You know that a show is gonna work here in Miami when locals instinctively know how to pronounce the name. Take 8cho, for instance -- you know it's pronounced "oh-cho," like Calle Ocho.

8cho is an Argentine production that fuses Cirque du Soleil with tango, electornica with aerial stunts. Yep, there's a reason they call this a "high-flying spectacle." And you can see it for yourself this Thursday -- for free.

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Shrouded in darkness and wrapped in a tangle of white fabrics, a mysterious four-legged, dragon-like creature haltingly weaves between the audience's folding chairs. An increasingly loud bass drone and the unsettling tick-tock of an unseen grandfather clock accompany the creature's progress. Sloshing and banging sounds are supplanted by squeaks, deep breathing, windy wails and a haunting dark melody line, reminiscent of Twin Peaks. Sounds emanate from various sources, including the costume's wig, as the tethered performers advance toward the bare dance floor.

This is the beginning of Touch Me Hear, a multi-media work that premiered at Wynwood's Inkub8 performance space and plays in another Miami venue mid-June, before continuing to New York City at the end of the month.

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via shapingsoundco.com

Travis Wall knows a thing or two about dreams. Firstly, the 25-year-old dancer, Emmy-nominated choreographer and reality star is living his; the dance company he founded with his best friends, Shaping Sound, recently set off on a multicity tour. Secondly, the show of his dreams is, in fact, inspired by dreaming (This is getting Inception-y!). And we're guessing that every once in awhile, the multi-hyphenate gets some REM sleep.

But we could be wrong; Wall's a busy man. After he completes Shaping Sound's13-stop tour, he jets back to Los Angeles to choreograph for So You Think You Can Dance.

Wall split-leaped his way into America's living rooms as the runner up on season two of SYTYCD. Since then, in addition to choreographing for the Fox show, he helped put together numbers for the 82nd Academy Awards and the latest Miami-based Step Up movie. He was also featured in the Oxygen reality show All the Right Moves, which documented the formation of Shaping Sound with pals Nick Lazzarini (season 1 SYTYCD winner), Teddy Forance and Kyle Robinson.

Wall chatted with Cultist about the show's inspiration, why there won't be a second season of All the Right Moves, how he'd respond if HBO came calling, and what he loves to do in the Magic City. (Hint: it involves going out).

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Inside Ayikodans' new studio.

Three years after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, it's easy to look to the island nation and wonder, what has been done, what has improved, is there rebirth?

It can be a dark gaze -- so much to be done. But for rays of light, look no further than Haiti's premiere dance troupe Ayikodans, founded in 1987 by internationally renowned choreographer Jeanguy Saintus, which found a helping hand in Miami through an effort led by the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

"Ayikodans represents a real life story of physical and spiritual renewal," says John Richard, president and CEO of the Arsht Center. "When the earthquake shocked our friends in Haiti and we learned that Ayikodans was in peril, we asked ourselves, 'How can we help? How can we make a difference?'"

See also:
- Haiti's Ayikodans: South Florida Can't Get Enough
- Ayikodans, Having Conquered Miami, Is Ready for the World
- Haiti's Ayikodans Dancers Bring Hope, Energy to Carnival Theater

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Rudi Goblen started breakdancing 19 years ago. Since then he has become a dancer, actor, performing artist, and writer, performing with Teo Castellanos' D-Projects and becoming a founding member of Octavio Campos' Camposition Hybrid Theater Works and Rosie Herrera's Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre.

A highly acclaimed b-boy, Goblen and his troupe Flipside Kings tour nationally and internationally. Goblen always seems to push his artistic boundaries, and in his latest one-man show, PET, he tries his hand at interactive theater.

Written and performed by Goblen and directed by Michael Yawney, PET debuts at the Miami Light Project's Light Box this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. We caught up with Goblen to learn more.

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Daniel Azouley

The Miami City Ballet Company (MCB) will close its 2012-2013 season this weekend at the Arsht Center with Broadway and Ballet, a valentine to Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine. No surprise there, since the MCB has been acclaimed far and wide for its devotion to the masters, especially Balanchine. What makes this program so delicious is the unpredictable pairing of the works as well as the works themselves.

The first part of the performance belongs to Jerome Robbins. So successful was he as a choreographer of Broadway musicals -- West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I are only a sampling of his handiwork -- that it is easy to forget that Robbins loved ballet as well. And ballet as pure as it gets: that's what his "Dances at a Gathering" is all about.

See also:
- Mike Piazza to Perform With Miami City Ballet: "It's Going to Be a Lot of Fun"
- Here's Mike Piazza Performing a Fish Dive in Miami City Ballet Rehearsals (VIDEO)

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"Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" by Daniel Azoulay

In a single weekend, we will be able to see two of this country's reputable dance companies, both selecting ballets made in the United States and in a variety of American styles, in one Broward setting.

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is offering a ticket deal -- $99 to see both companies on two separate days. And, like many things American, each of the five ballets delivers a distinctive taste, influenced by a worldly palette. The red hot contemporary Trey McIntyre Project (TMP) will perform three of McIntyre's ballets, flavored by traditional Basque dancing, Shakespeare and more, Friday and Saturday at the Center's Amaturo Theater. South Florida's Miami City Ballet will present repertory of George Balanchine, founder of the New York City Ballet, and Jerome Robbins, best known for his Broadway choreography, Friday through Sunday at the Au-Rene Theater.

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When Miami City Ballet announced that baseball great and onetime Florida Marlin Mike Piazza would take the stage during the company's performance at the Arsht Center next month, they made one thing very clear: Piazza would not be dancing.

Turns out, they were wrong.

MCB called our attention yesterday to a rehearsal video showing Piazza getting his ballet on -- flapping his arms in a half-hearted Swan Lake impressions, and even lifting principal dancer Patricia Delgado off her feet.

See also:
- Mike Piazza to Perform With Miami City Ballet: "It's Going to Be a Lot of Fun"

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The lovely weather in Miami these days, the vibrant cultural scene, the ethnically diverse food options -- all are reasons for Alison Chase to jump for joy. After all, it is pretty cold in Maine, where she lives.

But more important than all that: the modern dance giant -- sh's co-founder of, oh, some little groups you may have heard of, like Pilobolus and Momix -- is thrilled to be in South Florida this week to hold the world premiere of her work Red Weather at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (SMDCAC) on Saturday.

Red Weather is part of a four-piece show that Chase's touring program, Alison Chase Performance (from her dance theater production company, Apogee Arts), will be performing in our area, where she and her dancers have also been sharing with the community by way of workshops.

"I am doing a whole week of outreach here, and one workshop was very exciting because it involved kids from the area and a senior citizens group, and so we did a transgenerational workshop," says Chase from the SMDCAC facilities. "I am looking forward to working with local choreographers and dancers... I would like to come down and just do research, with the music and the restaurants. This is a really rich, wonderful, community here."

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Wikipedia CC

Piazza in 1999. See? He's always had a sensitive side.

Baseball season is upon us, but here in Miami, there might be more fans singing "Take Me Out to the Ballet."

That's because legendary catcher (and former Florida Marlin) Mike Piazza will take the stage with Miami City Ballet next month. Yes, really. He'll portray the Gangster in Miami City Ballet's production of George Balanchine's Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.

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