Labco at 10

It's hard to believe that Labco Dance is 10 years old, an achievement for any company, but particularly sweet for a modern dance group. Once considered an offshoot of Dance Alloy, it has developed its own buoyant personality under artistic director Gwen Hunter Ritchie.

What better way to celebrate with a look back and more as Labco packages its annual gala and fund-raiser as "DecaDance: Dance Ten Years in the Making?" Of course there will be the dancing by the company, which has gone from superhero capes to frilly dresses. And patrons can move and groove themselves to live music by the Eric DeFade Quartet and DJ Soy Sos.

Guests can partake of food, drink and a silent auction as well at the Union Project, 801 N. Negley Ave., Highland Park, on June 8, beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at the door; 1-800-607-0857 or www.labcodance.net. (Jane Vranish, Post-Gazette dance critic)

Party time

Journeys Backyard BBQ Tour, a free alternative sports and musical festival, will make one of its five-city tour stops outside the Monroeville Mall on Saturday.

The tour stop features performances by Rob & Big; the Converse Battle of the Bands for cash prizes; and demonstrations by pros in freestyle motocross, including X Games gold-medalists Brian Deegan, Chad Kagy and Dave Mirra, and pro skateboarders. There also will be an "interactive fun zone," plus contest giveaways.

Visitors will get the chance to try out the Ripstick, known as street-surfing, which combines elements of skateboarding, surging and snowboarding. More info: www.journeysbbq.com.

Free as a bird

Wings of the World returns to the National Aviary on the North Side beginning Saturday, with summer outdoor free-flight bird shows featuring owls, vultures and more.

Fresh from spring training in Florida with Natural Encounters Inc., the birds will perform displays of natural behaviors such as swooping and diving above the audience at the National Aviary's outdoor rose garden. Parrots, vultures, owls, ravens, crows and other species will display their special behaviors and talents.

The National Aviary's outdoor free-flight bird show takes place Wednesdays through Sundays through Labor Day, 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., weather permitting. The National Aviary is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $9 adults; $8 seniors; $7.50 ages 2-12; children under 2 admitted free. More information: www.aviary.org or 412-323-7235.

Klezmer times three

The Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival is serving up klezmer in three distinct ways for its Klezfest '07. If you think of klezmer as only Jewish wedding music, think again.

First comes the more traditional strains of Brave Old World, which performs "Song of the Lodz Ghetto" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Jewish Community Center, Squirrel Hill. Then the Steel City Klezmorim shows how klezmer has incorporated many new instruments over the years, including the guitar, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Club Cafe, South Side. Finally, it's klezmer's foray into the concert hall, with clarinetist David Krakauer in concert with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony and pianist Luz Manriquez at 7:30 p.m. June 4 at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Tickets are $20 ($15 seniors, $10 students); call 412-394-3353. (Post-Gazette classical music critic Andrew Druckenbrod)

Venice 2007

Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996) will represent the United States at the 2007 Venice Biennale, which opens June 10 and continues through Nov. 21. Known for his conceptual work, Gonzalez-Torres was included in the 1999-2000 Carnegie International.

A Cuban-born American citizen, he is the second artist to posthumously represent the United States in the modern history of the Biennale, according to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. (The first was Robert Smithson, in 1982.) Guggenheim chief Curator Nancy Spector, who organized Gonzalez-Torres's 1995 retrospective at the museum, is the U. S. Commissioner for the 52nd Biennale.

The exhibition, "Felix Gonzalez-Torres: America," will expand upon and rearticulate an earlier proposal designed for the U.S. Pavilion when he was nominated for the 45th Bienniale in 1995. (Post-Gazette art critic Mary Thomas)