DANCE, DANCE, DANCE: Wil McKnights’ Texas Dance Theatre opens its inaugural season on Friday with considerable buzz. And in an era when dance companies come and go, he says he’s in it for the long run. “One day, I’m going to have my own building,” McKnight tells dallasnews.com. “I’m not playing around.” Part of the interest surrounding TDT’s season opener is the debut of new work from Bruce Wood, who tells Manny Mendoza in an e-mail exchange that he’s itching to start another company of his own, this time in Dallas. “The Dance Project would perform for a week in Dallas in the spring, and then it could be determined if at that point doing something long term in the city of Dallas would be a viable fit for everyone involved,” Woods says. Circling around back to us, if you missed McKnight’s recent appearance on the Art&Seek segment of Think TV, you can watch it here.

BIG FANS OF BIG RIVER: Theatre Arlington’s season opener, Big River, is making quite an impression on our local theater critics. The musical adaptation of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is directed by B.J. Cleveland. Reviewing for theaterjones.com, Gregory Sullivan Isaacs writes, “Cleveland kept everything moving in the best traditions of a tight ensemble show—the show is clean as a whistle.” But if Theater Jones loved it, Punch Shaw at dfw.com wants to marry it. “You have not seen, or likely will not see, a musical this year that offers more bang for your buck than this one,” he writes. Sounds like it’s time for a trip to Arlington.

QUOTABLE: “I was up against John Williams, and I was just like, oh my God, I’m such a huge fan. A lot of people have lost to that guy. And now I’m one of them.”

– Tim DeLaughter, on his recent Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music category. You can read more from the Polyphonic Spree frontman over on DC9 at Night.