Best Bets: Saturday 1/9

11 am: Movies

French director Benoit Jacquot drew raves for his spare 1997 film “The Single Girl,” but several of his previous efforts have not gotten full U.S. distribution. Such is the case with “The Disenchanted” (La Desenchantee), his film about a 17-year-old, Rimbaud-loving Parisian teen and the three men in her life, which screened only in New York on its 1990 release. Finally film lovers hungry for sophisticated movie fare can check out “The Disenchanted,” which will play morning weekend shows at Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex theater. The film is in French with English subtitles.

* “The Disenchanted,” Monica 4-Plex, 1332 2nd St., Santa Monica. Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. $8. (310) 394-9741.

5 pm: Dance

Say what you want about her singing career, but Paula Abdul can dance. Trying to inspire “the next generation of Gene Kellys, Ginger Rogerses, Fred Astaires and Shirley MacLaines”--her words--Abdul started the Paula Abdul Company Dance Championships, a nationwide tour of competitions. At the Burbank Hilton, 300 local aspiring dancers, ages 7 to 21, will try to tap, swing and hip-hop their way to a national championship in Florida this summer.

* Paula Abdul Company Dance Championships at the Burbank Hilton, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank. Classes start at 8 a.m. Competition begins at 5 p.m. A showcase performance is Sunday at 3:30 p.m. $20 pass for all weekend. Free competition viewing only. (818) 843-6000.

7:30 pm: Festival

More than 120 performers will take to the stage at the Chinese Performing Arts Festival in San Gabriel. The festival will feature dances by the Lotus Foundation Institute with music by the Chinese Music Orchestra of Southern California and the Sun Yat Sen Children’s Performing Group.

* Chinese Performing Arts Festival, San Gabriel Civic Auditorium, 320 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel. $10-$20. (626) 573-1580.

6 pm: Art

From new large-scale paintings by Gronk to figurative sculpture by John Frame, a wide variety of distinctive artworks will be displayed at Saturday’s West Hollywood Galleries Joint Art Opening. Following a quiet December, the 1999 art season begins with a vengeance as galleries along Melrose, Norwich, Robertson and North Almont open new shows in painting, drawing, sculpture and photography. The open house will include 16 galleries--all within walking distance of one another--and will be open from 6 to 9 p.m.

* West Hollywood Galleries Joint Art Opening. Participating galleries are located on Melrose Avenue, Robertson Boulevard, Norwich and North Almont drives. Admission is free. For more information, call Daniel Saxon Gallery at (310) 657-6033.

8 pm: Pop Music

Peace activist, hobo, political candidate, essayist, truck farmer . . . U. Utah Phillips has worn a lot of hats, but he’s best known as a folk music patriarch, one of the last active links to the Woody Guthrie tradition of populist agitation. The singer, storyteller and humorist has bridged the generations, collaborating with folk upstart Ani DiFranco on the 1996 album “The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere.”

* U. Utah Phillips, McCabe’s, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. $17.50. (310) 828-4403.

10 pm: Clubs

It’s fitting that Sal Jenco, Johnny Depp and the fine staff of the Viper Room have invited Courtney Love to re-christen the Sunset Strip club after seven weeks of renovations. The West Hollywood venue has been L.A.’s epicenter of sonic awareness (can you say Oasis, Johnny Cash, Green Day and Pearl Jam? Sure you can.) In its short 5 1/2 years, the club has made music history, and Saturday night’s acoustic set by Love--who will be joined by guitarist and Hole-mate Eric Erlandson--is sure to be another slice of the post-mod poetic pie. The performance, which benefits the Center for Living--an L.A.-based yoga and detox facility--is sold out, but a small number of tickets are scheduled to be released to the public today, so go out and catch that worm, early birds.

* Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson at the Viper Room, 8852 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Doors open at 9 p.m., show starts at 10 p.m. Tickets are $200. (310) 358-1881.

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Freebie: Top comedians will perform from 10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the Laugh Factory, 8001 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. All it’ll cost you is a pint of blood for the American Red Cross. (800) GIVE-LIFE.

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Heart of Los Angeles Youth presents a staged reading of “Leo Politi’s Los Angeles,” plays inspired by writer-illustrator Politi, at the Mark Taper Auditorium of the Central Library, 630 W. 5th St., downtown Los Angeles. 2 p.m. (213) 228-7331.