Between last summer's devastating wild fires, the Aurora shootings and other high-profile news stories, Colorado has had a rough year.

It is difficult to find a way to express the emotions that these events have evoked, but the Damsel Dance Company is trying to do that by communicating Colorado's fear and pain as well as hope, faith, and pride through dance.

Denver on Fire, which tackles these topics, begins tonight (although the first showing is sold out) and runs through May 22.

See also:
-Denver On Fire event information
-100 Colorado Creatives: Nancy Smith of Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance
-Photos: The strange and seafaring fashions of the Holy Ship!! dance cruise

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Image from DanceAfrica Denver 2012.

Dr. Charles "Baba Chuck" Davis founded DanceAfrica almost four decades ago as a unique celebration of Africa and its diaspora. For the next two weekends, DanceAfrica will partner for the third time with the forty-year-old Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble on DanceAfrica Denver, which will feature not just performances of In the Valley of the Nile, a dance summoning the prowess of ancient African queens, but a craft market and tastes of authentic African cuisine.

See also:
- Photos: Industrial Project allows Wonderbound dancers to sculpt their own show
- 100 Colorado Creatives: Nancy Smith of Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance
- The Body Electric Poetry Film Festival celebrates the merging of two art forms

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All photos by Amanda Tipton.

The dancers at Wonderbound -- the company formerly known as Ballet Nouveau Colorado -- are breathtakingly talented, as anyone who's seen one of their shows can attest. But dancing is just one facet of their skill. Several of the Wonderbound dancers are also interested in choreography, and the upcoming Industrial Project is their opportunity to show their stuff.

See also:
- Ballet Nouveau Colorado makes the leap to Denver and Wonderbound
- Paper Bird and Ballet Nouveau Colorado carry on with Carry On
- Garrett Ammon on Perpetual Beauty, Wonderbound and the power of beauty

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David Andrews

Nancy Smith dangling in a sphere.

#74: Nancy Smith
The sky's not the limit for Frequent Flyers founder and director Nancy Smith, who literally hangs around most days at her Boulder aerial-dance studio: teaching, choreographing, visualizing, directing and dancing, sometimes in an upside-down position. It's a rare profession, with one hand reaching clear up into the stratosphere, and if you want to learn more about it here in Colorado, you'll want to fly up and see Smith.

See also:
- It's a circus out there: Frequent Flyers brings Cirque de Minuet to The Dairy
- Ratcracker is back, a high-flying alternative to Nutcracker
- Best Flight School, 2010: Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Studio

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A still from Perpetual Beauty.

Ballet Nouveau Colorado has been putting together some of the most innovative collaborations we've seen -- so it's appropriate that the group is moving forward with a new name and new digs. Before the company completes its transition to Wonderbound, though, it will present one more show under the BNC name: Perpetual Beauty, which opens Friday, April 19, at Pinnacle Charter School's Performing Arts Complex, and runs through Sunday, April 21. We recently caught up with artistic director Garrett Ammon to ask about this collaboration with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the company's new name and the power of beauty.

See also:
- Ballet Nouveau Colorado makes the leap to Denver and Wonderbound
- Ballet Nouveau Colorado is headed for Five Points -- and Wonderbound
- Paper Bird and Ballet Nouveau Colorado carry on with Carry On

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Nick Cave, "Speak Louder," 2011. Mixed media. James Prinz Photography, Chicago. Courtesy of Nick Cave and the Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Late last week, the Denver Art Museum let the crazy dancers out of the bag: The DAM announced that fifteen out of 120 hopefuls who auditioned for artist Nick Cave last month will perform in Cave's fantastical Soundsuits in June, alongside dancers from local professional troupes.

See also:
- Dancin' Fools audition for Nick Cave at the DAM's Untitled.
- Do you have what it takes to wear a Nick Cave Soundsuit? Sign up to audition at the DAM
- Costumes, Squared: Nick Cave speaks about Soundsuits

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Garrett Ammon of Wonderbound.

#84: Garrett Ammon

Ballet Nouveau Colorado's transformation into Wonderbound is nearly complete. The forward-thinking troupe that has been dancing under the direction of visionary choreographer Garrett Ammon since 2007 will make its last appearance as BNC in April with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. After that, it will formally segue into Wonderbound, essentially doing more of the same -- collaborative, multidisciplinary works, danced with contemporary style -- only more so.

See also:
- Ballet Nouveau Colorado makes the leap to Denver and Wonderbound
- Ballet Nouveau Colorado is headed for Five Points -- and Wonderbound
- The arts in Denver: Ten people to watch in 2013

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Mark Sink & Kristen Hatgi

Garrett Ammon, artistic director of Wonderbound.

After twenty years, Ballet Nouveau Colorado has made the leap. The dance company is splitting in two, and the portion now known as Wonderbound has moved into Denver, to 1075 Park Avenue West -- at the confluence of Arapahoe Square, Curtis Park and Five Points. Wonderbound is sharing the building now known as "Junction Box" with Community Coordinating District No. 1, the group that's been working with the city to revitalize the area.

And the addition of the new American dance company should certainly help with that. "I see artistic collaborations as metaphors for our capacity to create change in our world," says Garrett Ammon, artistic director of Wonderbound and one of our people to watch this year. "To truly understand one another, we must move beyond conversation and actively engage in the creation of something new. Only then can we appreciate the expansive beauty of our shared humanity."

See also:
- Ballet Nouveau Colorado is headed for Five Points -- and Wonderbound
- Eddie Maestas Park needs plan to go from trash to tribute
- A conversation with Garrett Ammon

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It's official! With two -- count them, two -- Trekkie-filled, tomb-raiding, Spandex-clad parties behind its name, Bop Skizzum's Nerd Prom is now an annual event. On Saturday night, hordes of heroes and heroines flew to the Summit Music Hall and shook both the capes and bodies their mama gave them on the dance floor. Photographer Danielle Lirette captured the people and costumes in our full slide show, and we've got bonus video of some of the night's best moves. Keep reading for footage of the last dance (and break dance) of Nerd Prom 2013.

See also:
- Slide show: Nerd Prom 2013 at the Summit
- Slide show: Nerd Prom 2012 at the Summit
- Talk nerdy to me at Bop Skizzum's first annual Nerd Prom

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Photo courtesy Bellydance by Sonia

The roots of belly dancing run deep, but also far and wide. Steps and techniques differ in Egypt and Turkey, in Lebanon, Morocco and Algeria. But even with the overwhelming popularity of belly dance in the United States, many of those nuances are lost to modern students.

"You don't see that with other world dances," says Sonia Burns, producer of the Beyond Belly Dance 2013 festival scheduled for this weekend. "When somebody signs up for a salsa class, they know they're taking Latin dance. When somebody thinks of samba, they think of Brazil; when they think of flamenco, they think of Spain. With belly dancing, they think of Shakira. They don't understand that it has a cultural context."

See also:
- Artopia through the eyes and ears of a veteran
- Stone Soup Soldiers have Bollywood dreams
- Cole Schneider of Handsome Little Devils on scaling down Squirm...and magic!

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