Tea Me

SAT 7/5

Don't attend this tea party expecting crustless cucumber sandwiches: The "Twisted Tea Dance" offers plump and fleshy delights instead. Bonuses include a saucy burlesque performance by the Original Fat-Bottom Review, hip hop dancing from the size-inclusive Phat Fly Girls, and a fashion show featuring ample gals in sexy gear from S.F. plus-size clothier Dangerous Curves.

In between the performances, attendees can hit the dance floor, with DJ Beat Boy spinning for Rubenesque ladies, sizable fellows, and their admirers. Proceeds benefit Big Moves, an organization bent on increasing acceptance of size diversity in the dance world, and its annual "Bodies in Motion" concert. The party starts at 4 p.m. at El Rio, 3158 Mission (at Cesar Chavez), S.F. Admission is $5-500; call 756-5593 or visit www.bigmoves.org.
-- Joyce Slaton

Titillating Tango

TUES 7/8

Tango originated in the brothels of 19th-century Argentina, and since then its hot, sultry beats have signaled sex. That is, until the French and Argentine musicians of the Gotan Project cooled things off, mixing tango's sexy syncopation with chilly electronic dub beats. The result is unique, eerie, and entirely danceable, a combination that's caught on big in Euro clubs. The group's first U.S. release, La Revancha del Tango, is garnering raves stateside. The Gotan Project arrives tonight at 9 at Bimbo's 365 Club, 1025 Columbus (at Chestnut), S.F. Admission is $20; call 474-0365 or visit www.bimbos365club.com.
-- Joyce Slaton

Hot to Trot
In the good ol' summertime

SUN 7/6

Summer, once the lazy interval between seasonal theatrical madness, has been transformed by SummerFest/Dance, now offering (over three weeks) nearly two dozen contemporary-dance world premieres. Kunst-Stoff experimentalist Yannis Adoniou and his compatriots set the tone opening night with "14 Bells," an evening of site-specific improv performance, while the Choreographers and Composers Consortium debuts work by such simpatico duos as Janice Garret and Matthew Pierce. Veteran modernists -- including Heidi Schweiker, Mary Carbonara, and ODC's K.T. Nelson -- show pieces, but ballet also gets the spotlight in work by Company C Contemporary Ballet. It begins tonight at 8 (and continues through July 27) at SFSU's McKenna Theater, 1600 Holloway, S.F. Admission is $15-25; call 345-7575 or visit www.summerfestdance.org for a complete schedule.
-- Heather Wisner