At 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 22, hundreds of people were descending on South Florida for Ultra Fest, the Sony-Ericsson Open, and spring break festivities on the beach. In a world apart and oblivious to the vehicular chaos, the eight members of Dance Now Ensemble (DNE) — the six dancers that make up the company and co-directors Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini — were hard at work all day on their upcoming presentation Songs of Spring, which will premiere on Friday, March 29 at The Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road.

It was the last hour of a full day of rehearsals and company class at the Little Haiti Cultural Center, where the company is in residence. The dancers were in the center of one of the building’s dance studios. In two circles of three people each, the dancers were rehearsing what looked like a blossoming flower.  “As cheesy as this might sound, this needs to be grandiose!” exclaimed Salterini. To which Baumgarten added, “imagine a Busby Berkeley musical.”

And you could picture Busby high on a crane filming the geometric explosion of a water ballet or the blossom of many a chorus girl in feathers. Once performed to satisfaction, the cast of young, sweaty talents was excused for a short break before running the whole piece. “Take your pee, take your water, and take your shoes off.  When do you want your toes to split? The night of dress or today?” And on that quip from Baumgarten, the studio emptied for a moment.

The stage may be the place where a dance is dressed in costumes and made up in light, but the studio is the real sacred space where the dance is birthed, shaped, nurtured, disciplined and then finally set free to greet the world. Songs of Spring is much like that, celebrating the triumphant awakening of all glorious and youthful things. During the run-through Salterini directs the company to “open your eyes, smile, discover the world with your bodies…see what’s happening.” Conceived to commemorate the week shared by both Passover and Easter this year, which falls during DNE’s spring concert, Baumgarten says, “both holidays celebrate life’s renewal.” Themes of spring and of flora bursting from hibernation dominate the choreographic translation.

The piece is set to one of Mozart’s most popular serenades, “Eine kleine Nachtmusik,” or “A Little Night Music,” which will be performed live during the concert by the South Beach Chamber Ensemble under the direction of Michael Andrews. Instantly recognizable from the opening fanfare, this piece of music seems to exist for the sake of music itself and rejoices in a celebratory tenor.

The four movements were danced with such commitment that one of the ballerina’s bobby pins flew from her hair like a projectile. The piece may look deceptively effortless because the dancers are so strong, but in truth it is a very difficult piece, with many quick changes in direction and petit allegro warping at full speed into lifts and quirky hip undulations. The dance could be a segment in Disney’s Fantasia with great illustrative elegance paired to flourishes of whimsy. It is reminiscent of the fleet footedness and interactions of Paul Taylor’s Arden Court with the one-to-one musical relationship of Mark Morris’ Gloria.  Listening to Baumgarten and Salterini count out a waltz beat or snap and clap the precise turns in a canon, you become aware that nothing is left to chance and every single note and rest has been mapped out, translated, and executed.

The directors prepare their dancers throughout the rehearsal process and especially in company class to become flexible, with different syncopation, qualities, and dynamics of movement and music. Their meshed backgrounds in rhythmic jazz, contemporary and classical ballet, Graham and Limon are ingredients introduced in class time that ultimately informs the rehearsal process.

And in this case in particular, Baumgarten adds, “with live musicians it becomes extremely important to know where the notes are because the tempo may change from the recorded version you get used to in the studio.” To which Salterini added an anecdote from his earlier days, “You could always tell if the Maestro of the orchestra was in a hurry because the run through and rehearsal would end about 30 minutes earlier than the night before.”

The program will also include Salterini’s 7 Duets in 7 Movements, which includes his previously choreographed duets presented together, and Baumgarten’s exploration of relationships covering new ground, in a departure from her usual edginess, in 8 Actions of Love.

Songs of Spring will be presented Friday and Saturday, March 29 and 30 at 8:00 p.m. at The Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach; Tickets cost $35; dancenowmiami.org, 305-975-8489 or The Colony Theatre, 305-674-1040.

