The word "caderas" is Spanish for "hips," and what could be more hip than setting a Langston Hughes short story to Afro-Cuban music? That's the gist of a world premiere show by the Los Angeles Diversified Theatre Group, opening Feb. 12.

In adapting Hughes' tale, "Rejuvenation Through Joy," Caderas tells of Harlem con-men peddling a "colony of joy" to Park Avenue society types. This adaptation features musical arrangements by the Man Go Bang team, and singing/percussion by Lazaro Galarraga.

Born in 1902, poet, playwright and fiction writer Hughes stood at the head of the Harlem renaissance of the 1920s. He co-wrote the comic Mule Bone with Zora Neale Hurston and penned the musicals Simply Heavenly and Black Nativity.

Dan Shore directs Caderas, which was adapted by Joe Teisan and Lenore Marquez. For tickets ($15-$20) and information on the show, which plays at the L.A. Theatre Center, 514 South Spring St., call (213) 485-1681.

-- By David Lefkowitz