Benita Bike’s DanceArt: 45th Season Shows

Benita Bike’s DanceArt will mark its 45th season with two Pasadena performances on Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26. (danceart.org) The concerts are set for 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at Lineage Performing Arts Center, 920 E. Mountain St., with presale tickets at $35 for general admission and $25 for students. (danceart.org) The program pulls together works made between 2017 and 2026, including a premiere set to gamelan music and an original score by Dean Wallraff. (eventbrite.com) Other pieces on the bill include *From Where I Sit*, a suite of character-based vignettes, *Aspects of Me*, a set of solos and duets, *Schoenfield Dances*, and *Benches*. (eventbrite.com) DanceArt is a five-member chamber modern dance company, a small-format ensemble built for close-range staging rather than large-cast spectacle. LAist and Lineage both describe the company as a long-running Los Angeles fixture. (laist.com) (lineagepac.org) That scale fits the venue and the company’s history. Cultural Daily reported this week that DanceArt is better known for minimally staged performances in parks and libraries, making this fully staged theater weekend a less common setting for the group’s work. (culturaldaily.com) The Pasadena run also lands at a venue with ties to the company. Pasadena Now reported Thursday that Lineage founder Hilary Thomas danced with Benita Bike’s company earlier in her career. (pasadenanow.com) Benita Bike’s DanceArt has also continued to work outside conventional theaters through its “Explore Dance” programs in neighborhood sites, according to the company’s Eventbrite page and a Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs grantee profile. (eventbrite.com) (culture.lacity.gov) For this weekend, the milestone is straightforward: a 45-year company is putting nearly a decade of repertory, plus a new work, onstage in Pasadena. (danceart.org) (eventbrite.com)