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JULY 10-13

Megan Mazarick (Philadelphia) blends raw athleticism with character-based movement studies to address such issues as racism, classism, and stereotypes. www.mazaricknation.com

Megan brings two works to the Festival. Roadkill is a humorously dark portrayal of men struggling to find their identity. Four men, as truck drivers, interact through guttural growling and shared gestures in a parody of primitivism. Athletic physical comedy references violence, sexuality, whirring motors, and rare vulnerability in this work that explores the complicated and oft-stereotyped world of trucker culture. The solo Cuttlefish is a multi-media dance piece where a shape-shifting invertebrate becomes a metaphor for human transformation. Part undersea adventure, part cultural commentary, the audience wears 3D glasses for a unique glimpse at a woman "living in a fishbowl."

Megan also teaches two contact improvisation classes: one for kids ages 8-14 on Saturday, July 12 at 9:30 am; one for adults/teens on Sunday, July 13 at 10:30 am. With her company, Megan will also teach a class at the Martinsburg Library’s Children’s Department on Thursday, July 10.

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Guta Hedewig Dance (NYC), under the artistic direction of German-born, now U.S. citizen Guta Hedewig, is an experimental contemporary dance company, based in New York City. www.gutahedewig.com

The company will perform Dog Days, called "devastatingly witty... full of surprises and a lot of good dancing" by Deborah Jowitt in The Village Voice, and "a darkly funny work" by Gia Kourlas in the New York Times. Dog Days developed out of the choreographer's sense of disquiet and anger over what is happening to America, and in turn the rest of the world, under the Bush administration. The piece uses slapstick, folk dance, and burlesque to deliver a bitingly satirical look at the serious subtext in Bush's famously mangled rhetoric. Structured around an assemblage of "Bushisms," Dog Days invites the audience to recognize the hilarity in Bush's rhetorical missteps, while also inventively portraying some of the disturbing implications entailed by his use of propaganda.

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AhernDance(Morgantown, WV), led by choreographer Heather Ahern, has been described as humorous, poignant, satirical, and moving. The company brings four dances that reflect explorations of gender issues, humor, and inner emotional states.

Blink is a wistful, contemplative solo exploring the passage of time; There’s a Groove in My Jam is a jazzy quartet with dynamic partnering; Bad is a tongue-in-cheek dance/monologue with text from Mother Goose and a book of manners from 1905; and Utopia is a quartet examining social mores, particularly as they pertain to gender, featuring costumes of steel hoop skirt sculptures.

Heather also teaches a modern dance master class on Saturday, July 12 at 10:30 am.

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Karen Schupp (Phoenix, AZ), shares her virtuosity with Goose Route in two dynamic solos. www.karenschupp.org

Pausing at the Threshold is a symbolically rich work, exploring the moments where the mind shifts between alertness and slumber. Additionally inspired by the painting "Star Fall" by Anselm Kiefer, Pausing at the Threshold creates tension and excitement through awkward elegance, knotted yet graceful shapes, and stunning physicality. Exploring the relationship between classical music and contemporary modern dance, Sonata creates a sense of lush and rich fullness through the carefully crafted union of music and dance.

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JULY 18-20

Cara Hagan (Winston Salem, NC), multidimensional, multicultural and full of exuberance, directs a duet company that includes herself and twin sister Mackenzie. www.87danceproductions.com

At the Festival, Cara performs One Woman Show, a fun solo with video projection that is about a physical, emotional, and spiritual journey and includes dynamic bursts of energy, whimsy, and places of soft resolve. Cara and sister Mackenzie perform Kitchen Table, a funny piece about what happens in the kitchen when all the men have left; and Purple Duet, a fascinating duet showing different facets of these two women whose idiosyncratic movements are performed with uncanny precision.

Cara teaches a class at the Shepherdstown Day Care Center for center enrollees on Thursday, July 17.

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Sweetie Pie Productions (Boulder, CO), is the name of the dynamic duo of Erika Randall and Anna Sapozhnikov, who create dances with humor, tenderness, and a healthy dose of dysfunction, all topped with whip smart movement vocabulary.

