The company will be in rehearsal at the Lewiston Middle School on Central Avenue as follows:

Wednesday 7-10 p.m.; Thursday 1-3 p.m. and 7-10 p.m.; Friday 1-3 p.m.

A dress rehearsal with an audience will be held at the Lewiston Middle School Friday 8-10 p.m.

The 1998 HOT FEET performance features some of the finest exponents of jazz, ethnic and percussive dance. This lively concert features works by award-winning South African dancer Vincent Mantsoe, acclaimed French step dancer Benoit Bourque of Montreal, jazz tapper and master of improvisation Herbin Van Cayseele and jazz master Danny Buraczeski. One of the country’s most eclectic and zany choreographers, Doug Elkins, also will make an appearance on stage. The concert will include live music by gifted festival musicians.

In an effort to develop new audiences for all forms of concert dance, the Bates Dance Festival will provide HOT FEET ticket subsidies for youths participating in the Youth Arts Program and to various social service agencies.

HOT FEET will offer audiences a lively demonstration of the linkage between traditional African and percussive dance forms, contemporary American jazz, improvisational tap, hip hop and post-modern dance. The performance highlights the relationship of these dance forms and their significance in African and American dance history.

Benoit Bourque is a musician and dancer who has been thrilling audiences for 25 years. Known as an expert step dancer, caller and bones player, Borque also plays guitar, accordion, recorder and mandolin. Performing first as a member of the famed ensemble Eritage, he later performed and taught extensively throughout the United States and Canada, made many appearances on television and radio and produced five recordings plus a cassette and book aimed at teaching French-Canadian step dancing. Borque has won prizes from the Moscow International Folk Dance Festival and Kolobrzeg Folk Festival in Poland. He currently tours and performs with Gaston Bernard and Simone LePage.

Danny Buraczeski, one of America’s greatest jazz choreographers, is joined by company member Joanne Horn to premiere a duet set to the music of Duke Ellington. Called “the country’s most sophisticated jazz maker” by The Village Voice, Buraczeski is a classic jazz dance stylist, whose company’s repertoire has been commissioned by presenters around the country. After a career on Broadway appearing in such musicals as Mame with Angela Lansbury and The Act with Liza Minelli, Buraczeski formed the original New York- based JAZZDANCE by Danny Buraczeski in 1979. Based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul since 1993, the company has performed at leading concert halls and festivals in more than 30 states, in Europe and the Caribbean. JAZZDANCE is a regular guest at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and New York’s Joyce Theater. In addition to the complete repertory of JAZZDANCE, Buraczeski has created works for the Boston Ballet, Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Company and many repertory companies around the nation.

Choreographer Doug Elkins performs an excerpt from his signature work Patrooka Variation, a seamless blend of hip hop and modern dance vocabulary. One of the country’s most eclectic choreographers, Elkins combines diverse dance styles in works that offer hilarious comment on contemporary culture. He is the recipient of significant choreographic commissions from the National Performance Network, Dance Theater Workshop’s First Light program, Dance Magazine Foundation, Metropolitan Life/American Dance Festival and The Joyce Theater Foundation’s Fund for New Works. His work as an emerging choreographer has been honored by a 1997 New York Dance and Performance Award, a 1995 grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, a 1994 Creative Arts Award Medal in Dance from Brandeis University and Choreographer’s Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1990-94. The Doug Elkins Dance Company has performed extensively in the United States and Europe. Elkins recently collaborated with The Flying Karamazovs on the Broadway-bound production of “Room Service,” produced by A Contemporary Theater, A.C.T., of Seattle.

Soweto-born choreographer/performer Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe premieres his latest, award-wining solo, Mphenyane, about a man torn by cultural conflict who is losing touch with his past. Born in 1971, Mantsoe’s formative years were spent in the township during the height of the apartheid regime with little hope of a good education or career. Although he performed as a street dancer with a youth group, it was not until 1990 when he joined Moving Into Dance, as part of a scholarship program, that he received formal training as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. Since then he has performed and taught in South Africa and abroad and has been recognized as an outstanding dancer and choreographer receiving numerous awards. In 1995, his piece Gula Matari won first prize at the First Contemporary African Dance Competition in Angola, which included a grant for a Pan African Tour. He was the winner of the 1996 and 1998 Independent Choreographers Award at the Fifth Recontres Choreographiques Internationales des Bagnolet in France. In 1996, Mantsoe created Sasanka for Dance Theatre of Harlem which premiered at the Kennedy Center. This year he again was nominated for the FNB Vita Award as most outstanding male dancer for his new work “Mpheyane.” Mantsoe currently is the assistant artistic director and resident choreographer of the Moving Into Dance company.

