GOINGS ON : Dancer to Perform to Classical, Pop : Canadian Margie Gillis will give a solo performance at UC Santa Barbara.

Canadian dancer Margie Gillis is so highly regarded in her native country that she has earned an honor equivalent to knighthood. Locals can see for themselves Saturday when she gives a solo performance at UC Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall. Gillis will perform to compositions by Bach, Mendelssohn, Grieg and Saint-Saens, as well as to music by Sinead O’Connor and to a reading of Molly’s soliloquy from James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” The show will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18, $15 and $12. Call 893-3535.

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Santa Barbara’s Community Arts Music Assn. will resume its 75th anniversary season Saturday when it hosts the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert at the Arlington Theater. Under the leadership of conductor Philippe Entremont, the ensemble will perform Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” (featuring the string work of violinist Cho-Liang and cellist Carter Brey), Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture” and Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Symphony. The concert will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are $49, $37, $25 and $19. Call 966-4324 or 963-4408.

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Artists Sandro Chia, Ralesco Clemente, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Georg Baselitz and Markus Luperts will be featured in the film “New Spirit in Painting: Six Painters of the 1980s,” showing today and Sunday at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

The film, which begins at 2:30 p.m. both days, is part of the museum’s look at significant advancements in the art world during the modernist era. The screenings coincide with the museum’s latest exhibit, “Picasso to Christo: the Evolution of a Collection.” The museum is at 1130 State St. Call 963-4364 for information.

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The Lobero Theatre will kick off its 1994 performing arts season Friday with a visit by the 500-year-old Vienna Boys Choir. The program will include the group’s traditional mix of sacred and secular pieces, including Mozart’s “Veni, sancte spiritus, K.47),” Verdi’s “Laudi alla Vergine Maria” and Strauss’ “Tales From the Vienna Woods.” Show time is 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 (adults) and $22 (senior citizens). Call 963-0761. The Lobero is at 33 E. Canon Perdido St.

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Here’s an art exhibit worth checking out before it checks out.

Watercolors by East Coast artist Danial Merriam are on display at the steve stein gallery in Montecito. The work is characterized by vivid colors and even more vivid imagery.

A portion of sales proceeds will benefit the Santa Barbara-based Stop AIDS Now organization. The exhibit will run through Sunday. The gallery is at 1155 Coast Village Road. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. Call 565-2032 for information.

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They’re kind of radical. They’re kind of hip-hop. They’re definitely poets--straight from New York’s Nuyorican Poets Cafe. And they’ll be performing at UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Fasten your seat belts and get ready for this new generation of poets. The show will feature readings by Tracie Morris, Paul Beatty, Maggie Estep, Ed Morales and Mike Tyler. Tickets are $16, $13 and $10. Call 893-3535.

Leo Smith is a regular contributor to Ventura County Life. Write to him at 5200 Valentine Road, Suite 140, Ventura 93003, or send faxes to 658-5576.