The New Song and Dance

The Joe Goode Performance Group typically makes contemporary dance that pays a lot of attention to music. That may sound like a big "duh," but company founder and artistic director Goode goes the extra mile, often working directly with composers (Beth Custer, Joan Jeanrenaud) to choreograph new work. At "Small Experiments in Song and Dance," the company brings in Holcombe Waller, an indie balladeer from Portland, Oregon, who seems to live and write songs by mantras such as "Go gather all your friends, light a fire, and freak out. Invite me." Sounds like a good match for a choreographer whose stated intentions are to make dance that "can be expertly crafted and yet feel unsophisticated, naive, credulous."
Dec. 31-Jan. 3, 8 p.m., 2008