Dancing fools have a dream weekend ahead of them, as two major dance events compete for attention. But don’t fret, there’s plenty of time to do both. 
Ko-Thi Dance Company makes a rare appearance to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Perhaps not rare, but Ferne Yangyeitie Caulker’s dance and drum ensemble is more focused on schools and community outreach these days. But to celebrate the start of their fifth decade, the group will make it a show worth seeing. Part of the program features a medley of the ensembles best known work. And part of it features signature pieces (Juba and Goombay), now danced by a new generation of performers. Of course, the full-tilt drum en
semble will be there as well.
There’s also a reprise of sorts at the Milwaukee Ballet, where the group will reprise its 2007 commission by Margo Sappington. Has Been has a PR pedigree made in heaven. It’s based on a suite of songs recorded by William Shatner and the Ben Folds Trio. Yes, that William Shatner. The piece has attracted enough public attention to generate a film documentary, which just played at the Nashville Film Festival. And it’s destined to become a local favorite. Artistic Director Michael Pink has paired it with two other contemporary pieces, including a world premiere by Mark Godden. According to the Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Strini, "Wonder Wild (A Daughter’s Want of a Father’s Gaze)” is inspired by the life of James Joyce and Godden’s on-again-off-again love of Finnegan’s Wake.
The area’s two major chamber orchestras are also in a bit of a duel this weekend. Richard Hynson’s Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra closes out its season with a summery blend of Tchiakovsky (“Variations on a Rococo Theme,” featuring cellist Scott Tisdel) and Mendelssohn (the “Italian” Symphony). And the Concord Chamber Orchestra wraps up its “elemental” season with a program entitled “Water,” including “Water Music” of both Telemann and Handel, Richard Rodgers “Victory at Sea” and Ferde Grofe’s “Mississippi Suite.”
On the pop side of the music spectrum, emo punk arena mavens Fall Out Boy bring their Believers Never Die Part Deux tour to the Rave. And out west, folk country singer Kathy Mattea comes to the Wilson Center, supporting her album “Coal,” which isn’t as scandalous as it sounds—it’s a tribute to America’s coal-mining heritage rather than a call for more strip mining.
And for something semi-completely different, Bad Soviet Habits presents Decaffeinated Tragedy, Kurt Hartwig’s solo memory play about his friendship with artist Jennifer Bonner. Hartwig’s Who I Was Yesterday was a wildly inventive puppet theater piece that mixed mythology and science fiction. And his Cat’s Cradle explored his relationship with his father. Here, the subject is the nature of friendship, art and mortality. And the importance of coffee and cheesecake in everyday life. Both will be served during the production, which will take place at the 5th ward bar, Moct.
If you’re looking for a theater double header, check out In Tandem’s production of Rich Orloff’s Romantic Fools, a series of sketches about the ins and outs of relationships, from first date to 50th anniversary.
Movies for Grown-Ups: Summer is here, cinematically speaking, and the parade of blockbusters marches on. This week, Angels and Demons enters the fray. But if Vatican 
voodoo isn’t your cup of tea, there’s one promising local opening. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Sugar is the story of a Dominican baseball player struggling to make it in the big leagues and keep his family out of poverty. It’s been hailed one of the year’s best for its “deep and human honesty (A.O. Scott of the New York Times). It starts Friday at the Downer Theatre.
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