Benn Widdey

Sailing smoothly into the festival's tenth anniversary, REDCAT (the Roy and Edna Disney Cal Arts Theater) presents its annual birthing of New Original Work by local artists in dance, music and multimedia genres. Selected from a highly competitive pool of regional talent, nine artists will showcase their current experiments in this three-weekend event.

Bringing his company of eleven unparalleled and exacting dancers to the Barclay Theater in Irvine for a single performance this Wednesday night, globally-acclaimed contemporary choreographer Stephen Petronio returns to the southland with two performance collages of new ideas.

Though it wasn't officially Mother's Day, this past weekend motherhood was celebrated at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica as choreographer/performer/educator Christine Suarez mounted her hour-long one woman show, "Mother.F*cker"directed by Tessa Blake.

Inspired by the Sufi tradition and the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi, classically trained Kathak dancer and now world renown choreographer Khan "explores man's earthly nature, his rituals and the consequences of human actions" in this 2010 70-minute work.

By the Santa Monica beach, performer/director Sheetal Gandhi is culminating her choreographer-in-residence period at the Annenberg Community Beach House with two afternoon performances of "I Am You," a Rumi-inspired, community-engaged, site-specific dance-theater work.

The final program of the three weekends New Original Works Festival a REDCAT brings the work of three daring women artists to the downtown stage. Emily Mast, Melanie Rios Glaser and Heather Woodbury each investigate deep, important and meaningful questions through lenses that are unique, compelling and entertaining.

It's the summer. You can feel the heat. The sun beats down on the hot pavement. Many people head out of town for their break from the regular grind. Lots of folks are hanging at the beach. But, a group of local artists are heading for the roof.

The second week of the New Original Works (NOW) Festival at REDCAT promises to be as exciting as the first program, with even more dance, music and imagery on the palette this time 'round.

For the past three years, L.A.-based arts journalist and Times dance critic Debra Levine has been on a crusade. She's been tracing the career of not-so-well-known choreographer Jack Cole and carrying his torch all over the country.

The Roy and Edna Disney Cal Arts Theater, aka REDCAT, brings its 9th annual New Original Works (NOW) Festival to the stage beginning this Thursday and continuing through the next three weekends.

Contemporary artists are always trying to get their work out there and in front of people other than their friends and family. It's a challenge in this busy, high home entertainment, car culture of a society we live in here in Los Angeles. Local modern dance choreographer Keith Glassman, with roots in New York City, is doing his best to attack this virus.

Coming down to our neck of the woods from the Bay Area, Robert Moses’ Kin will fill The Luckman for one formidable performance this Saturday evening. Presenting critically acclaimed work from their repertory, the production includes accompaniment by the San Francisco Boys Chorus, under the direction of Ian Robertson, and a host of other contributing art-makers.