Posted on Fri, Jun. 06, 2008

Despite having been without an executive director for a year and a half, Florida Dance Festival is preparing to leap onto local stages and dance studios again this year, with two new commissioned pieces and performances by students and faculty.

The festival, which runs from Wednesday through June 21, is definitely smaller than in years past but still should offer compelling shows. Most notable is the closing night performance on June 20 with New York's Keigwin + Company, whose blend of anarchic comedy and dynamic dancing has earned them an eager following and high praise.

Also up is a new piece by Miami-based tap dancer and choreographer Katherine Kramer, one of the artists at the center of the tap dance revival in the 1980s. Both works were commissioned by the National Performance Network, a major funder of contemporary dance.

''I don't invite anyone I don't find interesting,'' says interim festival director Bill Doolin, who has been filling former executive director Tom Thielen's shoes since December 2006. Doolin says a search for Thielen's replacement was put on hold because of financial considerations but should be re-opened this fall.

Doolin saw Larry Keigwin's troupe at the Bates Dance Festival in Maine years ago and was struck by his inventiveness and accessibility, praised by the New York Times for injecting ``a revivifying dose of blithe high spirits into an often rather solemn art.''

''Dancers love doing it, and audiences love watching it,'' Doolin says. ''He definitely knows he wants to entertain.'' Keigwin's new work for the festival, called Elements, uses classical music along with pop artists ranging from Alejandro Fernandez and Eartha Kitt to The 5th Dimension.

Kramer, whose piece Stop, Look, Listen will be performed June 18, ventures into new territory with modern dance and original live music that mixes jazz and worldbeat, celebrating human playfulness in a troubled world.

Another highlight should be the Faculty Concert on Wednesday, with performances by festival teachers including hip-hop dancer Jennifer Archibald, a performance piece by Kristin O'Neal, an Afro-Brazilian work from Augusto Soledade and flamenco by Clarita Filgueiras, all Miami artists.