“We are going to a dance performance!” That was all I knew. See, I just moved to Miami from New York, so the details don’t mean much to me. I spend most weekends lost and wandering northeast and southwest never quite sure of where I am. In an effort get acquainted with the Miami art scene, I have vowed to go see pretty much anything. That night, last month, at Dance Now’s Open Stage was one of those nights. And am I ever glad I went.  

The Dance Now! Ensemble opened the night with Forte, Lirico, Drammatico, a piee in three parts, choreographed by   Diego Santerini. The first was a tense and combative tussle between two male dancers trying to find compromise. The next segment seemed to imagine how two women would address a similar situation with grace and cooperation. Lastly was a lovely duet exploring the intimate maneuvers of two people drawing closer to one another.

Next, Prince Emmanuel Adiodum Aderele’s Yoruba Rhythm took me on a journey of West African drumming and dance traditions as they are translated across the world. Through this short piece we were introduced to the base rhythms of the atabaque (conga) drum used in Brazilian Capoeira. We admired its resurgence in the grandiose sway and lumbering downbeat cadences of New Orleans Mardi Gras Second Line dances. The moans of the talking drum were replicated through the scats of American blues and the improvised wails in jazz. I look forward to seeing the fuller, fleshed out version of the piece with teams of dancers and drummers in full regalia.

In a continuing exploration of new forms, choreographer Allisen Learnard presented a fusion of Middle Eastern and African movement as translated through tap. The Next Day started out stark and angular. The dancers moved in unison, the intricacy of their time-steps ticking the seconds of arduous hours. Gradually they fell out of sync, the stresses of modern life bearing down. This symbolic death of conformity gave birth to the sultry, round, soft undulations of belly dance and jubilant cadence of African movement. The dancers literally released themselves from their restrictive social trappings, revealing the sensuality and interconnectivity we all secretly long for.
Martin Luther King Jr. once famously asserted, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” In Bipedalism: Learn To Stand On Your Own After Life Knocks You Down, Dance Now! Ensemble member Megan Holsinger started at the opposite end of this spectrum. The audience followed breathlessly as the choreographer writhed on the floor, soon to crawl, eventually to walk, finally to stride, and ultimately taking off running around the stage. We all sat transfixed by this victory lap. Holsinger later confessed she herself was overwhelmed with emotion at the end of the piece, which affirms that she gave a fully spirited performance.

When two young women darted out and frantically began to rip off their dresses, it was hard not to be intrigued. So began What is Meant. The women have just escaped the Salem Witch Trials and are heading into the woods toward their new lives. It was easy to imagine how these women, one spritely, with mysterious long dark hair and the other impossibly tall with cropped hair, could spark suspicion amongst the townsfolk. The music set the dark, angsty mood, interspersed with night sounds and crickets. Even on a bare stage it was easy to imagine the dark forest the ladies whipped through, sick with fear and worry. The hope of redemption travelled with them.

The choreographer, Brigette Cormier, revealed during the Q&A how the piece has morphed. When Cormier couldn’t find the right music, she mixed it herself. She changed the wardrobe to better set the mood. The movements in the pieces were inspired to keep both dancers’ dangerously long hair out of their faces. So when Cormier’s partner Joanna showed up one day shorn, the choreographer wisely didn’t change a thing. The result was truly bewitching.

Work in Progress (W.I.P) by Dr. Constance McIntyre was a remarkable and triumphant performance, beautifully executed by an ensemble of high school students. Singer/songwriter Giel sang an original song and provided live accompaniment via acoustic guitar just upstage from the dancers. These young ladies danced with emotional maturity heightened by the live music. During the discussion afterward, it was revealed that this piece was rehearsed for only 6 hours! This only amplified my appreciation for this piece. I am looking forward to seeing what this ensemble could produce given more time.

