Poetry, dance planned in downtown Davis

Poet Zara Raab and performers from UC Davis department of theater and dance will highlight the next gathering of the Poetry Night Reading Series at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7. The event takes place at the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 First St. in downtown Davis.

Raab is a poet, essayist and editor living in Kensington. Her published books include “Swimming the Eel” (David Robert Books, 2011) and “The Book of Gretel” (Finishing Line Press chapbook, 2010); her next book, “Rumpelstiltskin, or What’s in a Name?,” will be published in 2014.

Her poems, reviews and essays appear in Arts & Letters, West Branch, The Evansville Review, River Styx, Crab Orchard Review and The Dark Horse. A graduate of Mills College and the University of Michigan, Raab teaches a poetry class at the Hillside Club in North Berkeley. More information can be found on her website at www.zararaab.com.

Rounding out the program are performances of two sections from “Ligilo,” a choreography by UCD master of fine arts candidate Jarrell lu-Hui Chua in collaboration with Bobby August Jr. Chua has presented her work nationally and internationally, and is the artistic director and founder of the Raw Egg Collective, as well as the co-artistic director of Open Experiments Ensemble.

August is an MFA acting candidate at UCD and the owner and director of the award-winning Made Up Theatre in Fremont, which specializes in performing improvised plays.

For more information, visit www.poetryindavis.com.