EVERETT (now officially Everett CompanyStageSchool) will be in residence at Brown University's Granoff Center October 16-20, opening with a panel discussion on "Devising Cross-Disciplinary Work" and closing with reprise performances of their stellar work Brain Storm (October 19 and 20, everettri.org/latest-news/brain-storm-at-browns-granoff-center). Don't miss this multi-media movement and monologue meditation on the way the brain works: how we feel, experience, reason, and think about our world.
JUMP! DANCE COMPANY (jumpdancecompany.org), which encourages young local artists to choreograph and perform their own pieces, will present their second original two-act ballet, Cinderella, on October 26 and 27. The title character is a janitor in a big-city dance academy, and the ballet features Jump!'s characteristic hip hop en pointe, plus a "dream sequence" danced to the Beatles. Their first full-length ballet, performed since 2000, Scenes from the Polar Express, will be on December 8 and 9.
The first extravaganza of international dance performances this fall comes from, appropriately, FirstWorks, with a seven-hour festival (September 29, 4-11 pm) of local and national artists, called "On the Plaza in 2012." PROJECT BANDALOOP does "site-reactive" pieces, such as at the Seattle Space Needle and Yosemite National Park, combining aerial stunts and dance choreography. Directed by Amelia Rudolph to music by Dana Leong, they will perform 30 stories above Greater Kennedy Plaza, doing excerpts from their work "Bound(less)." NAN JOMBANG, from Sumatra, meld contemporary dance with a 14th-century martial arts form called Silat to create compelling performances with strong dramatic and percussive effects. For times and places for all the groups, check first-works.org.
The RIC Performing Arts Series (www.ric.edu/pfa/pas.php) kicks off with BALLET FOLKLORICO DE MEXICO on October 2 at Roberts Hall. Founded by Amalia Hernández, this group bases their performances on traditional dances from pre-Columbian Mexico, its Viceroy period, and its revolutionary era. On November 15, the SHAOLIN WARRIORS return to RIC with a blend of kung fu and dance that makes for a highly theatrical evening.
Several other events at RIC hold particular interest for local dance fans: CAVANAUGH DANCE, led by Colleen Cavanaugh, will present Part of the Oath (October 5 and 6); BRIDGMAN/PACKER DANCE, with Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer, will do Voyeur on October 19; and the RHODE ISLAND DANCE COMPANY will perform Angelica Vessella's A-Mirror-CA: A Reflection of America's Media- Driven Society (November 30 and December 1).
At Providence College, the BLACKFRIARS DANCE CONCERT will take place in the Angell Blackfriars Theatre November 16 and 17 (providence.edu/theatre/Pages/current-season.aspx). And Roger Williams University has scheduled the DANCE THEATRE IN CONCERT, December 6-9, at the Barn Theater, with faculty, alumni, and guest choreographers (departments.rwu.edu/dance).
