Written by Sharon McDaniel | 06 February 2010

It was so hard to see him go.

Dancer Jerry Opdenaker retired from Ballet Florida in 2006 after 14 years with West Palm Beach’s resident contemporary dance and ballet company. He showed so much personality, imagination, even mischief in his dancing -- especially, he confided, when he was unrecognizable; say, costumed as a Cinderella stepsister or Nutcracker Mouse King.

But it’s so good to see him back.

Opdenaker is returning to the stage with the dance company he founded this past summer, O Dance. An organizer and can-do guy from way back, Opdenaker also founded and directed Ballet Florida’s choreographic workshop, Step Ahead. This educational and creative spinoff of his former company invited aspiring and emerging choreographers and lighting designers from the community and elsewhere to see their work onstage performed by professional dancers and appreciated by enthusiastic audiences

The 10-year-old Step Ahead program ended several years ago. Then Ballet Florida went dark last summer after 23 years. But Opdenaker, it seems, already had plans that pick up where both enterprises left off.

At 8 p.m. tonight, O Dance presents its inaugural performance in the Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth. The program includes eight new ballets – among them, four world premieres -- by five choreographers from South Florida, Texas and California. Fifteen professional dancers and eight apprentices will perform, and a talk-back with the artists will follow the program.

O Dance is so new that Opdenaker was surprised when addressed as “Mr. Artistic Director."

“That’s nice to hear!” responds the 44-year-old Pennsylvania native, savoring the moment. “But you know where I am right now? I’m at Home Depot, looking for stuff for sets! So I’m also head carpenter – oh, and nonprofit application writer. I’m wearing very many hats. I’m going crazy right now, but I am so happy!”

The hat-shifting began in summer 2009 when Opdenaker thought of reviving Step Ahead, the annual workshop and performance for emerging choreographers. (He founded it at Ballet Florida in the 1990s and directed it until it ended in 2005.)

“It started as a project, much like Step Ahead,” recalls Opdenaker, who danced for 22 years with Pennsylvania Ballet, Kansas City Ballet and Ballet Florida. “I wanted to continue the traditional program for the emerging artist for choreography and lighting design. But it morphed into something larger.”

O Dance is a step up from Step Ahead, though. It adds a multi-arts component which on Saturday will feature the work of four visual artists. As Opdenaker explains on the troupe’s Web site, www.odance.org, O Dance aims “to provide a forum for dance and visual artists … with the focus on the exploration of dance and theater."

For the inaugural performance, choreographers were encouraged to work with a visual artist or use an existing piece of art for inspiration. Among the artist-to-artist collaborations that Opdenaker encouraged were connecting with a composer for new music or with a video artist to create a new environment on stage.

California-based choreographer Andrea Dawn Shelley, a previous Step Ahead participant with many South Florida connections, is working with local visual artist Liz Atzberger, whose recent exhibit intrigued her.

“Liz took a common object -- zip ties -- strung them together in a web effect, so that they cascaded down and swirled around,” says Opdenaker, describing the Atzberger installation. Shelley, a Miami native, loved the concept, and wanted something similar in black-and-white, combined with an 8 foot-by-8 foot cube, like an open storage facility that you can see through.

Dancer and artistic environment would then merge on stage, says Opdenaker, “with the dancer coming in and out of it, as if it’s a home to get away from or into. (The dancer is able to) play with the art objects that Liz is creating. It’s not like a backdrop; the art is interactive and tactile, and dictates some new dance movements, too.”

Along with the dancer’s costume, hand-painted by Atzberger, the dance-art is one unified concept bringing out the best of both artists, says Opdenaker. Also transforming the stage are works of accomplished visual artists Sinisa Kukec, Nigel Van Wieck and Ann Cadaret. Overseeing the inaugural program and four lighting designers is the familiar Ballet Florida artist and production manager Albert Mathers.

Of Opdenaker’s two works for tonight, one is a revival, the other a new ballet in teamwork with a New York City visual artist/videographer. Other choreographers are Marc Spielberger (Miami City Ballet principal) and Stacey Downs (Palm Beach Ballet Center).