Crystal Lewis invited the audience for an enlightening ride on her emotional roller coaster. In Transition was an exploratory voyage through the process of changing behaviors through a loop of similar phrases, as each rendition slightly changed and evolved. The methodical, surgical execution of Lewis’ movements exemplified the stubborn characteristics of her personality. With each repetition of her phrase, this rigidity gave way to softer, meandering movements that appeared more organic. After much trial and error, the dancer finally came up with the winning combination. The transition complete, the dancer to strode simply and directly towards the audience with conquering confidence.

Play and Breathe are two excerpts from Piano Pieces by Hannah Baumgarten, one half of the Dance Now! Miami directorial team. This last installment capped off the night with a languid ensemble piece and a captivating duet. These were, for me, the most fully actualized pieces.

Often in my experience, recitals and dance performances can be rigid and reserved. In conversations after previous performances, I have seldom heard an audience voice their true opinion publicly, no one wanting to come off common or uncultured. But tonight some of the best performances were in the house seats. After each piece, moderator and Artburst contributor Celeste Fraser Delgado introduced the choreographer and took questions, comments, and criticism from the audience.

I have rarely seen an audience so engaged. Throughout these pieces, I could hear the whispers and gasps, the sounds of opinions and insights being formed. The questions and comments were posed with such curiosity and emotion, the kind you ask when you are falling in love.

Dance Now! next presents Open Stage on Saturday, March 23 at the Little Haiti Cultural Center. For details, visit dancenow.org.

When the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre returns to the Arsht Center this month, Miami will welcome home the company’s Artistic Director Robert Battle. “It’s wonderful,” says Battle. “Home represents something very special.”  The company will perform at the Arsht Center from Feb. 21 to 24, as part of its 21-city U.S. tour. The diverse company is a favorite for this town, beloved for its dynamic, soul-stirring choreographies.

But for Battle, heading the company that first inspired him to dance is just one twist of irony in his rise to the top.

Battle’s childhood home in Liberty City is located just a stone’s throw from the Arsht Center. The house was an incubator for Battle’s artistic dreams. A focused teenager, he practiced dance moves on furniture and used the decorative wrought-iron gate as ballet bars. From very early, Battle knew that he wanted to “be famous” and longed to perform. “I was always around the arts,” he says, describing moments when his family would gather to sing as his mother, a teacher, played the piano. “They saw me from the beginning to where I am now, so it’s a wonderful feeling for me,” he says.

On tour stops in Miami, Battle comes on stage to personally greet the audience and give a shout out to the hometown. He is a living testimony of where passion and determination takes you. It was a ninth grade school trip to the Jackie Gleason Theater where Battle first saw the renowned dance troupe perform. From that moment on, he was committed to the craft, studying dance at the New World School of the Arts for his 11^th and 12^th grade years. “Seeing Alvin Ailey perform was one of my profound moments that really set my career in motion,” he says. “Dance was a natural progression,” he says, given his early fondness for artistic expression.

Battle had long paid his dues in the dance world by the time Judith Jamison handpicked him for the Ailey job in 2010. He left Miami for New York to attend the Julliard School, then immediately joined the Parsons Dance Company where he stayed from 1994 to 2001. Though he served as artist-in-residence at Ailey, Battle had no formal affiliation with the company, prior to assuming the director’s role. However, his high-energy, complex choreographies, such as “Juba” and “In/Side” were featured by the company for 10 seasons, according to a 2010 New York Times article.

He began the role officially in 2011 when Jamison retired, making him only the third person to serve as artistic director, succeeding Jamison and founder Ailey. “That just goes to show you that there is a lot of good talent out of Miami,” says the pleasant 40-year-old.

Reflecting on how Miami has evolved, the most notable change, he says, is the development of the performing arts district along Biscayne Boulevard where the Arsht center is located. The expansive complex reflects the city’s renewed dedication to the arts. After nearly two decades, Battle is comfortably a New Yorker, but “when I’m in Miami, I’m a Miamian.” The two cities, he says, have similar artistic veins. “There’s a similarity in its vibrancy and appreciation of the arts. There’s a vitality that is palpable. That’s why the audience loves the company so much.”

