Brazil’s top contemporary music and art come together in singer Marisa Monte’s cutting-edge show

An Argentine choreographer sets the tango flying in an aerial spectacle coming to the Arsht Center

No, they’re not the Beatles. But One Direction, the British tween/teen heartthrobs who’ve re-ignited the boy-band phenomenon, do have a few similarities to the Fab Four. They’re goofy, charming and effortlessly confident. And as they showed in the opening show of their U.S. tour Thursday night before a screaming, sold-out crowd at Fort Lauderdale’s BB&T Center, the Fab Five wreak havoc on American girls with their British accents, cheeky innocence and bouncy, sweetly harmonizing pop songs.

Which goes further or has more impact – documents leaked online or a song? Famed Calle 13 frontman Residente will give Wikileaks founder Julian Assange a taste of a new kind of subversive communication tonight – music. The outspoken rapper and songwriter will meet with Assange at 10 p.m. London time Thursday to write a song with him. The two men will compose in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where Assange has taken refuge for the past year after being charged by the U.S. government over Wikileaks’ massive release of government documents.

Once a bigoted epithet, “queer” was reclaimed by the gay-rights movement as a proudly defiant self-description. But theater artist Taylor Mac, who will perform in the annual Out in the Tropics festival this week, prefers another definition: “Someone who was ostracized by society at an early age to such a degree they could never ostracize anyone else.”

La Santa Cecelia and Jesse & Joy, two captivating Mexican-rooted bands with innovative though very different takes on Latin pop-rock, played Fort Lauderdale Sunday night, and even competing with the NBA finals they attracted several hundred ardent fans to Revolution Live.

The story of Soman Chainani’s first book, The School for Good and Evil, sounds like a kind of modern fairytale: Young writer lands on the bestseller lists with his first novel, which is promptly sold to a major movie studio for an enormous sum. And Chainani, born in Miami and raised in Key Biscayne, sounds like a creative golden boy, a driven, prize-winning student who graduated summa cum laude from Harvard and racked up fellowships and awards.

The six Cuban dancers who defected from the National Ballet of Cuba in April made their U.S. debut as independent artists Saturday night at the Fillmore Miami Beach, in a showcase produced by the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami. What these young dancers want, of course, is not to remain free agents, but to get jobs with ballet troupes here.

Cannonball Miami is bringing L.A. artists here to create work and waves

Falling in love means taking a risk, and Rudi Goblen takes plenty of risks in his new solo theater piece, PET.

Voracious virtuosity has propelled Rudi Goblen to the top of Miami’s live-arts scene

Something subtle but crucial was missing from Dances at a Gathering, the evanescent Jerome Robbins masterpiece Miami City Ballet is dancing for its fourth and final program of the season. The obvious pieces were in place at Saturday’s performance at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale: the 10 dancers executed the choreography well, sometimes thrillingly so.

Natalie Cole looked and sang like a diva at the inaugural Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame gala at the New World Symphony on Tuesday night, delivering a lovely rendition of Acercate Mas (Get Closer) in a “Unforgettable” style duet with video of her father Nat King Cole. “It’s not easy being first, and Dad was a first in so many ways,” Cole told the audience at the New World Center on Miami Beach, as she accepted the Premio Pionero Desi Arnaz on behalf of her father, who was friends with the famous Cuban actor and singer. Nat King Cole was revered in Cuba for recording three albums of Latin American songs. “I can only imagine Desi and my Dad are looking down on us.”

Viewers of Thursday night’s Billboard Latin Music Awards, broadcast live from Coral Gables on Telemundo, might get a strong feeling of déjà vu. On stage will be longtime salsa-pop favorite Marc Anthony (that was him, too, in 2012, 2011 and 2010), pop diva Paulina Rubio (a repeat from 2012 and 2010) and reggaeton star Don Omar and veteran Mexican pop-rockers Mana (both appearing for the third year in a row).

The pas de deux Justin Peck created for Miami City Ballet was just one element of the New World Symphony’s “New Work” evening, but Chutes and Ladders, vibrantly performed by Jeanette Delgado and Kleber Rebello, made a vivid impression even amid the rich array at New World Center Saturday.

The debate over immigration is highly political, but for the Los Angeles-based group La Santa Cecelia, the issue is painfully personal. Lead singer Marisol Hernandez’s parents came to L.A. from Mexico without papers, and accordionist Jose “Pepe” Carlos is undocumented.

Two young artists are at the center of the adventurous “New Work” program the New World Symphony will present April 20. Choreographer Justin Peck, 25, created a pas de deux for Miami City Ballet for the occasion, and Zosha Di Castri, 28, composed a piece the orchestra will premiere.

The best revenge Taylor Swift could have against media sniping, celebrity ex-boyfriends and Kanye West-style haters would be that, after Justin Bieber and a generation of boy bands have fallen into oblivion, she makes the transition from teen prodigy to grown-up star.

The annual Global Cubafest closed with a concert that beautifully expressed the event’s goal of celebrating and exploring Cuban music throughout the diaspora.