Newcomers include Miami YoungArts modern-dance finalist Austin Goodwin (Plano, Texas) and Spencer Gavin Hering who, as well as Andrea Dawn Shelley, was a former Maximum Dance/Ballet Gamonet dancer. Hering and Shelley are now co-founders of the new company Infinite Movement Ever Expanding (IMEE) in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Among the cast’s 15 exceptional dancers are returning Ballet Florida artists -- retired ballerina Tina Martin, plus Shannon Smith – and Lily Ojea (Florida Classical Ballet), Will Hoppe (Boca Ballet Theatre), Ida Saki (Plano, Texas), Viky Smith (Dance Academy of North Lauderdale) and Maribel Modrono (retired principal, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre). Dancers Paul Thrussell (former principal, Boston Ballet) and Cristian Laverde König (former principal, Milwaukee Ballet) are Step Ahead alumni. The performers also include eight apprentices.

For ever-practical Opdenaker, creating ballets has never been far from his thoughts. Even when he joined Ballet Florida in 1992, he was asking himself what he wanted to do when he stopped performing. But there was a problem: How and where does a performer learn to create?

“There’s no school you can go to,” complained the then-choreographer-in-the-making. With Ballet Florida’s blessing – but no cash – Opdenaker developed the annual Step Ahead program which, around 1996, began reaching out to like-minded dancer-choreographers. It offered a laboratory where they could try out their best ideas and new moves on professional colleagues. Because it was scheduled after each Ballet Florida season ended, the workshop did not have to compete for rehearsal time and space.

It wasn't just the choreographers who benefited from hands-on experimentation. Step Ahead also offered local theater tech students in high school and college the chance to create lighting designs for new ballets.

Step Ahead was a stepping stone for a committed, gifted choreographer such as Opdenaker. One of his new ballets, Coeur de Basque, was presented in New York City in 2003, then by Ballet Florida during its 2003-04 season and Ballet Gamonet in Miami in 2005. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded two Access to Artistic Excellence grants to Step Ahead.

With his polished skills, Opdenaker made it onto some very impressive invitation lists: New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute (2005) and the National Choreographic Initiative (California, 2007). Still, Opdenaker knew he had to go farther.

“I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface,” he says. “And with the demise of Ballet Florida and Ballet Gamonet, I’ve lost my choreography lab. I needed -- under the guise of creating a company – to get the pieces that were inside of me out.”

Also, what about works like Coeur de Basque? How would they become better-known without local companies to champion them?

Opdenaker was envisioning the worst: no more performances of his work unless he moved out of state and found another dance company or artistic director to sponsor him. Even without the down economy, he adds, “It’s so hard to convince someone to take you on as a resident choreographer.”

Instead, he says, “(O Dance) just feel into my lap, sort of. So many people are supporting the idea and saying ‘You should really do this -- You are good at this kind of organizing.’”

O Dance has already cleared several hurdles. It is officially a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It even has partners: the Duncan Theatre and the new Florida Dance Conservatory (co-owned and co-directed by dancer Tina Martin), one of the troupe’s rehearsal sites. O Dance has also formed an alliance with the Center for Creative Education and will become the resident dance company for its upcoming new facility.

So does that mean that O Dance is indeed a new company, not just a new project?

Opdenaker laughs and says: “Palm Beach County is starved for creative dance, and West Palm Beach is getting the progressive edge -- it could become a leader in the art form of dance.

“Right now, this is only one program I have in mind. I would love to see (O Dance) as an ongoing entity. But I’m going to hold back on an answer until I see it on Saturday! I have a feeling it’s going to take off.”

O Dance gives its inaugural performance at tonight at the Duncan Theatre, Palm Beach State College, 4200 Congress Ave., Lake Worth. Artistic Director Jerry Opdenaker and four new choreographers will present new eight works performed by 15 professional dancers and eight apprentices (visit www.odance.org). The performance begins at 8 p.m. For tickets -- $27, $10 for students – call (561) 868-3309.

Written by Sharon McDaniel | 19 January 2010

A chance TV viewing of One Last Dance (2003, Patrick Swazye) alerted me to Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Of the film’s extraordinary dance cast, Desmond Richardson’s exceptional segments burned Complexions into my brain.

It has taken a long wait to get the troupe to West Palm Beach for anything more than just tantalizing one work on a festival program. But the 15-year-old company, co-founded and co-directed by Richardson with choreographer Dwight Rhoden, opened the Duncan Theatre’s 2009-10 Modern Dance Series on Friday and Saturday in Lake Worth.

