ODC Local Heroes/The Big Picture Dance Festival July 17, 2008

Trail-blazing heroes of the next generation of international dance innovators comprise the second weekend lineup for ODC Theater's second set of contemporary summer dance festivals at Project Artaud Theater. Mannuelito Biag's Ballast and Alex Ketley's Monument will receive their premieres on a program with Yannis Adoniou's Less-Sylphides at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, July 17-19. A free reception for the audience and conversation with the artists follows every performance.

Three local heroes who have emerged as leaders of the next generation from established companies and choreographic traditions and are graduates of the ODC Artists in Residence program highlight the second festival weekend.

Yannis Adoniou's Less-Sylphides is a contemporary metamorphosis of Michel Fokine's 1909 ballet Les Sylphides. Although set to the same score by Chopin, Adoniou draws from a distinctly modern movement vocabulary, bringing Romantic ballet forward in time making it aesthetically relevant while maintaining the ethereal grace upon which ballet is based.

Manuelito Biag is known for creating strikingly original works of emotional power and depth using his and his dancers' personal narratives to finely craft movement that taps into shared human experiences. Ballast explores the physical, emotional and spiritual process and meaning of making a place called home.

Alex Ketley's intensely personal Monument uses movement, music and video in a non-narrative tribute to a departed friend. Ketley's dancers are a group he has met and assembled during his travels across country and he considers the work an imprint of their time together as well as his memory-images of the loss of his friend refracted against his style.

$20-$25.

Official Website: http://www.odctheater.org