Chamber music and classical dance get the elaborate marriage they deserve in an inaugural festival that kicks off this week at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 Fourth Street SW). The Ballet Pro Musica Festival's main performances will be held next week. This week, accomplished local dancers can take advantage of master dance classes beginning Tuesday, July 31, taught by Ballet Pro Musica's principal choreographer Peter Anastos and Colorado Ballet's artistic director Gil Boggs. For details, call 352-1281.

Lighted bows hum across handheld chimes. On raised platforms on both sides of the stage, illuminated bowls of water hover in the darkness. Figures dressed in black dip their hands into these bowls, lifting up cupped palms and letting the liquid dribble back into the containers. The effect is stunning, both visually and aurally. Lush melodies from the orchestra rise up from the pit while the sounds of the water, slapped and jostled, mix with traditional symphonic instruments.

You’re not Master of the Universe unless there’s someone at your feet, preferably kneeling. In Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities, Sherman McCoy had Felix, the shoeshine man, to play that role.