NW Dance Project’s “Secret Stories” – Three new dance works premiering March 29+30

NW Dance Project is celebrating 20 years and 350+ original contemporary dance works made and premiered in Portland!

True to form, Portland’s award-winning contemporary dance company offers up another diverse and delightful triple-bill evening featuring inspired and inspiring fresh dance works on the Newmark stage. NW Dance Project presents: Secret Stories – 3 World Premieres, March 29+30, 7:30PM at the Newmark Theatre (1111 SW Broadway, Portland OR 97205)

The Spanish choreographer and former Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano makes his NW Dance Project live debut with a new work that reflects and celebrates NW Dance Project’s two decades of work and varied creations. A colorful and dynamic full-company piece set to the iconic music of Mozart and featuring a sublime set from Spanish designer Luis Crespo, experience “a celebration of the City of Roses and of life expressed through the art of dance.”

Nicole von Arx, a Swiss & British performer and choreographer based in New York City since 2008, is also creating with NW Dance Project for the first time. She is crafting a full-company, 20+ minute work veering into the realm of dance theater. Focused on the theme of power, the new creation delves into the intricate dynamics between people and explores the juxtaposition of human power versus the forces of nature. The work will blend choreography, musicality, and theatricality to emphasize the dichotomy of “I vs. them” and “us vs. it.” Get ready for a highly physical and dynamic work, employing minimalist stage design and props, with touches of sly humor.

Joseph Hernandez has created eight original works for NW Dance Project and was named Associate Choreographer in 2022. His latest piece, created on five female dancers (Quincie Bean, Ingrid Ferdinand, Nicole Hennington, Alejandra Preciado, and Lucia Tozzi), each with a very distinctive personality (“a mix of cabaret performers and survivors of a natural disaster”). Tentatively titled Fistful of Love, the 20+ minute work is “centered around the exploration of dance as a space for unimaginable shifts in practice” and “focuses on the individual performers and the histories that lie in their bodies.” Having previously wildly re-told the classical ballet tale of Petrushka, Joseph is focusing on “themes of global warming, love, grief, and hope, with the goal of reflecting the whiplash we’ve witnessed living under a confluence of oppressive systems, at increasingly unsure times.”

Tickets for Secret Stories are $29+ and available here.

NW Dance Project dancer Quincie Bean, Photo credit Blaine Truitt Covert