Events for the week

thursday
march 6
A Month of Dance: The next public offering from the Deep Ellum Opera Theatre demands a strong pair from each of its cast members--in this case, those are feet, not lungs. Nonvocal is the order for a month of weekend performances the DEOT has appropriately dubbed "A Month of Dance." The debut program features modern dance by seven members of the Independent Choreographers' Coalition, including regulars of the Observer Calendar page like Karen Bower Robinson and Sherri Lacey. Performances happen Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Deep Ellum Opera Theatre space, 3202 Elm. Tickets are $10-$15. Call (972) 881-2914.

He Walked With Us: The Life of Christ: While he is today best remembered as a chronicler of the Civil War and a celebrated magazine illustrator, the Philadelphia-born Joseph Boggs Beale, who died in 1926, earned the raves of late 19th century contemporaries for his creation of magic lantern slides. The magic lantern was the parent of the slide projector, and it was wildly popular during the Victorian era. The Biblical Arts Center presents a show of Beale's exquisitely detailed Christian drawings for the Easter season. He Walked With Us: The Life of Christ showcases the ink-wash drawings that were used to create the magic lantern slides. The show runs through May 18 at 7500 Park Lane. It's free. Call (214) 691-4661.

friday
march 7
Photography by David Byrne and Marta Maria Perez Bravo: Former musician, turned former filmmaker, turned sometime photographer David Byrne has two Dallas art exhibitions. He shares the bill at Photographs Do Not Bend with Marta Maria Perez Bravo, a Cuban-born artist whose works intersect Latino superstition and mythological womanhood. The McKinney Avenue Contemporary presents a larger, solo show of David Byrne's imagery. The show at Photographs Do Not Bend opens March 7, 6-9 p.m. and runs through April 19 at 3115 Routh St. Call 969-1852. The McKinney Avenue Contemporary show runs March 8-April 27 at 3120 McKinney Ave. David Byrne will sign copies of his photography book at a cocktail reception benefitting The MAC March 6, 7:30-9 p.m. at the Red Jacket, 3606 Greenville. Admission to that is $15.

Postcards From the Volcano: Four Poets Celebrate Wallace Stevens: The list of honors, grants, and critics' awards that have graced the four poets who participate in Arts and Letters Live's "Postcards From the Volcano: Four Poets Celebrate Wallace Stevens" is longer than a Dallas Cowboy's coke line. U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, Edward Hirsch, and Cynthia McDonald converge on the DMA stage for a reading and interpretation of the celebrated Stevens' canon. The evening starts at 8 p.m. in the Horchow Auditorium of the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N Harwood. Tickets are $10-$12. Call (214) 922-1219.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago: It's been a strange 20-year journey from debut at an Illinois senior citizens' home to international performers before an annual estimate of 100,000 people, but Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has lost none of its scrappy, caffeine-charged energy. They have picked up a total of 22 members, as well as ecstatic reviews from newspapers around the world, since choreographer Lou Conte formed them two decades ago. TITAS welcomes the troupe back to Dallas for a program of athletic modern dance that includes a debut by Daniel Ezralow, Lady Lost Found, as well as works by Twyla Tharp and Kevin O'Day. Performances happen March 7 and 8 at 8 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium on the campus of Southern Methodist University. Tickets are $7-$40. Call (214) 528-5576.

saturday
march 8
Women in Buddhism: A Gathering: Although it is frequently touted as the most humanitarian and equalizing of religious faiths, the various schools of Buddhism have traditionally practiced a sexism not unlike sexual shortsightedness that has marred Christianity for centuries. "Women in Buddhism: A Gathering" is a response to that from four practicing women Buddhists who are members of local or international organizations. Topics to be covered at this event include "An American Woman's Experience Practicing Vipassana Meditation" and "Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man? Or, Women and Enlightenment." The afternoon happens 2-5 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Dallas, 4015 Normandy at Preston. It's free. Call (214) 528-3990.

Conversations With God: Fresh from a recent Dallas Observer cover story by Thomas Korosec, Cheyenne Turner and her forum for "unusual phenomena" known as The Eclectic Viewpoint return with a talk by the current New York Times bestselling nonfiction author Neale Donald Walsch. His book, Conversations With God: An Uncommon Dialogue, purports to contain answers to some of life's vital questions, straight from the mouth of God; or rather, from God's mouth to Walsch's pencil. He speaks at 7:30 p.m. at Unity Church of Dallas, 6525 Forest Lane. Admission is $20. Call (972) 601-7687.

Willie Brown: With Ron Kirk, the turbulent city of Dallas has one of America's more sedate (some would say too sedate) African-American mayors. You have to wonder what our racially divided city would be like if the flamboyant, controversial Willie Brown ruled our own fractious City Hall. Although a recent fascinating profile in The New Yorker confirmed that the most dangerous place to be in San Francisco is between Brown and a camera, he is far more than a media hound: He sticks by his various constituencies stubbornly, even in the face of censure from his own political party. Brown comes to Dallas to speak at the 18th Annual Andrew Jackson Day Dinner, an event to commemorate Jackson's status as "the commoner president." The evening kicks off at 7:15 p.m. at the Raddison Hotel Central, Central at Yale. Tickets are $25 per person. Call (214) 467-0123.