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Night Howl
By Karen Reardanz

Leap Ear: Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble bounces and hops, as well as sharpens its math skills, on Saturday at the Mello Center in Watsonville. Photo by Steve Savage Buy the Numbers: Dancers Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern give more than just a moving nod to kinesis at Watsonville's Mello Center DANCE--CHOREOGRAPHY IN PARTICULAR--requires more than simple kinetic moves. You can't just flail about the stage--there must be a method behind those movements. The Santa Cruz-based Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble realizes this and makes motion out of things one wouldn't ordinarily put on the stage. Like what? Well, for instance, these dancers have a soft spot in their intellectual hearts for mathematics. Math may bore you, puzzle you, downright frustrate you, but Karl Schaffer and Erik Stern, along with company members Chris Jones and Scott Kim, somehow turn numbers into energy. Famous for the show Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern, Two Guys Dancing About Math, the company gives logarithms flight and rhythm intellectual vigor. The ensemble brings its highly physical act to the Mello Center this Saturday night for a show titled The Secret Life of Squares. A four-part series, this humorous, infectious performance begins with "Ethnic Dance," a ditty (in French, no less) all about break dancing. It then delves into inertia, wind, symmetry and similar mind-stumping topics. The night kicks off with a mathematical art contest for the young ones, along with interactive puzzles and games sure to flummox even the right-brainiest of the bunch. The production gets started Saturday at 6pm (the performance begins at 8pm) at the Mello Center, E. Beach and Lincoln streets, Watsonville. Tickets cost $12/$10, $10/$5 for kids 13-18 and $7/$5 for wee ones under 12. For more info, call 763-4047. Kitchen to the World The lady with the Chicano theater company El Teatro de la Esperanza now spreads her wings throughout the U.S., Mexico and Latin America as a solo theater performer and comedienne. Ruby Nelda Pérez weaves stories, legends and folklore in her one-woman show Doña Rosita's Jalapeño Kitchen, coming straight to the UCSC Mainstage Theater this Saturday. Peppered with Pérez's pride in her culture and plenty of comedic flair, the show revolves around Doña Rosita contemplating whether or not to sell her restaurant and lifelong home to developers. Pérez serves up a wide range of spicy characters and personae. Doña Rosita's Jalapeño Kitchen gets cooking on Saturday at 8pm at UCSC. Tickets cost $15/$12. For more info, call 459-2159. FutureThink The Women's Art and Poetry Show showcases poetry and performance art from local ladies at the Walnut Avenue Women's Center on Friday. ... Cabrillo professor and writer Morton Marcus reads from his works on Tuesday at the Capitola Book Cafe. ... The Flickering Frame Film Society screens F. W. Murnau's Faust and Paul Wegener's Der Golem on Oct. 12 at the Movie I & II. [ Metro Santa Cruz | MetroActive Central | Archives ]