GOINGS ON : Fast Footwork Unites World Dance Forms : Quick-tempo, multiethnic energy is ready to burst out on a Santa Barbara stage this weekend.

There may not seem to be much similarity between tap and Polynesian dance or African dance and clogging.

But as the upcoming “Roots of Rhythm” dance concerts at Santa Barbara’s Center Stage Theater aim to show, all these forms are tied together by “fast footwork,” said Beth Carlson, artistic director of the performance group Taps Ltd. and coordinator of the shows.

“Most of these dance forms get up to a pretty quick tempo,” she said. “You get sort of a pulsating energy from all these different dance forms.”

Carlson has arranged for local dancers and troupes to demonstrate a variety of dance styles this Friday and Saturday.

Kay Fulton, head of the dance department at Santa Barbara City College, will present an African dance piece; the Punahele O’Polynesia troupe will perform Polynesian dance; Suaya Galindo and company will perform the Spanish flamenco; the Santa Rosette Cloggers of Camarillo will demonstrate the dance of the Appalachian Mountains; Rob van Haaren will do the Lindy Hop, and Taps Ltd. will show off some soft shoe, stair dancing, be-bop and shim-sham, and it’ll look at modern polyrhythmic dancing.

Show time is 8 p.m. both evenings. Tickets are $11 (general), $10 (students and seniors). Call 963-0408. Center Stage Theater is on the second level of the Paseo Nuevo shopping center at Chapala and De La Guerra streets.

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Photographer and explorer Craig Harris will present his slide show, “Journey to the Stone Age,” at 7:30 tonight in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

Irian Jaya, an unmapped area in western Papua New Guinea, is considered the last untouched region in the world. Harris’ visit focused on the village of the Dani tribe, which has maintained many of its ancient customs.

General admission is $5. Call 682-4711. The museum is at 2559 Puesta del Sol Road.

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The Bach Camerata will open its fifth season tonight with a show at the Music Academy of the West in Montecito. The program will include compositions by Beethoven, Ibert and Miguel Del Aguila of Oxnard. The concert will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18. Call (800) 557-BACH. The Music Academy is at 1070 Fairway Road.

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San Francisco’s Joe Goode Performance Group will combine modern dance, theater, sounds and ordinary movement in a presentation of its latest work, “Take/Place,” Saturday at UC Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall.

The dance piece looks at people’s connections and disconnections to certain locations, their need to have a place to call home, and their search for identity. The show will begin at 8 p.m. General admission is $12, $15 and $18. Call 893-3535.

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Popular East Coast artist Daniel Merriam will visit the Steve Stein Gallery in Montecito on Saturday and Sunday for the opening of his latest exhibit there. The show will run through Feb. 12.

When the 31-year-old Merriam brought his surreal, fantasy-filled paintings to the gallery in January, 1994, he attracted large crowds and rave reviews. Included in his exhibit this time are Merriam’s imaginative watercolor works and limited edition giclee prints. (Giclee is a digital printing method by which a computer copies original paintings.)

Merriam will be at the gallery on Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The gallery is at 1155 Coast Village Road. Call 565-2032.

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Brave Old World, a group of leading klezmer musicians who won first prize at the 1993 International Klezmer Competition in Israel, will provide the music and dance instruction for “An Evening in Paradise: A Mock Jewish Wedding,” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at UCSB’s Corwin Pavilion.

Klezmer music, with its Eastern European origins, is often associated with dance tunes and wedding music in the Yiddish tradition. The “wedding” will be officiated by Rabbi Steve Cohen and will feature a wedding canopy, the traditional breaking of the glass and chopped liver. Admission is free.

On Wednesday, Brave New World will present its klezmer repertoire in concert at the university’s Campbell Hall. The program will include a mix of the festive wedding music and Hasidic religious songs, political songs and a variety of traditional and secular pieces. Show time is 8 p.m. General admission is $12 and $16. Call 893-3535.