Because of a soloist’s injury, Saturday’s program changed. But it was all for the good. Several small-ensemble pieces were programmed to give the larger company time to rest. Instead, because of the cast change, Complexions performed an astonishing full evening of full-company works, separated by only brief intermissions.

Beyond doubt, this is the finest collection of dancers I’ve seen in recent memory. They are fearless, focused and formidable. I couldn’t pick out one or two favorites – all 15 dancers were top-flight: beautifully strong and strikingly expressive.

Complexions’ seven men, especially, are the most accomplished you could hope for in dance. And with unmatched stamina, the company carried three demanding, high-energy Rhoden ballets -- Mercy (Act I), Hissy Fits (music of Bach) and Rise (music of U2) – to the delight and extended, noisy ovation of the Duncan crowd.

Mercy, the most compelling and successful, seemed to tap into funerary traditions: Ancient Egyptian, Islamic, Buddhist, Christian. Dancers in gossamer white, as if in somber processionals, could have been priests or celebrants in the powerful, high-drama rites.

Subtitled CathedralConfessionsCredoPenance, Act I implores heaven, mourns loss and begs for peace. One man, dressed in red, represents the victim, the pawn of destructive events. Rhoden described this first part of the evening-long epic ballet as man’s search for relief in a world overrun by wars and violence.

The intensity and motion of Mercy never lets up for 35 minutes. Modern movements and costumes reminiscent of Alvin Ailey’s iconic Cry, of Martha Graham, even Ted Shawn, thread throughout. But Rhoden, a former Ailey soloist, speaks his own, highly original vocabulary of large -- oversize, even -- strong motions.

Muscle isolations could be as sensual as slow-motion belly dancing. A build-up of tensions seems to rise from the depths of each dancer’s core and the company’s combined passionate mental focus.

Rhoden’s soundtrack is an ever-shifting mash-up of classical (Steve Reich, a glorious composition by organ soloist Michael Murray, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus), sampled together with Far Eastern chant, gospel vocals, preaching, and percussion sound effects. The result keeps listeners off-balance and on edge. The unpredictability of the sounds can be gripping and effectively jarring. But at its extreme, the sampling, as if mixed by an obsessed DJ, could turn tacky. Worse, the volume was terribly loud all evening.

Mercy contained few props. But the attractive, imaginative lighting designs by Complexions’ Michael Korsch accomplished as much as some entire sets. Downspots rose and descended. Together with side lighting, the spots could create a rock-concert effect or wrap a soloist in a luminous glow. With Korsch at the controls, the light seemed alive, a potent and complementary force in a spectacular performance.

Richard Alston Dance, Britain's largest contemporary ensemble, appears next at the Duncan Theatre on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth. Tickets: $37-$95, Call (561) 868-3309 or visit www.duncantheatre.org.

Written by Sharon McDaniel | 22 November 2009

For a season opener, Program I seemed a bit tame.

Friday’s performance at the Kravis Center, heralding the start of Miami City Ballet’s 24th year, was remarkably low-key: No sets, for one thing. And of course, in these lean times, again no orchestra.

And no new repertoire. Two ballets, from the midpoint of George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet career, announced a short, highly romantic and soloist-oriented Part I: Allegro Brillante (1956), which featured Jeanette Delgado and Rolando Sarabia; and Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux (1960) with Mary Carmen Catoya and Renato Penteado.

Two longer, more modern ballets – Paul Taylor’s Company B (1991) and Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements (1972) – corralled larger forces for more company-focused Parts II and III.

In Allegro, it was easy to notice Jeanette Delgado’s substantial development as a soloist just since last season. Her spirited work in Tchaikovsky’s long piano cadenza (from the Piano Concerto No. 3) was not only graceful but precise. She more than held the stage in an impassioned role that is practically nonstop. But the four couples of the corps struggled against the music, unable to match its fiery speed or drama. Toward the finale, they finally settled in as an ensemble – even rose to the occasion.

In the Tschaikovsky Pas, Renato Penteado showed a grace and consciousness of line that beautifully mirrored Mary Carmen Catoya. It was a visual reminder that his role is one made famous by artistic director Edward Villella. Well-matched in strength and depth, Catoya and Penteado convinced you to take in every lovely detail, even when Catoya missed a rhythmic mark (though Penteado never did).

