Sandra Kurtzs Fall Favorites
A Butoh Memorial
The sky was a deep and shining blue on Sept. 10, 1985, when the rope suspending Sankai Juku performer Yoshiyuki Takeda above a Pioneer Square sidewalk broke and he fell to his death. To commemorate that morningand 9/11 On the Boards opens its 25th-anniversary season with Offering, an outdoor performance by Eiko and Koma, a pair of Butoh- inspired performance artists. Myrtle Edwards Park, 206-217-9888. Sept. 10. Free.
The Seattle Smorgasbord
If youre new to the city, or just in need of a refresher, these three evening programs could work as a short course in the Seattle dance community. Almost everyone in town is performing, including Corrie Befort, BetterBiscuitDance, d9 Dance Collective, Cyrus Khambatta, lingo Dancetheater, Locate Performance Group, locust, and Peggy Piacenza, as well as the fabled and more. Each night is different, and the more often you come, the bigger the ticket discount. Velocity MainSpace Theater, 206-325-8773. Sept. 1214.
Swan Dives and Other Challenges
After 18 months of good-natured exile at the Mercer Arts Arena, Pacific Northwest Ballet returns to the refurbished opera house in September with a new production of Swan Lake that should be as elegant as the companys new home, with sets by Ming Cho Lee and costumes by Paul Tazewell. No doubt the company will do fine in the classic story ballet, but its mixed bill in November will be a different test of the ensemble and the stage, shifting between the intense aerobicism of William Forsythes Artifact II, Val Caniparolis stylish Torque, the neoclassicism of Lynne Taylor-Corbetts Mercury, and Kent Stowells Spanish-flavored Palacios Dances. McCaw Hall, 206-292-ARTS. Swan Lake, Sept. 25Oct. 5. Mixed repertory, Nov. 69.
Alone Again for the First Time
Throughout his career, Mikhail Baryshnikov has applied his considerable talent to satisfying his own curiosity about dance. First mastering the classical repertory in his native Russia, then coming to the West to blow our expectations of ballet out of the water, and then switching to modern dance, founding his own company with works drawn from his own eclectic tastes. Now that hes disbanded that group, hes touring a program of pieces made especially for him: Solos with Piano or Not includes choreography by strict postmodernist Lucinda Childs, British bad boy Michael Clark, and ballet innovator Eliot Feld. Moore Theatre, 206-292-ARTS. Oct. 1718.
The Graham Dame
Martha Graham was one of the few modern dancers to achieve recognition outside the dance world, but when she died in 1991, her legacy was thrown into chaos with competing claims to ownership of her work. In the nick of time, the courts settled the disputes and former company members have drawn together to remount these classics of American dance, including Errand in the Maze, Satyric Festival Song, and Diversion of Angels. Meany Theater, 206-543-4880. Oct. 2325.