Battle describes his work with the company as a “continuum” to what the late founder and Jamison have built. “Alvin Ailey and Judith Jamison are icons in the world of dance,” he says. He often thinks of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision for humanity. “’I have a Dream’ spoke to me as a young person and it was something that Alvin Ailey achieved through dance,” he says.

“At a time when we were as African-American dancers denied basic human rights, he had the audacity to speak of inclusiveness,” says Battle. “Alvin Ailey said that dance was inclusive and represented all people.”

The company’s works tell stories of humanity from the African-American experience. This is a sacred legacy that Battle upholds, while weaving in fresh, energetic choreographies. His works challenge dancers and audiences alike.

“People leave the theater feeling like they’ve made a connection,” he says, a true testimony that “people’s souls need to be fed as much as their mouths.”

His style he says is “unpredictable but rooted.” It’s about continuing to honor the past, celebrating the present and the hope of where you can possibly go. “We’re only limited by our own imagination,” he says.

Admittedly, his works are physically demanding, says Battle. But he’s doing something right. The company started with a record breaking season at its New York City base, City Center. “People came to see performances 9 and 10 times because they are excited about what we are doing,” he says.

At the upcoming Arsht center showing, the company will feature “Petite Mort,” “Grace,”  “In/Side” and Ailey’s classic must-see “Revelations.”

“This is a very powerful season,” he says. “The repertoire is so diverse.”

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre comes to the Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Arsht Center,1300 Biscayne Blvd., from Feb. 21 to 24. Tickets range from $25 to $120, with matinee and evening shows; go to www.arshtcenter.org.

This feature also appears in the Miami New Times.

Photo: Yannick Lebrun, Kirven James Boyd and Antonio Douthit in Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort. Photo by Paul Kolnik

Open Mic Nights are staples in many cities, whether focusing on song or on comedy. But whoever said that the concept of revealing one’s work before a live audience was only limited to the spoken word?

Last year, the Miami-based modern dance company that choreographers/teachers/dancers Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini founded in 2000, Dance NOW! Miami, and the Little Haiti Cultural Center, which serves as its residence, unleashed the concept of the Miami Open Stage.

Think of it as an Open Mic Night but for dancers.

And on Saturday, Dec. 15, you’re going to get another chance at seeing new works and works-in-progress from local choreographers in a theater environment as Miami Open Stage — Works and Process, a Knight Arts finalist, returns.

“We put out the call to artists, and the first six choreographers that answered got the slots. It is a non-adjudicated event, and that’s why it’s really like an Open Mic,” says Dance NOW’s Baumgarten. “We offer the choreographers two main things: the opportunity to see their work on stage, and to be able to say that their work was presented in this event.”

But there’s even more than that. “I think what it really does is open up the mind to dance for a lot of people, showing them different styles and different genres of dance,” says Anita Darbonne, director of the Little Haiti Cultural Center (LHCC).

For Darbonne, the different styles, genres, and backgrounds of the participating artists constitute a highly rewarding experience. Not only for the choreographers to share their work and the dancers to exhibit their talent, but for the public as well.

“For an audience to come in and really be able to absorb everything that is amazing about culture in itself, that is just wonderful,” says Darbonne, who has forged a close relationship with Dance NOW! Miami. “They were actually the first company that approached me three years ago when I started programming the facility,” remembers Darbonne. “They came in and were able to start some classes and teach kids ballet and modern dance in the community.”

The success of Dance NOW! at the LHCC prompted other companies and artists to move there as well. Not only does the center continue its mission of providing a space that presents, promotes, and supports Afro-Caribbean culture in South Florida, but it has expanded to embrace diverse artistic expressions from different backgrounds, turning the facility into a real arts and culture hub.