Company B can be great fun, a retro romp of bobby-soxer skirts, Andrews Sisters’ pop tunes and swinging ‘40s social dances. Tico Tico soloist Alex Wong, and Daniel Baker as the Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy, burned up the floor with fine, high-stakes athletics and a great feel for jazz. Daniel Sarabia (Oh Johnny Oh Johnny) and Jeanette Delgado (Rum and Coke) ratcheted up the humor and sex appeal.

Soloists notwithstanding, Miami City Ballet seemed too inwardly focused in Company B. Too little energy flowed outward into the hall or even beyond the stage. And the ensemble’s pulse slowed despite the ballet’s upbeat tempos. Moments of beauty and the occasional picture-perfect snapshot could be enticing, but vanished in a flash. Even the Daddy-o coolness of Company B could be, well, lukewarm.

The only thing white-hot was Symphony in Three Movements. From the sizzling start to the spit-and-polish finish, all 32 dancers made you sit up and take full notice. The company’s enormous output of energy rose to levels more associated with past milestones or gala celebrations. This crackle of electricity made Symphony the evening’s game-changer.

Of course, there’s some history here. The company performed this ballet in January accompanied for the first time by the renowned Cleveland Orchestra. Still, it was surprising how far Friday’s performance of Symphony surpassed everything else on the program.

In Symphony, the dancers had something they wanted to say and spoke out with brilliant clarity. They were more than equal to the driving, spiky outbursts of the Stravinsky masterpiece, the ballet’s namesake. Of the three leading couples, Jennifer Kronenberg with Carlos Guerra and Tricia Albertson with Alex Wong were the intriguing characters woven throughout this plot-less ballet. But everyone – from the 10 demi-soloists to the corps of 16 ballerinas, made this ensemble piece tick like clockwork.

The Kravis audience, although responsive in the previous ballets, gave Symphony an extended ovation. You have to wonder, though: Given the regrettable loss of Marie Hale’s Ballet Florida, it’s surprising that Miami City Ballet, now the only game in town, didn’t attract a larger crowd of dance fans Friday night.

The Miami City Ballet presents this program again today at 1 p.m. at the Kravis Center. Tickets range from $19 to $169. Call 832-7469 or 1-800-572-8471 or visit www.kravis.org.

Written by Sharon McDaniel | 03 October 2009

Yes, Virginia, there will be a Nutcracker at the Kravis Center. But Santa is bringing it by sleigh -- from Russia. With Ballet Florida out of commission and Miami City Ballet staging it only in Broward and Miami, the door is open for the Moscow Classical Ballet (Dec.24-26, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach).

Of the dizzying list of ballet companies with titles like Moscow this or Russian that, Moscow Classical is just what it says: an actual company based in Moscow. It was founded in 1966 under the old Soviet Ministry of Culture, and still receives some financial support from today’s Russian government.

Moscow Classical stages for an authentically Russian Nutcracker, too, incorporating elements from the 1892 original and a major 1934 revision. So arrive early and read up on the slightly different story line and some of its unfamiliar characters. Hints: Clara’s name is now Masha; there’s a Mouse Prince with seven heads, plus a Mouse Queen.

The touring company of 50 dances to taped music. (And you just might recognize a handful of local children on stage, too.) For tickets $20-$65, call (561) 832-7469 or (800) 572-8471 or visit www.kravis.org.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet: They choreograph for TV’s So You Think You Can Dance. And they performed in films by the late actor/dancer Patrick Swayze.
They are choreographer Dwight Rhoden and dancer-extraordinaire Desmond Richardson, co-artistic directors of the high-voltage Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Since the two Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre stars founded Complexions 15 years ago, modern dance hasn’t been the same.

Considered one of the hottest troupes today, the New York-based Complexions has thrilled viewers worldwide with emotional, high-energy performances. Rhoden’s spirited ballets mix urban street dance, multimedia, art and poetry. And the 14 multicultural dancers are breathtaking for their athleticism, infectious spirit and incredible classical-ballet technique.

For its only West Palm Beach appearance this season, Complexions opens the dance series at Lake Worth’s Duncan Theatre with two performances early next year. For tickets, $37, call (561) 868-3309. (Jan. 15-16, Duncan Theatre)

Miami City Ballet: Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, a fast-paced favorite, is back in the Miami City Ballet lineup. The George Balanchine masterpiece was created for the 1934 Broadway hit On Your Toes (Rodgers and Hart). Not only does it include such remarkable elements as tap dancing and gangsters as characters, it also has that great Richard Rodgers score.

