GroundWorks DanceTheater, a Knight Arts grantee, has a history of performing as part of the Heinz Poll Dance Festival, and it’s continuing that tradition this year as well by appearing once again in Glendale Cemetery in the West Hill area of Akron.

Years ago, artistic director David Shimotakahara said in an interview with me that he liked the idea of the cemetery as setting. No wonder, because GroundWorks has an equal history of appearing in unusual settings from museum lobbies to libraries. When GroundWorks first formed, Shimotakahara made of point of finding such places to bring interesting dance to.

GroundWorks DanceTheater, “Hindsight.” Photo courtesy of Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival

To be honest, this group looks great in any venue. It looks just as great in an old vacated icehouse from days of yore or smack dab in a graveyard. For some strange reason, it just seems right. The dancers in the company work seamlessly together and have both grace and sound athleticism as foundation in their professional dance technique.

GroundWorks will appear again Friday-Saturday, August 2-3, and will once again be bringing a couple of new works to premiere – namely a brand new, as-yet-unnamed piece by associate artistic director Amy Miller; and a work called “My Hummingbird at the High Line,” a piece by well-known and highly respected choreographer Doug Elkins that was set for GroundWorks by the choreographer himself.

Listed first on the company’s program, though, is Shimotakahara’s “Before with After,” a work set to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach – 11 snippets from various fugues, partitas and preludes, among other genres. It is described by the company as a poetic response to the composer’s compositions for keyboard.

Elkins’ “My Hummingbird at the High Line” has been described as a diverse collection of music and dance from hip-hop to Handel – which makes it sound very much like the work speaks to the range of these dancers and their ability to master various techniques and inspirations in their performances.

GroundWorks DanceTheater will appear as part of the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival at 8:45 p.m. on Friday-Saturday, August 2-3 in Glendale Cemetery, 150 Glendale Ave., Akron. For information, call 330-535-3179 or visit www.akrondancefestival.org. Admission is free.