“Just remembering from where we were three years ago, it has totally changed,” says Darbonne with excitement. “People are coming from all over and the programs have grown, and with events such as Miami Open Stage and Big Night in Little Haiti, we are getting tourists here now.”

Scheduled to participate in this upcoming Miami Open Stage – Works and Process will be Brigette Cormier, Quilvio Rodríguez, Constance McIntyre, Crystal Lewis, Prince Emmanuel Abiodun Aderle, and Allisen Learnard. Dance NOW! will also be presenting work, and there will be discussions between artists and the audience led by Celeste Fraser Delgado, arts critic, associate professor of English and Humanities at Barry University, and artburstmiami contributor. This conversation, this exchange of ideas, is crucial to the evening in that it gives people a chance to talk about what dance is. Or is not. “This is contemporary dance, and that scares a lot of people,” says Baumgarten, a Juilliard School of Music graduate who met her collaborative partner Salterini at the South Florida dance collective PAN years ago.

“For the audience to have an opportunity to say what they’ve always wanted to say: ‘What the hell does that mean? Why do you have to twitch like that!’ ”adds Baumgarten.  “Modern dance has a bad rap. Many people feel it’s only for the initiated. And sometimes, some contemporary art is only for the initiated. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t find a way to understand it.”

Miami Open Stage – Works in Progress, Dec. 15 at 7:00 p.m., at the Little Haiti Cultural Center, 212 NE 59 Terr., Miami. Free parking. Tickets: $10 at the door, or online at www.dancenowmiami.org; 305-975-8489.  

An ambitious program that includes British choreographer Darshan Singh Bhuller’s latest work and a classic from Martha Graham, plus ballet and jazz dances.

Combining African, Native American, Caribbean and European traditions, the company will  show its moves off during the Spring Dance Showcase.

A promise was made to the South Miami Dade community after the destruction of Hurricane Andrew. The “revitalization plan” developed by Commissioner Dennis Moss envisioned an anchor, a new public space around which the community could again build their lives. And so the idea for The South Miami Dade Arts Center (SMDAC) was born.

Nearly a decade later, the center is now open to the public. And what a center it is, with its multiple performance and rehearsal spaces, designed by internationally acclaimed architectural team and Miami locals, Arquitectonica. As one might expect, the structure is a melody in glass. Colored lights too. Indeed, one entire wall of the lobby is liquid in ever changing colored lights, a computer generated design developed by Miami visual artist Robert Chambers.

Exterior space serves the center’s purpose as well. An outdoor promenade both connects the performance and practice/activities buildings and serves as a gathering space/reception area. Just a few steps further is a concert lawn, able to accommodate as many as 700 concert or festival goers.

But all this is prelude.

Some might have patience with a tentative first season in a community arts center. Nobody needs to have patience with this one. Quite the contrary, especially with a former New York actor and set designer, veteran Miami producer, and presenter Eric Fliss as general manager. Take even a cursory look at the remainder of 2011-2012 season at The South Miami Dade Art Center.

On March 31, the center will present Abraham in Motion, an ensemble of dancers directed by Kyle Abraham, in his “Radio Show.” The work revolves around music and memory, focusing on the music of an AM dial, beloved music, worlds within worlds now gone. Fliss first saw Abraham perform years ago at the festival of avant-garde dance, Jacob’s Pillow. According to Fliss, “What I witnessed was the articulation of a new language of movement.” Critics all over the U.S. have shared Fliss’s enthusiasm, heralding Abraham as an emerging star of contemporary choreography.

The South Miami Dade Art Center describes its mission as multi-disciplinary. General Manager Fliss wouldn’t have it any other way.

On April 21, the Center will present the Grammy Award winning “Best Cross-Over” Turtle Island String Quartet, musicians heralded for their classical re-workings of jazz greats. Here they will present their interpretation of John Coltrane’s legendary “Love Supreme.”

