KATHA DANCE

Friday-Sunday: Katha Dance, led by artistic director/choreographer Rita Mustaphi, returns to the Cowles Center with the world premiere of "The Rubaiyat — Life in a Day," based on the poetry of Persian philosopher and poet Omar Khayyám. With this new work the company delves into the fleeting nature of existence and our individual relationships with the divine. In addition to the Katha dancers (who specialize in the north Indian dance form of Kathak) the show has contributions from composer/vocalist Maryam Yusefzadeh, actor/musician David Jordan Harris and the artist-media team of Craig Harris and Candy Kuehn. (8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., $25-$30, Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., 612-206-3600 or www.thecowlescenter.org.)

CAROLINE PALMER

TALES OF HOME: CONGO/MOZAMBIQUE

Friday-Saturday: Dance-theater performers Faustin Linyekula and Panaibra Gabriel Canda will each perform an evening-length work in this short series from Africa. Linyekula's solo "Le Cargo" will be seen Friday and explores a journey to revisit the losses in his life but also the dance, music and people he has reclaimed in order to keep moving on. Canda's "Time and Spaces: Marrabenta Solos," on Saturday, examines Mozambique's history of colonization and independence, with an emphasis on the marrabenta musical form born in the 1930s out of African and European influences. He will be accompanied by guitar virtuoso Jorge Domingos. (Linyekula, 8 p.m. Fri.; Canda, 8 p.m. Sat., $22, Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., 612-375-7600 or www.walkerart.org.)

C.P.

Killer Inside

Opening Saturday: Sandbox, the collective that builds ensemble theater, has come forth with what it calls a gritty and intense tour of a cell block — with music! Set in a maximum-security penitentiary, the play dances across the lives of prisoners, guards and townsfolk. Sandbox Theatre is big on stylized movement, music and spoken word. "Killer Inside" is directed by Heather Stone, one of the group's founding members. The cast includes the always interesting Sam Landman, an actor who gets beneath the skin. (8 p.m. Sat.-Mon. & Thu. Ends Nov. 22, Red Eye, 15 W. 14th St., Mpls., $20, www.brownpapertickets.com.)

Graydon Royce