KATHAK AND TAP – both highly rhythmic dance forms with the potential for spectacular virtuosity – are such logical allies that it makes one wonder why the two art forms haven't hooked up before. Maybe it has something to do with their origins: Kathak's in the Mogul courts of northern India, tap's in the dance halls of America. It took someone with Kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das's breadth of outlook – he has collaborated with Indonesian and south Indian artists – to realize the potential when he encountered Emmy Award-winning tap artist Jason Samuels Smith. Smith, equally enthusiastic at encountering another first-rate percussion dancer, and Das hook up for a weekend of Kathak and tap at "India Jazz Suites: A Collaborative Performance of India's Kathak Dance and Tap Dance." Each artist will perform his own art and bring additional performers along for a love feast of dancing feet. While the similarities in the two dance forms no doubt will be fascinating, perhaps of even greater interest will be the differences. Improvisation is at the heart of both, but how do these dancers use it? In what way are their responses to the music similar, and how do they differ? 8 p.m., Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna, SF. $18-$35. (415) 345-7575. (Rita Felciano)