Dance

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Spectrum Dance Theater Ever since the debut of Carl Orff’s Carmina burana in the 1930s, choreographers have been seduced by its rhythms and its bawdy medieval text. Usually the results come out like the best trip to the Renaissance fair, but Donald Byrd likes to switch things around; his version is more revival meeting than May Day festival. Using a piano reduction of the score, Byrd focuses on a singular Everyman who sins and seeks redemption in Spectrum Dance Theater’s different approach to a well-know work. (Through Sun. SANDRA KURTZ The Moore, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle, WA 98101 $30-$40 Thursday, April 23, 2015, 8pm

Spectrum Dance Theater Ever since the debut of Carl Orff’s Carmina burana in the 1930s, choreographers have been seduced by its rhythms and its bawdy medieval text. Usually the results come out like the best trip to the Renaissance fair, but Donald Byrd likes to switch things around; his version is more revival meeting than May Day festival. Using a piano reduction of the score, Byrd focuses on a singular Everyman who sins and seeks redemption in Spectrum Dance Theater’s different approach to a well-know work. (Through Sun.) SANDRA KURTZ The Moore, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle, WA 98101 $30 and up Friday, April 24, 2015, 8pm

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How to become a partisan Since she arrived in Seattle from her native Italy in 2004 to attend the UW, choreographer Alice Gosti has been defying expectations and remaking conventions. More often than not, you’ll see her work in a space where you wouldn’t expect dance to be happening-like Airport Project, a solo she performed at airports in Reykjavik, Detroit, Frankfurt, and Seattle from 2006-08. Her latest work begins as a participatory audience march leading to a church, where the performance will commemorate Italy’s April 25 National Liberation Day (the formal end of World War II). To research the piece, she traveled back to Italy to interview the aging few former WWII resistance fighters who had the courage to battle Mussolini and the Nazis. “What made you decide to act?,” she asked. And “How did you know what to do?” For the five-hour show, her interview texts become a libretto of sorts for the music, composed and performed by Hanna Benn (of the group Pollens and the St. Mark’s choir). Around Benn, an ensemble of dancers will respond to the interviewees’ answers. The processes those partisans describe-deciding the moment when a diverse group of individuals becomes an organized force-will structure the ensemble’s movements. (By odd historical coincidence, Gosti learned, St. Mark’s was used as a temporary barracks and anti-aircraft-gun training center during WWII.) SANDRA KURTZ

Start: 3:30 p.m. Velocity Dance Center

Performance: 4 p.m. St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral Velocity Dance Center, 1621 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $12-$20 Saturday, April 25, 2015, 3:30pm

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Norma Miller When you think about swing dancing, and picture a woman at the apex of a lift, zooming over the head of her partner, you’re seeing Norma Miller. One of the original Lindy Hoppers, Miller helped develop the high-octane dance style, appearing in films and nightclubs as part of a specialty act that spent more time in the air than on the ground. Most of that airborne crew is gone, but Miller is still around-teaching, coaching, and telling fabulous stories about wonderful times. She’s touring with a new documentary about her life, The Queen of Swing, and you can ask her questions tonight and help her celebrate her 95th birthday. SANDRA KURTZ The Studios, 1801 Fifth Ave. $30 Saturday, April 25, 2015, 6pm

Spectrum Dance Theater Ever since the debut of Carl Orff’s Carmina burana in the 1930s, choreographers have been seduced by its rhythms and its bawdy medieval text. Usually the results come out like the best trip to the Renaissance fair, but Donald Byrd likes to switch things around; his version is more revival meeting than May Day festival. Using a piano reduction of the score, Byrd focuses on a singular Everyman who sins and seeks redemption in Spectrum Dance Theater’s different approach to a well-know work. (Through Sun.) SANDRA KURTZ The Moore, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle, WA 98101 $30 and up Saturday, April 25, 2015, 8pm

Spectrum Dance Theater Ever since the debut of Carl Orff’s Carmina burana in the 1930s, choreographers have been seduced by its rhythms and its bawdy medieval text. Usually the results come out like the best trip to the Renaissance fair, but Donald Byrd likes to switch things around; his version is more revival meeting than May Day festival. Using a piano reduction of the score, Byrd focuses on a singular Everyman who sins and seeks redemption in Spectrum Dance Theater’s different approach to a well-know work. (Through Sun.) SANDRA KURTZ The Moore, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle, WA 98101 $30 and up Sunday, April 26, 2015, 2pm