Faces to watch 2003

Merce Cunningham

Choreographer

What do you give someone who changed an art form by making it consider bold new possibilities? A celebration, that’s what -- the kind of blowout that UCLA will host in Royce Hall and at other campus sites in late January to observe the 50th anniversary of Cunningham’s dance company. Starting Jan. 30, three different programs will showcase works created from 1956 to 2000, with the premiere of “MiniEvent” enlisting the Kronos Quartet on opening night. Cunningham himself reads the text from “How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run” on Jan. 31.

Los Angeles Music Center

Venue for experiments

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Disney Hall opens late in the year, but much earlier, in the “vintage” Music Center across the street, experiments in dance programming are likely to test the Southland’s appetite for dance adventures. In May, for instance, expect the locally based Diavolo Dance Theater to invade the Ahmanson Theatre and maybe even link up with other hyperphysical ensembles in a kind of mini-festival. Our spies also report serious Music Center interest in the Bay Area’s classical innovator Alonzo King and his contemporary, chamber-size LINES Ballet. Nobody’s talking officially, but the dance hunt is definitely on.

Edward Villella

Choreographer

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The man who created a whole new style for American-born ballet stars -- who proved that you can dance the fanciest classical steps at the most improbable speed without adopting any highfalutin airs -- brings his acclaimed Miami City Ballet to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on May 2 and 3. Wanna mambo? You will when you see Villella’s splashy, full-evening “Neighborhood Ballroom” on the second and last night of the Miami visit. (More sedate choreography by Balanchine and Petipa is scheduled on the opening program.)

-- Lewis Segal