SOME PEOPLE'S LEARNING curves are steep. At least Charles Anderson's is. It was just three years ago that the former New York City Ballet dancer started his Company C Contemporary Ballet, adding another voice to the Bay Area's growing number of chamber-size ballet companies. At first Company C was riding on a burst of enthusiasm but didn't seem to have much promising vision. But Anderson quickly realized that his 10 dancers deserved the best there is in contemporary choreography. And he went out to get it. With Twyla Tharp's 1971 Eight Jelly Rolls, he hit the jackpot. Set to the music of jazz great Jelly Roll Morton, it's still one of Tharp's finest pieces, an exuberant, rollicking mix of popular and modern dance and the first one in which Tharp let herself be guided by music. Also on the program: Partly Cloudy, the second commission from former Paul Taylor dancer Patrick Corbin, an old friend with whom Anderson ran a company in the '90s in New York. If Corbin turns out to be as skilled a choreographer as he was a dancer, watch out. The company also presents two of Anderson's own works: Under Glass, which premiered at the Oakland Dance Festival in June, and Celestial Soda Pop, which is set to music by Ray Lynch. 8 p.m., Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna, SF. $17-$22. (415) 345-7575, www.fortmason.com. (Rita Felciano)