MPR News Arts Reporter Marianne Combs joins Steve Seel and Jill Riley to talk about everything from postmodern dance to "Yippee ki-yay, Father Christmas."

redundant, ready, reading, radish, Red Eye — Dance duo HIJACK — Kristin Van Loon and Arwen Wilder — are celebrating 20 years of performance, and they're coming to Walker Art Center for this recital that mixes pure experimentation with a humorous exploration of language, printed matter, and journalistic press and prose. Shows happen tonight, Friday and Saturday in the Walker's McGuire Theater.

And from the Christmas files of holiday fare:

Nutcracker Not So Suite — Presented by Ballet of the Dolls, this show takes place in 1973 New York. Surrounded by dignitaries, Hollywood actors, Broadway stars, a dysfunctional family and an obsession with Barbie dolls, young Marie's life changes when her uncle gives her a Ken doll for Christmas. With her new found fetish, she runs away, finding herself lost on the Lower East Side of New York in a world that will change her forever. Shows run Dec. 6 to 31 at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis.

The Best Christmas Pagent Ever — Presented at Steppingstone Theatre for Youth Development in St. Paul, this production is based on the popular book by Barbara Robinson. The Herdmans are some rowdy kids, and now they've taken over the annual Christmas pageant, resulting in yuletide hilarity and chaos. This show runs Dec. 6 to 23.

A Very Die Hard Christmas — Mainly Me Productions and Dana's Boys present this holiday show with all the trimmings: singing, dancing, and bloodshed. It's a yuletide production that proves once and for all that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. This show stages at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater on weekends now till Dec. 22.

Marianne Combs joins The Current's Morning Show for the Weekend Arts Roundup every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Read about all the latest arts news at the State of the Arts blog at mprnews.org.