Dance Now! Ensemble (DNE) launches its 11th season Dec. 17 at its new home in the fabulous Little Haiti Cultural Center. With its wide open spaces and illuminating layout, the Little Haiti Cultural Center is the perfect location for this evocative, thought provoking performance that is set to music from Radiohead, Philip Glass, Uakti and more. The performance features three premieres and showcases a multicultural company of artists from Brazil, Jamaica, Cuba and the U.S.

Last Friday I met with DNE’s high-energy co-artistic directors Hannah Baumgarten (seated above) and Diego Salterini (wearing the sweatshirt in far right corner of the mirror reflection) and we spoke about the upcoming performance and about future of DNE.

Plus, I got a preview of the works that will be featured on the 17th.

Here’s a few things the audience can expect from DNE:  Crossroads, a new work, is a collaboration between Baumgarten and Salterini which “gets deep down into the rhythm and sound of jazz music ranging from Miles Davis to Igor Boxx….”. As I watched the dancers move across the floor, their bodies became extensions of the music and/or became the music.

Memos from the Last Millennium examines the “unexpected transformations in a colonial community as it encounters new realities” and features experimental sounds from Uakti, an experimental instrument group from Brazil. Salterini says this piece is really about the unexpected journey that can happen when people step out of their comfort zone. Sample Uakti’s work here.

And, Pulverized Habitat, a favorite from last season, features a new first moment which represents the passion section of the dance. “This is what happens,” Baumgarten says, “before the ‘pulverization’ happens’.”

The program also features Drawing Circles, a beautiful concentric work choreographed by Salterini and set to Philip Glass’s score from the epic Japanese film Misima: A Life in Four Chapters. Drawing Circles celebrates the aesthetics of Miami Modern (MiMo) and–in a way–mirrors the architecture of the Little Haiti Cultural Center. 

Before I left rehearsals I spoke with the artists and asked them this question: why do you dance? “The audience,” Justin O’Ferrall, one of DNE’s artists, said, “is the reason why.” Dance is the communication cord that connects the artist to the audience and vice-versa. It’s primal and even downright spiritual. And it makes it all worth it in the end.

Dance Now! Ensemble Event Information: Little Haiti Cultural Center, 212 NE 59th Terrace, Miami, Fl, December 17, 2010 7:00 pm $20 general; $10 children. Contact: 305-960-2967 and 305-975-8489. Visit www.dancenowmiami.org for more information.

Dance Now! Ensemble’s Community Outreach & Education Program for the Kids: Dance Concert from the Academy of Arts and Minds Dance Department, December 11th, 2010, Saturday 2:00PM & 8:00PM, Little Haiti Cultural Center, 212 NE 59th Terrace, Miami, Fl,Tickets $10 adults, $5 children.