Kennedy Park.
Meaning "Let it be" in Swahili, Harare is a South African marimba and drum ensemble, and one of the few touring multi-cultural African troupes focusing upon original ancestral tribal compositions. They perform at 8 and 9 p.m. in the Ronstadt Transit Center.
The Barbea Williams Dance Company will perform the world premier Afro-Brasilero Contemporaneo, and the award-winning traditional Escola de Samba dance with children, at
7:30 p.m. in the Ronstadt Transit Center.
Hawthorne will perform the songs and dances of Africa at
8 p.m. in Arizona Alley, and the Tucson Musicians' Showcase will feature folk phenom Teri Tenace from 7 to 10 p.m. on the Fifth Street Stage, at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Fifth Street.
Other performances include the 10th-anniversary return of the Pulse World Music Ensemble from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. in the Ronstadt Transit Center, and Brazilian bossa nova and rock and roll with The Nite Flys, playing from 7 to 10 p.m. on the Winsett Park stage, 316 N. Fourth Ave.
There will also be plenty of action for the wee ones, including the Arts for Me kids workshop, teaching the fine craft of quilting from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Ronstadt Transit Center.
For information more information on these and other Downtown Saturday Night events, call 624-9977.

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