Students rehearse Alwin Nikolais’ “Tensile Involvement” in October. Photograph by Michael Bradley/Bates College.

Bates’ Fall Dance Concert brings together a wide range of styles, representing choreographers from across the country and here in Maine, in performances at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10; 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11; and 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12.

The performances take place in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St. Admission is $6 for the general public and $3 for students and seniors, available at batestickets.com. For more information, please call 207-786-6161 (box office) or 207-786-8294.

On the program for the three performances:

• New hip hop and modern choreography by guest artists Robin Sanders of San Antonio, Texas, and Tiffany Rhynard of Gainesville, Fla.;
• The 1953 piece “Tensile Involvement” by modern-dance master Alwin Nikolais;
• Students in Debi Irons’ advanced Jazz Repertory class;
• A videodance and a solo by Assistant Professor of Dance Rachel Boggia.

Robin Sanders’ “Rhythm-n-Roots” highlights the history of hip hop dance, which is often omitted from history books. At Bates this fall, Sanders taught student dancers such classic hip-hop techniques such as popping and tutting. The roots of hip-hop reach into traditional West African dances, which make an appearance in the blood-pumping finale.

“Subverting Normal: Ensemble #2″ by Rhynard uses movement and spoken language to examine the complexities of social behavior. The piece “challenges our assumptions and expectations of normalcy,” says the choreographer.

“Drawing from personal reflections on identity, the dancers demonstrate similarities and differences that ultimately connect them as human beings.” The piece is athletic, incorporating swing-era partnering among other genres.

“Tensile Involvement” is a feast for the senses, structured around elastic bands that criss-cross the stage and extend the dancers’ sharp and sinewy movements to the rafters. Combined with Nikolais’ original score and rich lighting, reconstructed by Michael Reidy of the Bates faculty, the piece creates a world that feels fresh and exciting despite its 50-plus years of age.

The piece was taught to Bates students by Alberto del Saz, artistic director for the Nikolais-Louis Foundation for Dance. Dance reconstructions at colleges form an important link in the chain that preserves ephemeral historical dance works, del Saz says.

Maine choreographer Irons presents jazz as a melting pot, with influences ranging from the Caribbean to Eastern Europe.

Boggia’s new solo “Shadow Game,” is really a duet: Her father, Chris Boggia, is shown training a horse in video projections that figure heavily in the piece.

Boggia also collaborated with students to make a videodance in the Bates squash courts.

“Choreographing for the camera in a nontraditional space is very different from choreographing for the stage,” says Boggia. “It allows me to play with time and space in ways that are impossible in live performance.”

The students featured in the videodance also shot much of the footage.

Student performers from many backgrounds and with diverse levels of experience worked with the guest artists. “The students rehearse 15 hours per week. While challenging, it’s a memorable learning experience to work through so many different perspectives in such a short period of time,” says Carol Dilley, director of the Bates dance program.

Bates dancers perform Alwin Nikolais’ “Tensile Involvement” in 2004. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College.

Two performances of widely diverse repertoire by Bates College dancers, including the return of the influential masterwork “Tensile Involvement” by Alwin Nikolais, take place at noon Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 6-7, in the college’s Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

Featuring the Bates Dance Company, student dance clubs and faculty performers, these Parents & Family Weekend performances are open to the public at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-8294.

Nikolais, a pioneering choreographer, championed non-representational dance. He was known for a multimedia approach that, similar to opera, was intended to bring all aspects of the performing arts to the audience.

He choreographed “Tensile Involvement,” his best-known work, in 1953, also designing the set, costumes and lighting, and composing the music. The piece launches the dancers into interactions with giant ribbons that transform the stage into a dynamic matrix of color, sound and motion.

The most recent performance of the piece by Bates dancers was in 2004. A gift by Marcy Plavin, founder of the Bates dance program, makes this year’s production possible.

Also on the program:

• work by hip-hop choreographer Robin Sanders from Memphis, Tenn. The guest choreographer for a springtime course that took Bates dancers into local public schools, Sanders “was such a hit that we have brought her back for our core creative process course, Dance Repertory Performance,” says Bates dance program director Carol Dilley;
• dances choreographed by Dilley, by faculty member Debi Irons and by student choreographers;
• a performance of Balinese dance by guest artist Shoka Yamamuro;
• and dances by student clubs — the Dynasty Step Team, Ballroom Dance Society and the liturgical dance troupe Justified.