Michelle Obama: Everybody Dance Now!

The White House East Room will play host to a lavish dance party thrown by First Lady Michelle Obama today, a stage for what the AP characterizes as "pirouettes, jetes, gravity-defying leaps and maybe even some bumps and grinds."

Dancers of all types — ballet, modern, hip hop and Broadway — take over the room, first for an afternoon workshop, during which students from around the country will have the chance to work with some of the biggest names in dance.

Then, after a short break, the students return to see their mentors perform in an hour-long, star-studded show. Even Broadway's young "Billy Elliot" will be there — four Billys actually, from the show's rotating cast.

But the main attraction is the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and that's because its celebrated artistic director, Judith Jamison, soon to retire after two decades in the job, is the honoree of the event.

"What a rare opportunity, to be invited by your country's first lady to be honored like this," Jamison said in a weekend interview. "I've been to the White House a couple of times before, but this event is totally unique. It's so terribly important to recognize this art form and to understand how important it is to the fabric of this country."

A "rare opportunity" indeed--it's not every day that the White House gets its groove on.