Thursday's best bets: Chicago Ideas Week, Matthew Sweet, Conversations at the Edge: Steina!

ART & DESIGN
Conversations at the Edge: Steina!
Pioneering video artist Steina Vasulka presents both old and new works from a career spanning more than 40 years. Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N State St (312-846-2600, siskelfilmcenter.org). 6pm. $11, students $7, GSFC members $6, Art Institute of Chicago staff and SAIC faculty and staff $4, SAIC students free.

AROUND TOWN
Chicago Ideas Week
Get inspired and learn to turn your ideas into money with the know-how of local and global trailblazers. Pioneering artists, scientists and techies assemble for conversations, tours, film screenings and exhibitions through Oct 16. Various times.

DANCE
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago: Fall 2011 Series
The marquee name on Hubbard's 2011–12 season opener is Twyla Tharp's (although the program's two other choreographers, Nacho Duato and Johan Inger, are nothing to scoff at). The venerable American dance maker turned to keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti for her newest creation; costumes are adapted from a Norma Kamali collection and lighting is by Todd Rosenberg. Repertory works Arcangelo (which taps the elder Scarlatti, Alessandro, for its score) and Walking Mad (to Ravel's Bolero) return. Through Oct 16. Harris Theater (205 E Randolph St, 312-334-7777, harristheaterchicago.org). 7:30pm; $25–$94.

DANCE
Pick Up Performance Co(s): Dancing Henry Five
Robert La Fosse, who starred with both American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, joins Valda Satterfield and Karen Graham for a luminously cast revival of this 2004 work by postmodernist David Gordon. A condensed retelling of Shakespeare's Henry V by way of Laurence Olivier's 1944 film version, Dancing Henry Five goes light on stagecraft—just a ladder, a few chairs, fabric and such—to make room for ideas and maybe implications. Through Oct 15. Dance Center of Columbia College (1306 S Michigan Ave, 312-369-8330, colum.edu/dancecenter). 8pm; $26–$30.

MUSIC
Matthew Sweet
The power-pop underdog revisits his hallmark, 1991's Girlfriend. He never made another record quite like it. But the gig is not all nostalgia. His new Modern Art is a bright, Byrdsian comeback. Bottom Lounge, 8pm, $30, 17 and older.

NIGHTLIFE
Dâm-Funk (DJ set) + Abyss + Zainghis Khan + Raj Mahal + Kool Hersh
West Coast keytar-toting cosmic funkateer Dâm-Funk brought a few records from his respectable library to Chicago with him so he can keep butts moving with his boogie business once he wraps up his live set at Empty Bottle. He's joined by the head-nodding dudes from Push Beats and Kool Hersh of the Come Ups DJ crew. Beauty Bar. 10pm; $5.