Israel’s acclaimed Batsheva Dance Company, appearing this week in The City in a San Francisco Performances presentation, is one of the world’s most exciting contemporary dance troupes. Batsheva dancers do more than just dance. They speak a new language, called Gaga, which crackles with electricity. Read More

Museum curators acquire new pieces for their collections by shopping; the annual San Francisco Tribal & Textile Arts Show at Fort Mason Center from Friday through Sunday is one place they do it.Artifacts ancient and contemporary, plucked from civilizations across the globe, are on view in an eclectic array of folk and ethnographic art. The range is wide, from contemporary Moroccan rugs to 19th-century Swedish wedding weavings or a 12th-century Buddha. Read More

Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” may be responsible for one of spring’s biggest trends: the flapper dress. The 1920s are back in a big way on runways, from design houses as diverse as Ralph Lauren, Marchesa, Etro, Philosophy and Gucci. Fringe, beads, silk, lace, feathers and slinky dropped waistlines are new frock trends, perfect to wear to San Francisco at speakeasies such as Sofa or Bourbon and Branch. Click the picture for a gallery.SHOPSASOS asos.com Bourbon and Branch Read More

Partygoers at San Francisco’s Edwardian Ball have worn it all: Birdcage headdresses with real birds, and fishbowl hats with live fish swimming in water already have been done. “I’ll never forget watching an elegantly costumed Edwardian-era woman in a full-length velvet evening gown, waltzing across the floor with a praying mantis,” recalls Justin Katz of Paradox Media, one of event’s founding fathers. “Where else are you going to see that?” Read More

In 1900, the children’s book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum could be purchased for $1.50. Today, a first edition of the book sells for $40,000 and up, a reflection of the cultural significance of Baum’s creation.For more than 100 years, the Oz characters have spawned spinoffs, from the iconic 1939 film starring Judy Garland to the novel and musical “Wicked.” They also are in comics, which date back as early as the original “Oz” books. Some of those images are on view at the Cartoon Art Museum in a show called “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Read More

Every workday at Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine, 6,000 hard-hat workers clock out for lunch at the same time. The feat, established under union rules — and seemingly antiquated in 21st-century America — is the subject of Sharon Lockhart’s “Lunch Break,” a film installation on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through Jan. 16. The film is hypnotic, crawling along so slowly that it is difficult for the viewer to tell whether the camera, or anything else, is moving. Read More