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>>DANCE

Rite of Spring + Behind Resonance

Thurs., Sept. 16-Sat., Sept. 18, 7:30pm. $30-$35. Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Broad and Locust sts. 215.413.1318. www.livearts-fringe.org

Like the world's greatest painters, Chinese choreographer Shen Wei fills a canvas with lines, shapes and forms, creating a unified vision that's both visually breathtaking and deeply moving. A member of China's first modern dance troupe, Wei and his company Shen Wei Dance Arts have recently taken the performing arts community by storm with their evocative stage portraits. At the Live Arts Festival to perform his double bill Rite of Spring and Behind Resonance, Shen Wei shows he's not just a choreographer but a visual artist of the highest caliber. Set to Igor Stravinsky's intricate score, in the lyrical Rite of Spring the dancers (accompanied by world-class pianist Fazil Say) dart and intertwine like wandering pieces on a giant chess board. Gorgeously designed by Wei, Spring and Resonance both demand a large stage in an elegant house. Luckily the festival has once again secured the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, which should be the perfect spot to enjoy this most remarkable of modern dance companies. (J. Cooper Robb)

>>DANCE

Drive-In Lost Soles

Thurs., Sept. 16, 8:30pm; Fri., Sept. 17-Sat., Sept. 18, 8:30pm and 10pm. $15. Whole Foods Market, 10th and South sts. 215.413.1318. www.livearts-fringe.org

Thaddeus Phillips is a veritable whirlwind of ingenuity. Whether splashing about in a kiddie pool to recreate the opening storm in The Tempest or operating lighting equipment with his feet while simultaneously changing his shirt in Lost Soles, few performers possess the energy of the talented solo artist. A semibiographical tale that showcases Phillips' tap-dancing agility, Soles premiered at the tiny Silicon Gallery as part of the 2000 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. The show subsequently traveled to New York, Denver, Seattle and Prague and evolved into a much larger work than the small-scale original. Now titled Drive-In Lost Soles, the show--which is being staged on the roof of Whole Foods Market as part of the Live Arts Festival--is about a tap dancer from Wyoming who escapes to Cuba and can't get back. Utilizing home video from Phillips' stay in Havana (which has been enhanced and is now shown on a giant screen), Lost Soles suggests a Cuba of proud people and rooftop clotheslines dancing with color. The original version's one flaw was its choppy structure, which Phillips assures us now flows far better on Jorge Cousineau's rebuilt set. (J. Cooper Robb)

>>ART

"Challenge 1"

"Challenge TalkAbout" with artist and teacher Mary Murphy: Tues., Sept. 21, 5:30-6:30pm. Free. Through Oct. 6. Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine St. 215.922.3456 ext. 318. www.fleisher.org

Dreamy music from Sarah Zwerling's installation Woo washes over the "Challenge 1" exhibit, creating an upbeat, otherworldly ambience. The music is spacey and benevolent, like the swells of harp and xylophone that cue Glinda's arrival in The Wizard of Oz. It's segue music, all swirl and anticipation. But it's almost too much swirl for Zwerling's own multimedia piece, which already has an element of visual swirl--a video projection on the floor showing pink roses spinning and tumbling in space. The dizzying focal point, surrounded by a fairy-tale forest lit with pink and blue lights and accompanied by the sweet music, makes the piece cotton-candy-ish. Removal of one swirl (I vote for the video) might calm things down and allow the eye to digest this piece about romance and artificiality. Elsewhere in the show, Steve Cope's oil paintings of colorful balls bounding in tumultuous skies--nicely evocative to begin with--get spark and galactic uplift from proximity to the music. And Veleta Vancza's nubbly blob sculptures, made of aggregations of small repeated metal mesh shapes covered with gloppy, vitreous enamel, become odd Rice Krispies squares from planet Josef Albers--unexpected visitors who want to talk about materials and formalism. The show's an excellent first outing for the "Challenge" series, now in its 27th season. (Roberta Fallon)

>>ART

"The Civil Rights Photographs of Jack T. Franklin: Philadelphia Connection"

Through Nov. 29. Opening reception: Thurs., Sept. 16, 5-7pm. Free. Philadelphia Foundation's Community Art Gallery, 1234 Market St., suite 1800. 215.563.6417. www.philafound.org