It was a proposition Alonzo King couldn't refuse. As artistic director of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet and an internationally known choreographer, King was used to invitations to choreograph for other companies, but no one before had asked him to bring his 12 LINES dancers with him. But when the offer came from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago artistic director Glenn Edgerton, King said yes. The product of that alliance, Azimuth, draws its title from an astronomical term used to locate a heavenly body in space. It premiered earlier this year in Berkeley to ecstatic reviews and receives its SoCal premiere this weekend. Despite their differences, the blending of the companies' dancers was more like a gathering of distant relatives than a blind date. Hubbard Street gets categorized as a contemporary company dancing in soft shoes, while LINES is a neoclassical ballet company, complete with pointe shoes. But each has training in the other's specialty. Those differences and similarities should be evident as each company takes the stage before joining forces for Azimuth. The 18-member Hubbard Street offers Little Mortal Jump, a perky, engaging showcase choreographed by resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo. LINES' contribution, Scheherazade, reconsiders the fabled storyteller in 101 Arabian Nights, with tabla master Zakir Hussain incorporating traditional Persian instruments in his reinterpretation of the familiar Rimsky-Korsakov score. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., dwntwn.; Fri.-Sat., June 21-22, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., June 22, 2 p.m.; $28-$110. musiccenter.org.

Fri., June 21, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., June 22, 2 & 7:30 p.m., 2013

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