Performa/Dance presents Bluegrass Junction

Performa/Dance brings Bluegrass Junction to the Austin Ventures Studio Theater at Ballet Austin on Friday, August 14, and Saturday, August 15. It's a folk-dance tribute to a specific piece of Americana: the time when live music and dance brought communities together to celebrate the human experience and the different phases of life. The choreography is by Jennifer Hart, who describes the work as a way to acknowledge the real-world tribulations and transformations the community has faced in recent years, and to lift spirits through the simple pleasures of music and movement.

On stage, the piece draws from a wide range of American folk dances—square dancing, buck-and-wing, clogging, jigs, and reels—whose roots trace back to European, African, and Native American traditions. It's a look at how those styles came together to form the dance culture of the American South and Midwest, and the way they've always been about people gathering in one room to move together.

Performa/Dance is the Austin company Hart founded in 2014 with dancer Edward Carr. Over the last ten years, they've focused on staging original work by women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ choreographers, and on showcasing artists who have been historically underrepresented. Bluegrass Junction fits that mission, taking traditional folk forms and putting them in a contemporary context.

There are three performances over the weekend: 7:30 PM on Friday, and 4:30 PM and 7:30 PM on Saturday. Tickets run from $35 to $55, and the theater is at Ballet Austin, 501 W 3rd St.