My “forecast” of 2007 dance events to look forward to appeared (much truncated) in yesterday’s Chronicle. Three less obvious picks that I’m especially optimistic about:

inkBoat (“The Crow Line”: Jan. 19-20, Brava Theater; Feb. 8-11, Noh Space. Nanos Operetta collaboration: July 12-28, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts) Founder Shinichi Iova-Koga is a third-generation butoh artist whose psychological insights reach right into the deepest, scariest parts of your brain. I’ve been impatient to see more of his work since 2004’s explosive duet, “Ame to Ame.” Koga is back in a big way in 2007: first with a new solo, “The Crow Line,” that will tour to the New York Butoh Festival. Then, in July, a large-scale ensemble collaboration with Nanos Operetta, a San Francisco experimental music group with a macabre wit that should make an ideal fit with the inkBoat sensibility.

David Gordon (May 9-13, ODC Theater) David Gordon, the wittiest of the 1960s’ Judson Church rebels, and the Pick Up Dance Company will bring the hit “Dancing Henry V,” Gordon’s off-kilter take on Shakespeare.

Scott Wells and Dancers (May 17-20, ODC Theater) Scott Wells is one of the Bay Area dance scene’s best-kept secrets, a daredevil dancemaker who turns the freewheeling form of contact improvisation into a vehicle for astonishing acts of physical and emotional stuntmanship. For this 15th anniversary show, he’ll premiere a new work for eight men, “Wrestling With Affection.”

Since space on the web is infinite, here’s the stuff that got cut:

Presenter Cal Performances saved all this season?s hot dance attractions for spring: William Forsythe?s new company visits Feb. 22-23; the painterly works of Shen Wei Dance Arts return Mar. 23-24, and superstar French ballerina Sylvie Guillem brings her collaboration with Kathak-trained British choreographer Akram Khan May 5-6.

Diablo Ballet: This Walnut Creek-based chamber troupe?s most promising spring offering presents a new ?Hamlet? set to Shostakovich and choreographed by Viktor Kabaniaev, whose previous works have shown an astute musicality and a keen taste for drama. Also on the bill: twin brother Nikolai Kabaniaev?s ?Grand Pas D?Action,? to Glazunov; and the pas de deux from Balanchine?s fun and fizzy ?Stars and Stripes.? (Mar. 23-24, Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts).

ODC Theater director Rob Bailis has assembled a terrific dance slate for spring, with a new work by Shift Physical Theater?s enormously talented Manuelito Biag in February, postmodern luminary Deborah Hay in March, and evenings from local choreographers-to-watch Alex Ketley in May and Mary Carbonara in June.

Joe Goode is the grand finale of a Yerba Buena Center for the Arts-presented lineup that includes African Diaspora-influenced Reggie Wilson in February; a collaboration between local veteran Kim Epifano and Oakland?s AXIS Dance Company that same month; and Chinese-born Yin Mei?s ?The River? in March. (Joe Goode: May 31-June 9, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts).

San Francisco Performances also brings the whiplash Stephen Petronio Company in its new work set to Rufus Wainwright music in February.

Other dance events to anticipate: Robert Moses’ Kin’s 2007 season runs February 8-18. And ODC/Dance brings its 36th season to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts March 1-18.

1 Comment

  • lauren Posted January 10, 2007 7:19 am

    glad to hear nikolai and victor are still working hard! i danced my first ever dance “en pointe” in one of nikolai’s productions at Central California Ballet in Fresno. they were a joy to work with, so so nice, and incredibly musical-as you noted. looking forward to the reviews.

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