A creative convergence of dance

Call it a dance bonanza. Next week, two local and one visiting dance troupe will hit our stages, with strikingly different offerings.

Pacific Northwest Ballet

PNB goes from cutting-edge vigor, with its just-completed "Director's Choice" program, to heart of the repertoire, with George Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Balanchine's 1962 evening-length ballet distills Shakespeare's comic masterpiece into a single enchanting opening act, while its second half uses Act One's "story ballet" as a springboard toward a more formal, partner-intensive dance.

Felix Mendelssohn's score is as frolicking and ethereal as the action onstage. This presentation is the 1997 version, staged by PNB founding artistic director Francia Russell, with set and costumes by Martin Pakledinaz.

Dancer to watch: Jonathan Porretta, whose bouncy Puck cycles in midair look like the Roadrunner every time he races into view and comes to a halt. (Porretta is also scheduled to play fairy-king Oberon in some performances.)

Spectrum Dance Theater

Spectrum, helmed by choreographer Donald Byrd, returns to the Moore Theatre with "Fun, Rock & Pop!" — a mixed program intended to end the "winter blues." The synergy of the Seattle dance scene is evidenced in the guest stars here: Olivier Wevers, from PNB, and Julianne Kepley, formerly of the Joffrey Ballet and now with San Francisco Ballet.

A piece previously seen in a studio setting, "M.I.A.," gets a big-stage treatment here (with music by the Sri Lankan performer known as M.I.A.). "Solo," which premiered in Tacoma in 2007, is expanded into a work for multiple dancers, called "Scorched" (music by TV on the Radio). Ronen Koresh, whose company shared the stage with Spectrum last fall, will guest-choreograph a third work.

The evening will be rounded off with "Bhangra Fever," Byrd's frenzied, rhythmic, sexy rave of a piece, fueled by music that mixes electronica with traditional Punjabi folk sounds.

Black Grace

The history behind this New Zealand troupe is almost as dramatic as their moves onstage. Black Grace made a big impact at Jacob's Pillow dance festival in 2004 with an all-male company performing work drawing on Samoan and Maori tradition, with contemporary flourishes. The next year the company imploded from too much "pressure," according to artistic director Neil Ieremia. Ieremia reassembled a new company under the same name — this time with 12 female dancers.

On the troupe's latest tour, some kind of yin-yang balance has been struck. For its first Seattle appearance, Black Grace will feature six male and four female dancers in a show that draws on the two distinct phases of the company's career.

Expect something fierce and percussive from the men and something quieter and more lyrical from the women.

Michael Upchurch: mupchurch@seattletimes.com