Let's face it. For most of us, an art museum isn't the first place we point our cars when we're heading for a rousing night out.

Throw in rump-shaking music and free Starbucks, however, and you've got a Friday night party.

The Dallas Museum of Art puts a twist on its usual offerings during its monthly Late Nights series (this month's installment is tonight). It stays open until midnight and features live music, cocktails, exhibit tours, food, yoga for kids, poetry readings, film screenings and other activities.

We attended last month's jampacked Late Nights event, which also doubled as a 105th birthday bash for the museum. Local Grammy-winning polka fusion band Brave Combo turned the DMA's Atrium Cafe into an absolute, raucous dance party.

So many people packed the cafe and dance floor that security guards began forming a human barricade to monitor the traffic flow.

I ascended the cafe's staircase to watch the excitement from a higher vantage point. Tons of other people had gathered in the tight second-floor space, too, shaking their tail feathers to Brave Combo's popular "Chicken Dance." When the band launched into "Rock Around the Clock," the scene below exploded into an excited sea of jitterbug swing.

Still, the stars of the show were the art exhibits, with the twist of an informal Late Nights atmosphere.

Our favorite exhibit of the evening was The World Won't Listen video installation by artist Phil Collins. Entryway walls plastered with colorful foreign karaoke posters tip you off to the experience inside. We walked into three dark rooms with large, high-definition screens showing random folks in Colombia, Turkey and Indonesia shimmying, laughing and belting out their favorite Smiths tunes for the camera. Other patrons in the exhibit sang and danced along in the dark, forming an impromptu group karaoke performance.

Since last month, the DMA has added a new offering. An exhibit of 140 works by J.M.W. Turner is a major retrospective of one of the greatest landscape painters of all time. It costs extra to get into the Turner exhibit, but it's worth it to see the grandeur of the paintings up close (some of them are huge). Also, it's fun to look for details in the works, such as an elephant in the background of one and a hat that says "victory" on one of the men in a battle scene.

Tonight's Late Nights offerings will have more of a classical feel than last month's. Expect romantic violin music; readings of works by Shelley, Keats and Byron; a lecture about J.M.W. Turner; and a performance by the Arts District Chorale. The evening also includes kid-friendly activities.

But don't worry, the night will also have an edgy side, with an Insomniac Tour, Late Night After Hours with DJs Pandaflower and Tigerbee, go-go dancers from the Lolli Dollies and spoken-word performances.

Because, after all, an art museum is the first place you should point your car for a rousing night out.

Pulling it all together

THE ART OF STAYING OUT LATE: This month's Late Nights installment

is tonight from 6 to midnight at the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood. Free with general admission: $10 adults; free for kids under

12. Special exhibits cost extra and include a free audio tour and general admission to the museum. (The Turner exhibit is $18 adults; see the Web site for senior, student and children's discounts.) 214-922-1200. www.dallasmuseumofart.org.

PARK IT: There's an underground garage between Harwood and St. Paul, adjacent to Woodall Rodgers; $5.

SIP AND SUP: At Late Nights, the cash bar features wine, beer and cocktails (you can pay with cash or credit cards). Attendees get one free tall Starbucks beverage. Food is available for purchase in the Atrium Cafe or Seventeen Seventeen restaurant upstairs.