Tami Stronach premieres "Me and Not Me"

It's possible to find yourself completely lost in a work shaped by Tami Stronach. Lost and wondering if you should have brought along some bright red yarn to unspool as you walked so that, later, you could retrace your steps.

Tami Stonach (l) and Lindsey Dietz Marchant and that crazy little bike in Me and Not Me

A kind of poetic disorientation can work to the choreographer's benefit, but not always. When her drive and facility with movement, her fascination with relationships between dancers, run on long, it looks as if she's a little lost, too. But not in Me and Not Me, that brash duet between the choreographer and Lindsey Dietz Marchant, both articulate, masterful performers. Stronach gave this artful piece its world premiere last night at Dance New Amsterdam, along with a solo from repertory (Mother Tongue, with Dietz Marchant dancing like Isadora-gone-postmodern) and a work in progress (Closer, a more lighthearted quartet toying with DNA's space and our focus of attention). If you enjoy dance that treats human nature in its complexity from the inside out, Stronach's evening at DNA could be a wise choice for your weekend.

The title, Me and Not Me, hints that the two characters might be two sides of the same woman, as easily as they could be a literal Self and Other. It also suggests the rejection of something inside a person that she does not want to see and accept. The piece pits a fairly well-rooted (and ferociously energetic) Stronach against the irrational vision of Dietz-Marchant, a full-grown woman making her wobbly and crash-prone way, 'round and 'round, on a small child's bike, strewing aromatic yellow flowers (that made me sneezy) and, when she is not astride the bike, clinging to, pawing at and struggling with the choreographer. (I made a note: "So, Tami, who was the impossibly difficult person in your life?") The women handle each other with stubbornness, resistance and deep need. Jane Shaw contributes a resonant sound design--a mixtape of gorgeous Czech folk and pop--now, I'll need to seek out more music by Karina Denike--interspersed with the grating, repetitious streaming of anxiety and OCD. Go-to lighting guy Joe Levasseur, once again, works his painterly magic against the women's skin.

Now through Saturday evening, 7:30pm

Information and tickets

Dance New Amsterdam
280 Broadway (entrance on Chambers Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

A "Sublime" week

From The Sublime to the sublime and even more sublimity! For me, this has been an exceptionally rewarding week in dance. I don't want to put any undue pressure on the wonderful Sara Juli--my Body and Soul podcast interviewee whose new work, Death, I plan to see tonight at P.S. 122--but I'm hoping that my luck and this string of remarkable events will continue.

The Sublime is Us--an intriguing new piece by another recent Body and Soul interviewee, Luciana Achugar--continues running through November 1 at Dance Theater Workshop. It's a feast of instinct and sensuality set before a small audience placed in intimate proximity to the dancers--Achugar, Hilary Clark, Jennifer Kjos, Melanie Maar and Beatrice Wong--and the studio mirrors with which they partner. Visually, we become part of the dance, forced to also gaze upon ourselves and our fellow audience members in self-consciousness or curiosity, as we keep an eye on the performers. The pit-of-the-stomach visceral effect of this set up and of much of the movement cannot be overstated. Achugar, once again, seeks to take us deep into the natural intelligence and experience of the body. Details, schedule and ticketing information

At BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, Belgium's Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, her dance troupe, Rosas, and the musical ensemble Ictus, performing live, offer a sublime tribute in Steve Reich Evening with music by Reich and György Ligeti, now through tomorrow evening. Here is an expansive and celestial feast of sound, light, choreography and performance, from the simplest first course--the varied sonic play of two pendulating microphones--to the complex and electrifying conclusion, Drumming--Part 1. Precision. Discipline. Exaltation. Worth any price, if you can still snare a ticket. Details, schedule and ticketing

Tami Stronach has gone straight to my heart. She has simply pushed open its door and taken up residence. Whether dancing the opening solo in her new But it's for you or deploying the ravishing duo of Lindsey Dietz-Marchant and Darrin M. Wright, this wildly imaginative, poetic choreographer never hits a false note or shows us anything our jaded eyes have seen before or could anticipate. She finds the human soul in exacting, abstract movement. In vulnerable romantic partnerings, she finds energies and images of extraordinary, even alarming power. And what a team--in particular, the aforementioned dancers, who could not have been better chosen nor delivered more affecting performances; lighting designer Japhy Weideman; and scenic designer Joe Levasseur. This sublime beauty ends its run tomorrow evening. Trust me: You don't want to miss your chance to savor it. Details, schedule and ticketing