Irish dance in Irvine, sci-fi dance downtown, Trock doc opens in Beverly Hills, dance explored in Sylmar, TV dance stars invade Cerritos, and the Nutcracker season starts in Santa Monica.

4. It’s Nutcracker time

For anyone looking for an early Nutcracker-fix, the respected training company, Westside Ballet starts the season. The late founders of Westside Ballet, Yvonne Mounsey and Rosemary Valaire, created a Victorian Christmas card of a Nutcracker, this year performed with the Santa Monica College Symphony. Westside alum Joy Womack, now with Kremlin Ballet Theatre, performs at selected shows. The Broad Stage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica; Sat.-Sun., Nov. 25 & 26, Dec. 2-3, 1 & 5 p.m., $45. http://www.WestsideBallet.com/nutcracker.

Westside Ballet’s guest Joy Womack. Photo courtesy of Westside Ballet.

3. Prize-winning Trock doc

The award-winning documentary (San Francisco Film Festival “Best Documentary”) Rebels on Pointe surveys the all male, comic ballet troupe formally known as Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, but familiarly known as the Trocks. Over 40 years, the ensemble has morphed from a few fellows wanting to dance ballerina roles who decided to put on a show and pointe shoes. They launched a world-wide phenomenon, a troupe that is serious about its ballet with their feet firmly in pointe shoes and simultaneously their tongues planted equally firmly in their cheeks. Music Hall Theatre, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills; opens Fri., Nov. 24, 12:20 & 8 p.m., $7-$13, $6-$10. https://www.laemmle.com/theaters/4.

Les Ballets de Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Photo courtesy of Icarus Films.

2. Discovering dance

Closing out the year with the penultimate installment of Explore Dance, Benita Bike DanceArt Company offers a performance and discussion that has a proven track record in demystifying dance. Los Angeles Mission College, Campus Center Bldg., 13356 Eldridge Ave., Sylmar; Thurs., Nov. 30, 4:30 p.m., free. http://danceart.org.

Benita Bike DanceArt Company. Photo courtesy of BBDAC.

1. Sci-fi dance goes 3-D

Combining live dance with 3-D video, Tesseract boasts a science fiction edge from filmmaker Charles Atlas and choreographers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener. The two part work opens with a stereoscopic 3-D video shot with dancers in six different locations. The filmed dance is followed by live dance with the dancers’ movements amplified by equally live video mixing. This intricate mix of live performance and film was developed over several years at New York’s EMPAC (Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center), but the creative trio first met years before while working with legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham. Along with their other extensive credits, Mitchell and Reiner were dancers in Cunningham’s company and Atlas was Cunningham’s highly lauded, long-time filmmaker-in-residence. This notable event marks Atlas’ first dance film in a decade. REDCAT, Disney Hall, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown; Thurs.-Sat., Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 8:30pm Sun., Dec. 3, 3 p.m., $20-$25, $16-$20 students. 213-237-2800, http://redcat.org.

Tesseract. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Other dance of note:

High-stepping champion dancers Scott Doherty and Tyler Schwartz take the stage as part of An Irish Christmas. Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Dr., Irvine; Mon., Nov. 27, 8 p.m., $36-$75. http://theBarclay.org.

Geared to a family audience, Dance to the Holidays includes Tony Dovolani and Karina Smirnoff from Dancing With the Stars, Jonathan Platero from So You Think You Can Dance, Okasana Dmytrenko from London’s Strictly Come Dancing, and Rayvon Owen and Adanna Duru from American Idol. Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, ; Sun., Nov. 26, 3 p.m., $65-$85. 562-916-8500, http://CerritosCenter.com.

Article feature image: Tesseract. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Ann Haskins‘ blog appears at CulturalWeekly.com