Samba, capoeira, and pure fun come together when DANCE BRAZIL 2009 evoke sunnier climes at New Bedford's Zeiterion Theatre (February 20; 508.994.2900). The cleverly named CONNetic Dance (yes, from Hartford) comes to the Dance Complex (February 21; 860.586.8983).
BOSTON BALLET finally tackles one of the great peaks of the neoclassical repertory, the full-length version of George Balanchine's Jewels; it's staged by former Balanchine ballerinas Sandra Jennings and Maria Calegari (February 26–March 8; 866.348.9738).
For the seventh annual collaboration between BU dancers and lighting designers, AURORA BOREALIS shines at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts (February 26–March 1; 617.933.8600). PINE MANOR COLLEGE DANCE ENSEMBLE gives its annual winter concert spanning hip-hop, modern, jazz, and ballet at the Ellsworth Theater in Chestnut Hill (February 26-27; 617.283.4596). Environmental heroine Rachel Carson meets American jazz tap when choreographer Drika Overton and jazz pianist Paul Arslanian go OFF THE BEATEN PATH: A JAZZ AND TAP ODYSSEY with Josh Hilberman and the inimitable Brenda Bufalino at Fitchburg State College (February 27; 978.665.3347).
KIRA SEAMON presents Arias and Arabesques with mezzo-soprano Angeliki Theoharis and pianist Kyoko Yurugi at the Dance Complex (March 6-9; 617.794.1020). Martha Mason and Anna Myers mentor young dance makers at Green Street in their EMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM (March 6-7; 617.864.3191).
NATURE THEATER OF OKLAHOMA is at the ICA with Kelly Copper and Pavol Liska's gestural epic Poetics: A Ballet Brut (March 13-15; 617.478.3103). A super-sensitive superhero stands at the center of Joe Goode's WONDERBOY, the not-to-be-missed collaboration between gutsy, political Goode and genius puppeteer Basil Twist at Northeastern's Blackman Theatre (March 14; 617.373.4700). MAVI DANCE takes its audience to the world of the sultans in Harem at Boston University Dance Theatre (March 14-15; 617.358.2500). Following their New York City premiere, KELLEY DONOVAN & DANCERS perform Borrowed Bones, exploring acceptance, impermanence, and letting go, at the Dance Complex (March 13-14; 781.420.3893).
The inventive beauty of this season's MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP repertory program features Bedtime, All Fours, and V at the Cutler Majestic Theatre (March 19-22; 617.482.6661).
Twyla Tharp & Billy Joel's boomer tribute MOVIN' OUT is still moving around the country; it alights at the Colonial Theatre (March 20-22; 617.880.2460). In Cambridge, Alissa Cardone, now based on the left coast, brings new dance artists to Green Street Studios with BALLET LOLITA traces the progression of female experience in Awakening the Muse at the Dance Complex (March 20-21; 401.301.5518). A middle school in Africa will rise thanks to the funds raised by two "AFRICAN RHYTHMS" shows at Cronin Auditorium in Harvard, Massachusetts, and at the Dance Complex in Cambridge. Participants are the Teriya Dancers, Troupe Teranga, and a group of parents and children performing dances from Mali, Guinea, and Senegal (March 21-22; 978.433.2384). The eighth annual CHARLES RIVER DANCE FESTIVAL has both a matinee and evening performance at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown (March 21; 617.923.8487).
Finally, for those who like their contemporary dance with a dollop of video voyeurism, five men confess their dance dreams in Australian cult favorite CHUNKY MOVE's I Want To Dance Better at Parties at the ICA (March 27-29; 617.876.4275). The same weekend, TANJA LONDON AND DIANA STEINBERG question the future of the American dream in Volatile, a dance-and-film collaboration at the Dance Complex (March 27-28; 617.233.1343).