In addition to its critically acclaimed mainstage performance series of 13 concerts, the Festival offers two intensive training programs, one for pre-professionals and one for younger dancers. For more information, or to request a brochure, call the Bates Dance Festival at 207-786-6381.

HOT FEET is sponsored by Androscoggin Savings Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine, Cole Haan, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Mechanics Savings Bank, Northern Utilities, H.M. Payson and Peoples Heritage Bank.

Buraczeski is best described as a classic jazz dance stylist, whose company has performed at leading concert halls and festivals in more than 30 states, in Europe and the Caribbean. Propelled by the rhythms of jazz, Buraczeski’s formal explorations and sophisticated musicality distinguish him as one of the most original voices working in the form. JAZZDANCE delivers “simply the most ebullient, dynamic and all-out energy-sapping dance around,” says The Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Downright terrific,” says The New York Times.

Drawing on a background in ballet and modern in addition to jazz, Buraczeski has helped redefine what was once considered a limited form – jazz dance. After a career on Broadway, appearing in such musicals as Mame with Angela Lansbury and The Act with Liza Minelli, Buraczeski formed the original New York-based JAZZDANCE by Danny Buraczeski in 1979. Based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul since 1993, JAZZANCE is a regular guest at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and New York’s Joyce Theater.

In addition to the complete repertory of JAZZDANCE, Buraczeski has created works for the Boston Ballet, Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Company and many repertory companies and university programs around the nation. Among other awards, Buraczeski has received multiple fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the McKnight Foundation.

During a four-week residency at the 1998 Bates Dance Festival, JAZZDANCE by Danny Buraczeski will teach master classes and continue to work on Ezekiel’s Wheel, a National Dance Project commissioned by the Walker Art Center and the Bates Dance Festival and slated to premiere this fall. Buraczeski discovered the life and work of James Baldwin while living in Europe in the late 1970s. According to the choreographer: “Baldwin’s personal ‘gospel’ of recognition, responsibility and redemption was like a lighting bolt, illuminating the dark chambers of the human heart. A writer of power and grace, Baldwin’s voice became a crucible in 1960s America for issues of equality and identity — between races, sexes, generations — issues which continue to galvanize our society.” After meeting composer Philip Hamilton at Jacob’s Pillow in the early 1980s, and working together at the Bates Dance Festival several more times, Hamilton and Buraczeski decided to create a work together based on Baldwin’s fictional writings.

Audiences are invited to attend Inside Dance: Understanding Contemporary Performance, a talk by noted dance historian, writer and educator, Suzanne Carbonneau. The Bates Dance Festival presents this series of pre- and post-performance talks in an effort to enhance understanding and increase appreciation for contemporary dance. Carbonneau will discuss the Buraczeski’s work and its place in the context of American jazz dance. This free half-hour talk will take place July 25 at 7:15 p.m in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives on Campus Avenue at Bates College.

In addition to its critically acclaimed mainstage performance series of 13 concerts, the festival offers two intensive training programs, one for pre-professionals and one for younger dancers. For more information, or to request a brochure, call the Bates Dance Festival at 207-786-6381.

In addition to its critically acclaimed mainstage performance series of 13 concerts, the festival offers two intensive training programs, one for adults and one for younger dancers. For more information, or to request a brochure, call the Bates Dance Festival at 207-786-6381.

As part of a four-week residency, JAZZDANCE by Danny Buraczeski, known as one of the most original voices in jazz, will present an evening of new repertory July 25 at the Lewiston Middle School Auditorium. Since 1989, this eight-member company has performed at leading concert halls in more than 30 states, in Europe and the Caribbean presenting its profoundly musical and accessible choreography to enthusiastic audiences. As the concert’s highlight, JAZZDANCE will preview Ezekiel’s Wheel, a 35- minute work by Buraczeski and jazz composer Philip Hamilton. Inspired by the writings of James Baldwin, the work for eight dancers is set to a suite of original songs for vocal quartet and instrumental quintet. “Sensuously lyrical, handsome and sexy work . . . danced with beautiful clarity, dynamism and infectious gusto,” The Minneapolis Star Tribune said.

