On the Boards' NW New Works Festival set for next two weekends

From "skewed bluegrass" to "extreme boylesque," the 18 acts in On the Boards' 25th-anniversary edition of its NW New Works Festival run the gamut. Dance, theater, music, video and varying combos of all four are on the bill, prompting one to wonder: Is there no genre that can't be bent?

OTB regional-programs coordinator Sean Ryan, when asked about this last week, said OTB has no special agenda to bend genres. But its mission is to present contemporary performance. "And many contemporary artists seem to be open to blending disciplines."

One recent festival rehearsal illustrated how this works, when its creator wondered aloud, "If we're climbing a mountain in this piece, don't you think we should yodel?"

"Genre bending," Ryan adds, "becomes the result of the creative process rather than a preordained goal in and of itself."

Ryan, a fine dancer in his own right (last seen in Scott/Powell Performance's "Geography" in November), has been coordinating NW New Works for the past four years. This year's 18 acts, he says, were chosen by a panel of peer presenters and artists from close to 50 submissions from the greater Pacific Northwest.

In the past five years OTB has reached out to the presenters in Vancouver, B.C.; Helena, Mont.; and Portland to get ideas flowing regionally. This year's festival features four projects from Portland. The rest are from Seattle.

Roughly half the performers bill themselves as "dance" or "dance theater" (or in Waxie Moon's case, "Gender-Bending Queer Boylesque Lady Performance Art Solo Stripping"). Ryan notes that the musical component in this year's roundup is unusually prominent; 10 acts use live music.

Acts that Seattle nightclub patrons may think of as strictly musical will be hoofing it. Band/art collective "Awesome," for instance, will incorporate "synchronized movement ... in fragmented patterns" in their new piece, "Nighttime Forest Fire."

Other promising acts: Cabeen/Harrell Projects, veterans from Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, with a piece about "the pitfalls of black and white thinking"; Juliet Harrell and Stephen Hando, in a dance about a corporate "esteem-building exercise" that strays into Robinson Crusoe territory; and Danny Herter, a recent collaborator with choreographers Cheronne Wong and Cyrus Khambatta, who will take on "the overstimulating, toxifying effect of television on the psyche," to a live score by Portland noise-band Disjunct.

But this is an each-to-his-own-taste festival. Drop in, and make some discoveries for yourself.

Here's the lineup:

Weekend One

Studio Showcase, 8 p.m. today, 5 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday: Left Field Revival (dance); Maki Morinoue of Esse Aficionado (dance); The Half Brothers (musical storytelling); Faith Helma (music theater).

Mainstage Showcase, 8 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday: Cabeen/Harrell Projects (dance); Toutonghi/Gonzales/O'Connor/Savas (theater); Northwest Dance Syndrome; Holcombe Waller (music and video).

Lobby Installation, 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday: "D.I.Y. Generative 2008" by Darby McDevitt (music).

Weekend Two

Studio Showcase, 8 p.m., May 16 and 5 p.m. May 17-18: John & Anna Dixon (dance); Juliet & Stephen (dance theater); Fever Theater; Waxie Moon (theater/burlesque).

Mainstage Showcase, 8 p.m. May 17-18: "Awesome" (music/dance); Launch Dance Theater; Danny Herter and The Invasive Species (dance); Hooliganship (music/ 3-D animation).

Installation: 7:30 p.m. May 17-18: "Way Stations" by Assemblage (audio-walking tour).

Michael Upchurch: mupchurch@seattletimes.com