Rosalie O'Connor Photography

Ballet Arizona's Topia is the most sensory ballet experience we've ever had.

After its successful debut last year, the show, created by Ballet Arizona artistic director Ib Andersen, is back at the Desert Botanical Garden for a second season. The 80-foot-long stage where the dancing takes place is aligned with the nearby Papago Buttes, giving viewers a sense of awe before the ballet itself even starts.

But the desert setting doesn't detract from the movement; instead, it adds a layer of meaning to the piece that arguably couldn't be achieved in an indoor venue.

See Also:
- Ballet Arizona's Topia at Desert Botanical Garden Back for a Second Season
- Dulce Dance Company Explores Space in Para Tus Ojos at Icehouse

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Liliana Gomez

This Friday, Dulce Dance Company will debut Para Tus Ojos, a series of newly-choreographed movement pieces that seek to engage the audience in new ways. For starters, the performance will take place throughout several of the cavernous rooms in the Icehouse.

"We wanted to make the audience feel that they're actually going through a journey with the performers," says artistic director Candy Jimenez.

See Also:
- Stray Cat Theatre's Chicks with Dicks Is a Camp Comedy You'll Want to Miss
- Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys from Arizona Theatre Company: Tap-Dancing Toward the Tar Pit

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Scorpius Dance Theater

Fans of Lisa Starry and her choreography might remember Water Dreams, her original water-themed production that debuted more than 10 years ago.

It won her rave reviews, and in the years since, she's only ingratiated herself all the more with Valley dance aficionados through her consistently lovable works, including the annual fall production of A Vampire Tale.

Next month, Starry and Scorpius Dance Theater will present Dreaming in Water at Chandler Center for the Arts, a family-friendly production that will use dance, aerial arts, film, and music to transport the audience to a dream world where water is king.

See also:
Lisa Starry's A Vampire Tale Returns for its 9th Season

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Rosalie O'Connor

Astrit Zejnati and Natalia Magnicaballi in Ib Andersen's Diversions

If we were looking for reasons to show some appreciation for all that Ballet Arizona brings to the Valley arts scene, then we found three more to add to the list: choreographers Alexei Ratmansky and Alejandro Cerrudo and Director's Choice.

The pair of leading choreographers will join Ballet Arizona artistic director Ib Andersen in presenting Director's Choice, a program set to hit the Orpheum stage next week.

See also:
- Ballet Arizona's Topia at Desert Botanical Garden Back for a Second Season

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Flickr, C. G. P. Grey

The Desert Botanical Garden

There aren't many places where you can catch a ballet under the stars, let alone in one of the world's only places created for the study and display of the beauty of the Sonoran Desert. But last year, Ballet Arizona and the Desert Botanical Garden teamed up for the world premiere of Topia, an original production by Ballet Arizona artistic director Ib Andersen. With beautiful music, choreography, and the unique backdrop of the Papago Buttes, the performances were a genuine gift to audience members.

Those who missed out on breathtaking experience of nature and art will be happy to know what the company's gearing up for a second go-round. And trust us, you don't want to miss this again.

See also:
- Best Ballet Under the Desert Stars - 2012: Topia by Ballet Arizona
- Biltmore Fashion Park Brings Back Movies in the Park Series

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Photo courtesy of Carley Conder

Choreographer Barbara Mahler will teach a Masters class in Tempe later this month

Later this month, a three-day contemporary dance and film festival will take place at Tempe Center for the Arts.

>Breaking Ground 2013 Festival will feature three days of dance performances and films by choreographers and performers from Arizona and other states. As an added bonus, they'll also host two Masters classes at ASU Tempe campus and as well as an after-party with a meet-and-greet with the artists.

See also:
- "Breaking Ground 2013": Three-Day Contemporary Dance and Dance Film Festival Coming to Tempe in January
- Actress Octavia Spencer Launches Short Film Contest
- Museum of Modern Art to Showcase Video Game Collection in 2013

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Scorpius Dance Theatre's "A Vampire Tale" UK Tour 2012 via Kickstarter

Phoenix's favorite undead dance company, Scorpius Dance Theater, returns this week for the ninth season of Lisa Starry's A Vampire Tale.

What has now become a local tradition, A Vampire's Tale is often referred to as the "Nutcracker of Halloween." This dark and seductive performance assembles a cast of 25 professional dancers, some of whom started with Starry early in their careers, and attracts a wide audience of vampire lovers, Halloween worshipers, and contemporary dance enthusiasts.

See Also:
Scorpius Dance Theatre's Back on Kickstarter to Bring "A Vampire Tale" to the UK
Five Must-See Events This Week

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scorpiusdance.com

Lisa Starry and her Scorpius Dance Theatre have big plans on the other side of the pond.

Every October, the contemporary dance theatre has performed Starry's "A Vampire Tale" to audiences in Phoenix. Last year, the group was invited to ​The Bram Stoker International Film Festival -- four days of vampires, fake blood, and sci-fi thrillers in the English town Count Dracula called home, Whitby.

And this year, they've been invited back -- given they can raise the funds to make the trip.

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still from film by Bryn Corbett

Debra Minghi in BUTOH + MUSIC

RPM Orchestra makes nontraditional and way hypnotic sounds (they've called themselves a "proto-industrial Americana" band) that are even more compelling live, because their performances are evocative, multidisciplinary, and of a piece with the very breath and sweat of the toiling musicians.

Audio recording can't quite capture the headlong immersion that best suits appreciation of their dramatic stuff (though they do get some underground radio play), and a video recording is neither sensitive nor encompassing enough to approach what real-time perception provides. That rare, lightning-bolt quality makes an RPM performance an Event with a capital E, but also creates the major obstacle to appreciating them, in my experience.

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kelsey_lovefusionphoto via Flickr

With festival, conference, and "palooza" season at an end, we're looking for new ways to fill our precious hours of free time. The next few months will be all about indoor activities, but that's no excuse to avoid breaking a sweat.

With the rest of the pop culture -- Dancing with the Stars contestants and crazy dramatic Dance Moms included -- world hell bent on finding out who can dance and who can't, it's time to embrace the trend get moving. And here are five places in Phoenix to get started ...

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