Out There goes out & about to arts & cultural events five nights out of seven most weeks. It's a good way to stay involved, be a part of the city, see different neighborhoods and get out of our own personal bubble.

"Jerome Robbins: A Life in Dance," published by Yale University Press as part of its "Jewish Lives" series, is no love letter.

San Francisco Ballet, our big league troupe, is finally back in the Opera House for the real dance season. They kicked off last Wednesday with a successful Gala, then the real opener on Friday: a boffo performance of "Don Quixote."

In 30 years of reviewing "The Nutcracker," with which San Francisco Ballet returned to the Opera House last Wednesday night, I've never seen such glorious dancing as they brought to the last act.

Tchaikovsky-savvy consumers will grock what's going on right from the cover of the new Paris Opera and Ballet pairing of Tchaikovsky's one-act opera "Iolanta" and two-act ballet "The Nutcracker" (BelAir).

Chita Rivera will be at it again at Feinstein's at the Nikko next week, singing songs and telling tales from throughout her career in a four-show run of her latest cabaret show (including afternoon matinees on Sat., & Sun., Nov. 10 & 11).

On the eve of this historic and Very Important Election, we can't say it better than Hans the Franz does with his spectacular outfit. He's out there in the Castro District streets, resplendent in his declamatory onesie, and it's all to get out the vote.

"Körper" played last weekend in Berkeley, where Cal Performances presented Sasha Waltz's masterpiece in Zellerbach Hall for the first time.

Choreographer and performer Monique Jenkinson, in the guise of her drag queen persona Fauxnique, and her longtime partner, electronic composer Marc Kate, will premier their first full collaboration, "Girl," at the Joe Goode Annex.

An excited crowd filled UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall last Friday night for the West Coast premiere of the Mark Morris Dance Group's "Pepperland."

In "Hot To Trot," filmmaker Gail Freedman takes viewers inside the little-known, fascinating world of same-sex competitive ballroom dance.

In his autobiography, Paul Taylor wrote that the vital statistic of his life was "an insatiable itch to communicate to the world at large," a goal he fulfilled as one of the greatest modern dance choreographers of the 20th century.

More arts events are coming to the Bay Area this fall! Let's list some.

"When the Beat Drops" not only reveals the underground dance movement "bucking," but also uncovers courageous creative resistance in the often-stigmatized world of black gay men.