Among the festival’s extensive roster of artists, Bebe Miller, in residence at the festival for three-weeks, is one of its most popular performers. The festival presents Bebe Miller Company in concert Aug. 7 and Aug. 8 at Schaeffer Theatre, featuring a preview of Miller’s newest collaboration, Going to the Wall, an aesthetic examination of cultural identity with an original score by award-winning composer-clarinetist Don Byron. The concert also will include Blessed, set to gospel music by an Australian a cappella group, and The Hendrix Project, set to the heat of Hendrix’s music and the moods of his days. “Vibrant, quirky dancing . . . Miller and her dancers are terrific,” The New York Times said.

One of the country’s most eclectic choreographers, Doug Elkins Dance Company, is a New York-based company known for combining diverse dance styles in works that offer hilarious comment on contemporary culture. The company will perform its acclaimed 1996 work, Center My Heart, an energetic ensemble piece set to devotional music by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, as well as two Maine premieres. This troupe of six dancers will perform Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 at Schaeffer Theatre. “He surprises and seduces. Doug Elkins is an authentic creator who knows how to hustle and translate traditional choreographic language into new forms,” The Paris Le Figaro said.

Highlighting the festival season is HOT FEET, an evening of American jazz, French Canadian step, Afro-fusion, jazz tap and more, July 31 at the Lewiston Middle School Auditorium. This lively concert will feature works by award-winning South African dancer Vincent Mantsoe; acclaimed French- Canadian step dancer Benoit Bourque of Montreal; jazz tapper Herbin Van Cayseele, fresh from his tour with the Jazz Tap Hip Hip Festival and Riverdance, and jazz master Danny Buraczeski. The concert will include live music by festival musicians.

Showcasing emerging artists from around the globe, the Different Voices concert at Schaeffer Theatre Aug. 13 features new works by choreographers Kota Yamazaki of Japan, Sukarji Sriman of Java, Antonio Tavares of Cape Verde, Vincent Mantsoe of South Africa and Simon Ellis of Australia, all in residence as part of the festival’s International Visiting Artists Program.

In conjunction with performances, the festival will present a series of pre-and post performance discussions and lectures, “Inside Dance: Understanding Contemporary Dance,” that will offer audiences insight into the artists and contemporary dance. The lectures will be held to accompany performances by JAZZDANCE July 25, Doug Elkins Dance Company Aug. 2 and Bebe Miller Company Aug. 8, all at 7:15 p.m. at the performance site. Historian and dance critic Suzanne Carbonneau, will lead these engaging talks.

In addition to mainstage performances, the festival will offer a wide range of free, public events. On Aug. 3 in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, choreographer Tamar Rogoff will present, The Ivye Project, a “live” documentary with slides, video and readings from her site-specific work in the Holocaust memorial in the forest of Belarus. On Aug. 6 in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, the Composer’s Concert features an eclectic mix of original works by musicians Philip Hamilton, Peter Jones, Gilles Obermayer, Shamou, John Clark Stiefel and Mike Vargas. A diverse group of festival dancers and musicians, led by contact-improvisers Nancy Stark Smith, perform in the annual and highly popular Moving In The Moment Concert Aug. 11 in Alumni Gymnasium. Rounding out the festival’s five-week season will be the Young Choreographer’s/New Works Concert Aug. 14 and Aug. 15 at Schaeffer Theatre, and the Student Finale Aug. 15 in Alumni Gymnasium, featuring faculty works performed by local youth and festival students, as well as panel discussions and workshops led by distinguished artists.

The Bates Dance Festival receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, Maine Arts Commission, Africa Exchange, the Bingham Betterment Fund, Harkness Foundations for Dance, Capezio Ballet Makers Dance Foundation, Lewiston Auburn Children’s Foundation, the Shapiro Family Foundation, the Sequoia Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cole Haan, Androscoggin Savings Bank, Mechanics Savings Bank, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Northern Utilities and Peoples Heritage Bank.