And theater? Bring together a Pulitzer Prize winner — Miami native Nilo Cruz — and a Gold Coast repertory company, Michael Edwards’ Asolo Company, which is wowing crowds in New York and beyond for their innovative work. What might these folks choose to take on? Hamlet. Or rather a distinctly Cuban version of the Bard’s work that will be presented in both English and Spanish during several performances May 11 through 13.

But besides presenting the arts to a community, a center has a responsibility to build the community itself. Every artist who comes to The South Miami Dade Cultural Center is involved in educational activities. Yet it is perhaps through dance that the center’s outreach has been most extraordinary.

A few weeks ago, the Lion King was in residence. Or rather Garth Fagan, the Caribbean-born Tony-Award winning choreographer of the iconic musical, was at the center in order to work closely creating a work with a local dance company, Brazz Dance. The Miami group, one that blends the language of Afro-Brazilian and contemporary dance, shares many of the same idioms as Fagan. According to Fliss, “this collaboration was the fruit of our efforts to provide local performing artists with experiences that can help develop and further their careers.”

Earlier in this year, Ron K Brown, a MacArthur “genius” award winning choreographer whose work is often featured by the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, was also in attendance at the center.  Performances by Brown and his dance company,Evidence, was only part of a schedule that included classes in South Miami’s elementary and middle schools, master classes at Miami Dade College, and an intergenerational workshop between dance conservatory students and seniors.

When asked about outreach, Fliss has a great many stories worth sharing. Only when pressed, will he admit a favorite. Last spring, even before it officially opened, the center brought a handful of artists to Miami. Among them was Doug Varone, a choreographer whose work has been produced in the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center, on Parisian fashion runways, and in myriad theaters. Doug Varone and Dancers performed at the center accompanied by the Coral Reef High School Orchestra and Chorus, but the outreach, the integration of local young people and established artists didn’t stop there. Varone wanted to do a workshop for the kids attending Douglas MacArthur High School South. Students here had had several run-ins with the law. Varone envisioned dance workshops where students, counselors, and principles might make themselves vulnerable to each other through dance. A whole lot of people had doubts. No matter. The project went forward. Fliss recalls a counselor from the school telling him that those three days were the best she had ever had with her students.

The South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center: only the beginning.

“Abraham.In.Motion: The Radio Show” starts at 8 p.m. on March 31 at the South Miami Dade Cultural Center, 10950 SW 211 Street, Cutler Bay. Tickets are $25, $15, $10. $5, available on CultureShockmiami.com for students ages 13-22; 786- 573-5300 or www.smdcac.org.

PHOTO: Ron K. Brown, artistic director of Evidence, A Dance Company, working with senior citizens from Cutler Bay and middle school students from Mays Conservatory on a two day, inter-generational workshop.

This article first appeared in the Miami Sun Post.

As a professor of modern dance, Delma Iles has a deep knowledge of dance history and the repertory she has created for her ensemble, Momentum Dance Company, reflects a reverence for the modern dance greats. Momentum closed the six-week Miami Dance Festival with a performance of both new and older works from the company’s repertory, giving a broad view of Iles’ choreographic style alongside a presentation of a historic Doris Humphrey piece called Water Study.

Water Study outshone all of Iles’ original choreography. It was a truly stunning piece, never mind that it was first presented in 1928. Almost a century later, Momentum’s rendition of this classic piece felt like a form of truth, perfectly tuned to the body’s rhythms and the movement of the elements in space. At the same time, it was a living piece of history, encapsulating the aesthetic moment of Art Deco, the jazz age, and the moment when ballet began to fall from its pedestal.

Humphrey’s work was revolutionary in its time. She was among the second generation of Modern dance innovators and, as she wrote in her autobiography, “suddenly the dance, the Sleeping Beauty, so long reclining in her dainty bed, had risen up with a devouring desire.” Ballet often denies the body’s natural forms, but in Water Study, the body is animated gently from within, by the breath. Inside a profound silence, we only heard the whooshing of the dancers’ conspicuous breathing, and the sound of their bodies landing heavily or lightly on the stage. There was no music, nothing to interrupt or distract.