The Balanchine is programmed along with a premiere: Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section, the finale of The Catherine Wheel. It features 13 dancers in golden dance wear, jogging and soaring nonstop through golden stage lighting. The effect is the unity of light and costumes, music by David Byrne and movement that is artful and aerobic.

For tickets $19-$169, call (561) 832-7469 or (877) 929-7010 or visit www.kravis.org. (Jan. 15-17, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach; Jan. 22-24, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale; tickets $19-$169, call (954) 462-0222 or (877) 929-7010 or visit www.browardcenter.org.

Israel Ballet: This is the only company in Israel devoted to performing the great classical ballets. And one of the most colorful – and international -- is Don Quixote, the story of the would-be noble knight of La Mancha, whose famous adventure includes chivalrous acts in the name of his beloved Dulcinea.

The ballet is also famous as one of the most technically difficult for dancers. It is full of exceptional solos and scenes requiring the peak of classical technique.
Israel Ballet was founded in 1967 by ballet stars Berta Yampolsky and Hillel Markman who continue as its artistic directors. The production includes lavish costumes, a multimedia staging and richly romantic music.

For tickets $25-$75, call (561) 832-7469 or (877) 929-7010 or visit www.kravis.org. (Feb. 13, Kravis Center)

Batsheva Ensemble: Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin is making his debut at the Arsht Center. But his audacious work Minus 16 turned up at the Kravis Center a few years back, performed by Chicago's Hubbard Street Dance. As artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company, Naharin has led the troupe to an international reputation as one of the most vibrant in contemporary dance. Its second company, Batsheva Ensemble, will perform the well-known Deca Dance [Dec. 5-6, Arsht Center], a reconstruction that mixes excerpts from Naharin's inventive work spanning the last 10 years (including Minus 16!).

Based in Tel Aviv, the company was founded in 1964 by the mother of American modern dance, Martha Graham. Naharin, a Graham-Batsheva dancer, began directing and choreographing for the company in 1990. His well-known technique for movement, called Gaga, develops dancers of great flexibility, agility, expressiveness and explosive power. This year, Naharin received the American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement.

For tickets, $25-$90, call the box office at (305) 949-6722 or visit www.arshtcenter.org.

Moscow Festival Ballet: The Moscow Festival Ballet was founded in 1989, around the time of the Soviet Union's break up. As one of the newer, independent touring companies, the Festival Ballet attracts award-winning graduates of the leading dance schools across Russia. Its founder/director, Bolshoi Ballet principal dancer Sergei Radchenko, brings together the great Russian ballet traditions in full-length classics such as its South Florida offerings: The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Coppélia.

In The Nutcracker, area children will join the Russians on stage in the holiday favorite. Swan Lake, one of the loveliest classics, is a suspenseful story of love, betrayal, and the triumph of good over evil. In Coppélia, a delightful family ballet, a toymaker creates a lifelike doll. His wish to bring Coppélia to life sets off a comedy of mistaken identities.

Shows: Saturday, Dec. 26, The Nutcracker, Sunrise Theatre, Fort Pierce. Tickets: $27.50-$99; (772) 461-4775, www.sunrisetheatre.com. Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.: Swan Lake, Sunrise Theatre. Tickets: $45, $55; Thursday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m.: Coppélia, Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium, FAU, Boca Raton. Tickets: $40, $45; (561) 278-7677, www.sunsetet.com; Friday, Feb. 26 at 8 p.m.: Coppélia, Eissey Campus Theatre, PBCC, Palm Beach Gardens. Tickets: $40, $45 (561) 278-7677, www.sunsetet.com.

Festival of the Arts Boca: For the final concert of its fourth year, Festival of the Arts Boca 2010 will celebrate Russian artists and music -- and its first ballet performance [Saturday, March 13, Count de Hoernle Amphitheatre, Mizner Park, Boca Raton]. The duo of American Ballet Theatre stars Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky will perform two ballets: Splendid Isolation (to the Adagietto of Mahler's Symphony No. 5) and the Black Swan Pas de Deux from Swan Lake (music of Tchaikovsky).

Even better, Irina and Maxim will have live music by the renowned Russian National Orchestra, the festival's resident ensemble, conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos. The program also includes the RNO in a slew of Russian orchestral favorites: Borodin's Polovetsian Dances from his opera Prince Igor, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

For tickets, ($25-$150) call (866) 571-ARTS (2787) or (561) 368-8445. Visit www.festivaloftheartsboca.org for other events from March 5-13.