In Anti-climactic, Anna and Erika transform into off-kilter magician's assistants with something up their sleeves. Their fast talking and high flying feats reveal the sting and disappointment in women's acts of disappearance. Sweetie Pie is an autobiographical romp through mother-daughter relationships. This sometimes sweet, sometimes twisted duet uses peculiar gesture, fully-charged physicality, and text about mothers and their pies to examine the ever-so-common and always painful struggle to cut the apron strings.

Anna and Erika teach a class for kids ages 4-7 on Saturday, July 19 at 9:30 am, and Erika teaches a modern dance class for adults/teens on Saturday, July 19 at 10:30 am.

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Courtney Greer / Carson Efird / Katherine Kiefer Stark (Raleigh, NC), are a collective of three independent choreographers from the Triangle region of North Carolina whose solo and group work contain impulse- driven, interactive movement that explores the edges of modern dance.

Efird’s Reverie is a languid dance reminiscent of her womanly southern heritage and was inspired by reading John Cage in a sauna. A Part, also by Efird, reinforces and deconstructs images and icons of womanly might and vulnerability. Greer’s within were fightings, without were fears was inspired by Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus and Seamus Heaney’s poem, Blackberry Picking; Why Fall When You Can Stand, choreographed by Greer with Joan Nicholas-Walker, is an exploration of what results when two creators enter a project with different intentions; Stark’s The War We Make is an aggressive quartet exploring anger and violence; An object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its surface is a duet choreographed by Greer and Stark that explores movement gestures and quirky behaviors.

Katherine Stark teaches a modern dance master class for adults/teens on Sunday, July 20 at 10:30 am.

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Goose Route Dance (Shepherdstown, WV), led by Kitty Clark, creates work that is laced with both gestural and full-bodied movements that explore our relationship with the environment, with each other, and with the unseen forces around us. Drawing inspiration from many diverse subjects, Goose Route's dances showcase the strengths of its individual dancers.

Several new works will be shown at this year's Festival. Clark's Tango Etude is a sassy and sensual work that combines contemporary modern dance vocabulary with characteristic elements of the tango. Indulging in the joy of the body, the piece is both sharp and smooth, playful and focused. I Am, choreographed by Ray Shaw, is a group work originally inspired by people’s physical scars. Idiosyncratic gesture, quirky partnering, and full-bodied dancing combine to create a work of layered meaning.

GRDF has presented nearly 50 artists in 7 years representing NYC, Washington, DC, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, Vermont, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, San Francisco

Alethea Adsitt (NYC), Brandon 'Peace' Albright/Illstyle & Peace Productions (Philadelphia), Katerina Antoniadou (NC), Arts United of Washington/Melissa Saint Amour (DC), Monica Bill Barnes (NYC), danah bella DanceWorks (Radford, VA), Cat Scratch Theatre (DC), Clare Byrne (NYC), Darrah Carr Dance (NYC), Amy Chavasse (VT/NC), Jennifer Chin (NYC), Kitty Clark (WV), Michele Dunleavy (PA), Meghan Durham (Philadelphia), Heather Harrington (NYC), Mare Hieronimus (DC), Makoto Hirano (Philadelphia), Shannon Hummel (NYC), INSPIRIT/Christal Brown (NYC), Incidents Physical Theater (NYC), Jeslyn Dance Gallery (DC), Philippa Kaye Company (NYC), Therese Keegan (MD), Sharon Mansur (DC), Carli Mareneck (WV), Gesel Mason (DC), Lucy Bowen McCauley (DC), Cynthia McLaughlin (WV) ,Tiffany Mills (NYC), Paul Mosley (NY), Shannon Murphy (PA), Next Reflex Dance Collective (Fairfax, VA), Bess Park-Reynolds (WV), Laura Peterson (NYC), PIMA Group (Phila.), Restless Native Dance/Tamieca McCloud (NYC), Laura Schandelmeier (DC), Marcy Schlissel (DC), Kathryn Sparks (VA), Kristi Spessard (NYC), Spinning Yarns Dance Collective/Susan Donham (San Francisco, CA), Starr Foster Dance Project (Richmond, VA), Ashley Suttlar (KY), Kara Tatelbaum (NYC), Vincent Thomas (Balt/DC), Marvin Webb (DC), Boris Willis (DC), Christalyn Wright (NYC)