In her own choreography, Iles’ dancers struggled with both the pacing and the poses. It was a miracle to see how easily and elegantly they all fell into rhythm for Water Study.

The opportunity to see a historical work is rare, wonderful, and immeasurably valuable. Dance is above all a living form, and that undefinable something, the magic, gets lost when it is translated into video. Because Water Study is so much about the body, and the experience of silence, it is particularly resistant to documentation. The physical bodies in motion allow us to enter into the presence of dance, and to tune ourselves to the dancers. Sometimes they are our surrogates, they dance for us, and in Water Study it was a blissful, raw experience. Iles has done a great service in presenting Humphrey’s work onstage.

Inevitably Water Study is different in 2011 than it would have in 1928. It is shaking no foundations, and none of the aesthetics were as shocking as they must have originally been. But still, this work speaks profoundly. The simplicity of Humphrey’s choreography, and the pacing of the movement seemed inextricably linked to nature, which hasn’t changed much. Silence, perhaps, is harder to come by now than it was then.

Springtime is for lovers, one always hears. Well, in Miami, it’s for dance lovers. How is one not supposed to feel enamored by what the city’s New World School of the Arts (NWSA) will be showcasing from April 14 through April 17? That’s when students and internationally renowned choreographers of the downtown visual and performing arts school present their Spring Dance Concert, which features five world premieres and — drumroll, please — the reconstruction of a master work by Doris Humphrey, an Illinois-born modern-dance pioneer who died in 1958, but whose techniques are still being taught today.

And the works of the other choreographers featured will also put a spring into April’s heels, such as:

• Arno (as in the river from Italy’s Tuscany region), a world premiere by NWSA’s Gerard Ebitz, who danced professionally with the New York City Ballet, was a founding member of Miami City Ballet, and has been on the faculty of New World since 1988. The music of this ballet is inspired by the first movement of Russian master Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Sextet in D Minor Opus 70, or the Souvenir de Florence.

• Darshan Singh Bhuller’s The Virgin Queen which, aided by multimedia and video effects, presents what happens when England’s Queen Elizabeth I finds out her Maid of Honor has secretly married – gasp! – her beloved Captain of the Queen’s Guard (and rumored lover), Sir Walter Raleigh. At least they were lucky: rather than losing their heads, Elizabeth imprisoned them in the Tower of London.

• Esteemed NWSA long-time collaborator Michael Uthoff’s Till We Meet Again (Hasta La Vista, Baby!), which the Artistic and Executive Director of Dance St. Louis created in honor of his friend Daniel Lewis, whose long tenure as the school’s Dean of Dance was celebrated in February — this year Lewis will be leaving his post, where he has been since 1987.

• Also being performed: Farewell My Friends, by guest choreographer Francie Huber; My Very Empty Mouth, by Josée Garant, winner of a 2008-2009 Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs Choreographer Fellowship Award; and 1935’s New Dance, part of a trilogy of the same name, by Doris Humphrey.

In all, six pieces, with more than 75 dancers. So, take your pick.

Spring Dance Concert performances begin Thursday, April 14, at 7:30p.m.; April 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m.; and April 17 at 2:00 p.m. General admission is $12 for adults, $5 for students and seniors. Tickets are available online at nwsa.mdc.edu or by calling 305-237-3341. New World Dance Theater, 25 NE 2nd St., 8th Floor, downtown Miami. More information about the Dance Division at New World School of the Arts: 305-237-3582.

Above photo: Carina Holland, Courtney Horton, Quilvio Rodriguez. [On floor] Matthew Bailey; credit: Juan E. Cabrera.