Written by Sharon McDaniel | 01 June 2009

LAKE WORTH -- The tiny studio was packed. A Klein Dance Company audience normally fits onto the two rows of benches that overlook the dance floor and stretch the length of the Lake Avenue studio.

Sunday night was different. Chairs had been added, lots of them, creating a semi-circle, as if embracing the stage and dancers. Modern-dance fans, former company dancers and family members looked on as Klein Dance completed its 20th season and, in its present state, performed its last. It was also the last day that the landmark at 811 Lake Ave. in Lake Worth would house the Klein Dance Studio.

The emotional finale featured seven long-term Klein performers plus one guest artist in a night of new choreography by Klein alumna Andrea Ollarvide (at right). And indeed all the produce was fresh-picked; the oldest work on the program had been premiered in December.

Clarence Brooks, who performed the work Man Is Baby at Florida Atlantic University six months ago, reprised it for the first time at the Klein Studio. The solo is set to I Am a Bird Now, by the pop band Antony & the Johnsons. It relies on repeated arm patterns – the slow sweep of wide arcs, a hand drawn across the chest.

But nothing about Man Is Baby is literal. The ballet is a wellspring of strong, deep spirituality that Brooks, FAU assistant professor and director of dance, has internalized beautifully. If the Klein dancers wore Ollarvide’s choreography well, like a mantle, Brooks seemed to be at one with the work from the inside out.

The longest work, 811 Lake Avenue, Lake Worth, Florida 33460, was also the newest. Ollarvide began creating it in March as a tribute to the studio, a dance space she has called home since age 12. Also the largest work, it featured a cast of five women: Kori Epps, Amber Hartman, Stephanie McCluney, Kiya Schnorr and Ollarvide – familiar artists from both Klein Dance and the PBA (Palm Beach Atlantic University) Dance Ensemble.

Ollarvide in particular has been a special spark onstage in Klein Dance since 2004. One of the company’s loveliest dancers, she is a native Floridian, living in Palm Beach County all her life. She began dancing at the age of 4, and graduated from the Dreyfoos School of the Arts in 2006. Although she was accepted into the acclaimed Dance Conservatory of Purchase College in New York, she chose to attend Palm Beach Atlantic University where she studied dance and film production. Beginning in August, she is transferring to Miami’s New World School of the Arts.

Ollarvide credits company Artistic Director Demetrius Klein and Eileen Hebron, actress and former American Ballet Theatre dancer, among her mentors. At Klein’s request, the choreographer gave her first one-woman show in October 2007 at the Klein studio.

In her salute to what she calls “the most comfortable place,” she calls for some of the most uncomfortable-looking modern techniques. The five women open the 25-minute work on the floor – or hovering just above it. They are stretched out, face down, leaning on their elbows, their hands clasped in front of them.

But there is tension. Their feet are flexed, and only their toes and elbows actually touch the floor. It is a very striking pose that cycles throughout the major work. And with rock music by The Jesus Lizard, the ladies show off not only the demanding choreography, but also their own considerable abilities in extreme exercises, gymnastics, relay racing and partnering.

Ollarvide, in the post-performance discussion, said that she had given her fellow dancers certain words or images to start the exploration process and to trigger distant memories of the Lake Avenue Studio. If that’s the case, life at the studio must have been a high-wire balancing act: All five dancers walk gingerly along two parallel dance barres. Yet this single-file expedition keeps you on the edge of your seat, gritting your teeth because the two barres aren’t even the same height. Worse, one wobbles.

Aside from the two barres, a third plus a bar stool, a three-step riser, a 4-foot speaker and the white drape that stretches along stage rear comprise the 811 Lake Avenue set. As she exits beneath the curtain, Ollarvide blows a kiss to the dance floor.

The three barres, reassembled and manipulated by Nick Klein, took on new purposes. After posing as stationary visuals in 811 Lake Avenue, they transform into movable, percussive sound sources in Assignments, Ollarvide’s solo on the program’s first half. At the end, dancer and sound artist come together to create a touching symbolic as well as physical partnership.

The evening began with Upstairs, a love duet featuring exceptional ballerina Stephanie McCluney and returning former Klein dancer Denver Milord. It rather summed up a feeling of tribute, of remembrance and respect, whether between a couple or, as in the company finale, between a dance family and its home.