FROM Los Angeles comes the Jazz Tap Ensemble, mixing those two great American traditions, tap dancing and jazz music, for four nights at the City Hall Theatre from August 17-20. Founded in 1979, the company is directed by choreographer and dancer Lynn Daly and uses the music of Gershwin, Ellington, Gillespie and Davis as the jumping-off point for virtuoso expressions of creativity and spontaneity for dancers and musicians. Tickets available from Urbtix on 2734 9009. Willy Tsao, artistic director of the City Contemporary Dance Company, is up and dancing yet again with China Wind, China Fire, a fusion of Peking opera and Chinese rock and roll confronting modern-day issues in China. The company's shows run from August 18-20 at the Shouson Theatre, the Arts Centre, Wan Chai. Tickets through Urbtix. Some early warning for two family concerts by the Hong Kong Philharmonic: The Carnival of the Animals on September 10 and 17. The Phil is dropping its usual age limit of six years to three for the shows in which Wing-sie Yip is the Cantonese narrator on the 10th and Michael Campbell narrates in English on the 17th. The programme features Campbell's The Bear Who Wanted To Fly (a world premiere) as well as the hardy favourites of The Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens and Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. And one hour before the concert, a mini carnival with clowns, face painting and balloon twisting will be held in the foyer of the Cultural Centre. Tickets through Urbtix. Postal booking closes on August 9. The two Beijing avant garde artists, Yue Minjun and Yang Shaobin, are featured in The Magnificent Duo at the Schoeni Gallery, On Hing Building, 1 On Hing Terrace, until September 2. At the Wagner Art Gallery, the Lusitano Building, 4 Duddell Street, The Summer Show is in full swing with a wide selection of Australian fine art including works by Neil Taylor, Charles Blackman, Brett Whiteley, Sir Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and Pro Hart. The show continues until August 19. From Tuesday the 5/F Pao Galleries, the Arts Centre, feature paintings of the world of nature by an acknowledged master of the Lingnan School, Professor Chao Shao An. The show ends on August 14. At the same time on the 4/F of the Pao Galleries, the Ingroup has its 20th annual exhibition: it ranges from the edifices of architect Joanlin Au to the impressionist oils of Joseph Tsui and the beautifully studied conflicts of order and disorder in housing painted by Eppie Lam. It continues until August 14. Until tomorrow, the Peninsula is showing the naive landscapes of Swiss painter Susanna Kuratli in its Salisbury Room. Kuratli, whose works depict the regional differences of the architecture and scenery of the unspoilt countryside, has her work featured on the menus of Chesa, the Peninsula's Swiss restaurant.