Local dance companies are faced with the challenge of extending themselves in multiple directions at once. The creative aspect of things goes without saying — innovation and craftsmanship are at the core of any artistic practice. But here in Miami, local dance companies also have to build an audience, and sometimes, that means taking a step back from the cutting edge to educate people about the basics.

This past weekend, as part of the Miami Dance Festival, the Dance Now! Ensemble presented Ekphrasis 2: More Art from Art at the Bass Museum of Art. For the second year in a row, Dance Now! placed site-specific choreographies within the museum, responding to specific artworks and, this year, to the building itself. For Ekphrasis 2, artistic directors Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini seemed concerned, above all, with keeping the atmosphere informal. The program opened with a conversational introduction tuned to a beginner audience, starting with a definition of the word “ekphrasis”– one art form commenting on another.

Baumgarten and Salterini introduced each of the projects in turn, explaining exactly what, in the artwork, inspired their choreography, and the audience seemed to appreciate the gesture. Both the lyrical ballet-inspired choreography and the artworks were accessible, allowing just about anyone to engage with them.

The first two choreographies responded to paintings from the museum’s permanent collection in a direct way, beginning with A Night Out. Illustrating Portrait of Flore Mahieu Lesieur (1938), an impressionistic portrait of a woman by artist Kees van Dongen, two dancers acted out scenes that might have come before and after the moment in the painting. As the directors wrote in the program notes, “we envision her preparation for the night ahead, waiting for her gentleman caller.” A dancer in a burgundy evening dress slowly extended her arms and touched her own cheek as her partner quietly approached. They danced together with slow-simmering sensual chemistry. Very briefly, the woman elegantly arrived at the pose in the painting.

A second choreography, The Shrine, was a short, beautiful meditation on The Crucifixion Tryptic (c. 1600), a small alterpiece by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem depicting Christ on the cross, surrounded by mourners including a grief-stricken Madonna. Here, the choreographers took a cue from the artwork in a more broad way, interpreting the emotion of a mother who has lost her son. Three dancers in dark blue costumes reminiscent of nun’s habits or mourning veils entered the room, each of them carrying a folded white cloth suggesting both a shroud and a lifeless body. The gestures were pleading, a living portrait that could have come from the same scene in many other paintings.

Before the audience moved downstairs for the second half of the show,  Baumgarten and Salterini asked the audience if there were any questions, and then explained, “as we move away from this floor, we’re also moving away from the literal into the abstract.”

The third piece, FloatingFlyingFalling was a response in movement to an installation by local artists Francis Trombly and Leydon Rodriguez-Casanova, specifically a piece by Trombly called Leaning Canvases (2010). As an artist, she is known for handwoven copies of familiar objects, from garbage cans to caution tape. For the Bass Museum, she leaned a pile of blank canvases and empty stretchers against the wall. One detail removed her canvases from the everyday — the material she stretched was visibly imperfect and handmade.

The Dance Now! choreographers approached Trombly’s work as a commentary on the creative process, and FloatingFlyingFalling was a visually surprising embodiment of the artist’s struggle to bring an idea into form. The entire piece happened within a shockingly small wooden box with open ends. From the first minute of this piece to the last, a dancer struggled to reach beyond her containment, curling up forlornly or screaming silently at times and eventually collapsing. It was equal parts expression and contortion

For the final choreography, the audience was led to a shady outdoor patio near the museum’s reflecting pool for Drawing Circles, a response to the architectural environment of the museum itself. We were told that the curves and straight lines of art deco architecture were at the center of Drawing Circles, but the choreography itself was much more complex than that, allowing the audience, finally, to see the open-ended abstraction that dance does so well.

Those who missed the program at the Bass Museum will get a second chance to see both FloatingFlyingFalling and Drawing Circles at Dance Now’s upcoming performance on May 7 at the Byron Carlyle Theater, 500 71st St., Miami Beach, also part of the Miami Dance Festival; www.momentumdance.com or call the box office at 305-674-1040 x1.