While emigre snow bunnies may bemoan the absence of a white Christmas, Laura Karlin's Invertigo Dance (pictured) celebrates SoCal's invariably warm sunny winter with Christmas light-bedecked dancers, one of five L.A. dance companies in the spotlight at this year's Music Center Holiday Celebration. Adriana Gainey's Pacifico Dance Company contributes Mexican folkloric dance from the Mexican region of La Costa Chica, while Viji Prakash and her Shakti Dance Company bring bharata natyam, the percussive classical dance from Southern India, and Shin Yue Wang's Shin Dance Company offers a Korean drum dance from the border area between China and North Korea. Taking time from their five weeks of performances, dancers from Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary's Los Angeles Ballet provide a sample of the full length Nutcracker with the “Waltz of the Flowers.” The dance troupes are joined in the three-hour show by top-notch L.A.-based music and choral groups. Admission and parking are free. No tickets or reservations needed. Can't get downtown? Listen on KPFK-FM, watch the live broadcast on KCET-TV (repeated at 8 p.m. and again Dec. 25 at noon), or streaming on kcet.org. This broadcast used to be about the only time local arts groups appeared on KCET, but the station deserves kudos since its break with PBS for stepping up its coverage of local arts, especially dance. For a complete line up go to HolidayCelebration.org. The Music Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., dwntwn.; Mon., Dec. 24, 3 p.m.; free. (213) 972-3099.

Mon., Dec. 24, 3 p.m., 2012

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