Keith Hennessy's top 10

Director, Circle Zero

(in no particular order)

The Adventures of Cunning and Guile, Chris Black and Ken James, Cartoon Art Museum

House of LaBeija dancers, Jack Ya Body Dance Series, curated by Traci Bartlow for Hip-Hop Theater Festival, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Everything by Fauxnique, a.k.a. Monique Jenkinson, at Trannyshack

ButterFLEE, Jose Navarette, performed at ManiFesti-val, Dance Mission Theater

Solo, Amara Tabor-Smith, excerpt from Urban Bush Women directed by Jawole Willa Jo Zolar, performed at Greening New Orleans benefit, Brava Theater

Limerance, Twincest (a.k.a. Jez Kuono'ono Lee and Shawn Tamaribuchi), performed at Passing – Less Than Satisfactory, CounterPULSE

Dear Fidel, Dance Brigade, Dance Mission Theater

Flyaway Productions/Jo Kreiter's retrospective, Zaccho Studio

Susan Voyticky on aerial hoop and Emily Leap on trapeze, various sites

Touched, Jess Curtis/Gravity, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Bonus: The best dance of the year was by Keriac (R.I.P., March 17, 2005), dancing in her bed a few days before she died.

Krissy Keefer's top 10

Artistic director, Dance Brigade

1. Sean Dorsey in anything He had a number of performances this year, from his own weekend of shows to Women on the Way, and he is by far one of the best in the city (ODC Theater)

2. Allan Frias of Dance Mission, for his stellar representation of the hip-hop dance scene on So You Think You Can Dance? (Fox TV)

3. Cuba Caribe Festival, featuring the work of Cuban artists Susana Arenas Pedroso and Ramon Ramos Alayo (Dance Mission Theater)

4. Black Choreographers Festival, for a successful return and run in both San Francisco and the East Bay (Project Artaud Theater and Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts)

5. Keith Hennessy, for his excellent solo piece, Chosen (Dance Mission Theater)

6. Paco Gomes, an up-and-coming Afro-Brazilian modern choreographer, featured at the Choreographers Showcase (Dance Mission Theater)

7. Mark Stuver and Rachael Lincoln, Remember This Real life onstage, art-life-art-life (Dance Mission Theater)

8. Leyya Tawil, an up-and-coming woman choreographer

9. Ken Foster, for bringing Compagnie Jant-Bi from Senegal to perform artistic director Germaine Acogny's outstanding piece Fagaala (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts)

10. Dance Brigade at the anti-war demonstrations, the Katrina benefit at Brava Theater, the Ralph Nader-Matt Gonzalez California Tour, and the ManiFesti-val for Social Change, for all the ways they show up, tell the truth, and try to make a difference

Sean Dorsey's top 10

Artistic director, Fresh Meat Productions

1. Remy Charlip Irreverent, intelligent, heart-filling, powerful – Charlip is a total joy to watch and one of our most beloved San Francisco dance institutions.

2. Krissy Keefer Ain't no fury like a woman scorned by the Bush administration. Krissy Keefer is a force of nature – if you haven't seen her yet, make sure you do in 2006. She was on fire, blasting Bush and Co. and invoking the spirits to set this nation right (er, left) in Spell.

3. Keith Hennessy Piss and vinegar. Yes folks, that's really what he was drinking, right there on Dance Mission's fire escape, to open his show Chosen. Waxing and spitting poetic, Hennessy did what he does best: he made unsettling, beautiful ritual.

4. Miguel Chernus Goldstein Here's one to watch. At "Fresh Meat 2005" Goldstein premiered the most beautiful, gender-defying, gravity-defying aerial dance I've seen in a long time.

5. Sisterz of the Underground's Extra Credit Cru If you're like me, you probably can't balance on one elbow or spin on your head either. These ladies can. And how! Move over boys....

6. Lizz Roman and Dancers LR&D is some serious no-holds-barred, full-throttle, beautiful, strong dancing. But on the ceiling. And the balcony. And other nifty but rather dangerous places. Check them out at the Project Artaud Theater in 2006.

7. Tightie Whities, the farewell performance C'mon – what other drag kings have the balls to do modern dance in unitards? They shall be missed.

8. PanTease II, the second annual best of Bay Area burlesque Yowza. It's a fact: Straight burlesque ain't got nothin' on queer burlesque. Tight, hot, fierce, sexy, yum.

9. Lily Cai Cai has a serious gift for packing a punch with sweetness and subtlety too. She keeps us guessing – watch for her new work in 2006.

10. Fresh Meat Productions Still the Bay Area's first and only transgender arts organization to bring you dance that will make you laugh out loud, stomp your feet, and get moved to tears (www.freshmeatproductions.org).