Dance, like professional wrestling, is athletically challenging, frequently involves skin-tight costumes, and manifests emotions via passionate lunging. See emotions expressed sans chair attacks with today’s Groupon: for $12, you get one ticket to the Center Dance Ensemble’s performance of Favorites (a $25 value). Choose from the following show dates and times:

• Thursday, February 24 at 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, February 25 at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, February 26 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, February 27 at 2 p.m.

Favorites is a dance showcase that joyfully celebrates the history of the Center Dance Ensemble with a selection of pieces from the group’s extensive repertoire. The show is also a commemoration of the renovation and reopening of the Herberger Theater Center, at which the resident dance company sprung fully formed from sea foam more than 20 years ago.

The anthology includes “The Ballad of Barbara Allen,” a folk-dance opera written by Dee Strickland Johnson and the first piece ever performed by the Center Dance Ensemble. The ensemble, which is one of the five dance companies participating in the Arizona Commission on the Arts’ Dance on Tour project, consists of a varied crew of artistes, performers, and pirouetters-for-hire.

Reviews

The Phoenix Arizona News named the Herberger Theater Center the Best Regional Arts Center of 2009 and 2010 and the Best Live Theater Venue of 2010. Twenty Yelpers give it an average of four stars. > * In general, the Herberger is well-designed as an overall theatre destination. Both main stages maintain an intimate feel - every seat in the house is worth having. – elizabeth l., Yelp, 10/2/10 > * The theater is set up in just a way that you can have a good view from any of the seats. We were sitting up in the Mezzanine, and still had a perfect view of the stage. – sonya d., 1/3/11, Yelp