Cutting-edge Portland-based company, NW Dance Project, debuts at the UMass Fine Arts Center on Tuesday, October 30 at 7:30 pm in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. Led by acclaimed dancer and choreographer Sarah Slipper, the company brings a mixed rep program of stunning choreography for their debut appearance at the Fine Arts Center. There is a pre-show talk at 6:15 pm in the FAC lobby with NW Dance Project Artistic Director, Sarah Slipper. There is also a prix fixe dinner featuring Northwestern fare available at the UClub starting at 5 pm. Details at fineartscenter.com/prixfixe.

For its Amherst appearance, the company will perform You Are All I See choreographed by Wen Wei Wang, focusing on movement that is both sharp and cool with athletic emotionality that shows off the dancers’ technical skills; Memory House by Sarah Slipper, is a gripping, passionate duet; and finally, Le Fil Rouge, choreographed by Ihsan Rustem, set to a suite of old and new love/unrequited love songs presents a light and airy work featuring “follies” style vignettes ranging from delightful duets to full-company sections filled with humor, surprise, and tenderness.

NW Dance Project was founded in 2004 by renowned dancer, mentor, and choreographer Sarah Slipper. NW Dance Project has fostered the development and Portland premiere of over 250 original contemporary dance works to date. Dance International Magazine proclaims that NW Dance is “changing the way dance is created” and has become “a laboratory, factory and repository for risk-taking new works from the next generation of choreographers from Europe and North America.”

NW Dance is committed to advancing dance education and community involvement, consistently engaging its home city, Portland, with inventive and accessible performances. For its work in Portland, NW Dance has been named “an essential part of the city’s art scene” by The Oregonian and “…the ‘it’ company….one of the most dynamic dance troupes in the country” by Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Tickets for NW Dance Project are $45, $35, $20; Five College Students and youth 17 and under are $15, $12, $10. For tickets call the Box Office at 545-2511, toll-free at 800-999-UMAS, or purchase online at fineartscenter.com/NWDance.