The catalogue
Repertory
Everything the company has made, from 1998 onward — each with its music credited in full and the evenings it was danced on.
Change
A rousing call for the winds of political change
Chromatic Suite
Numbers and colours parade in infinite variety and intricate designs
Code:ART Commission
A site-specific improv suite for Palo Alto's City Hall Plaza, with original music by our Composer in Residence
Continuum
The elastic, unbroken bond between past and future selves
Aqua | Terra
An evening-length work inspired by the water cycle and changing landscapes of our world
Clean Sweep
Someone has to clean up the mess... Inspired by Martin Whatson's "The Sweeper" (2019)
Connect
Inspired by Yayoi Kusama's "Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees," installed at the New York Botanical Gardens in 2021, this splashy duet celebrates growth and connection
No photograph on file 2024Hierarchy
No photograph on file 2024I Scream, You Scream
Out of the Box
Playground antics
Above and Below
From grounded to ethereal, encompassing earth, water, and sky, a portrayal of Georgia O'Keeffe's "Abstraction Blue" (1927) and "From the Lake" (1924)
Altitude : Latitude
Interaction with the rugged Colorado landscape: a site-specific video work filmed on location in Alma, Colorado, at NCDE's summer dance camp
Camaraderie
An honest day's toil shared with comrades, echoing Gustave Caillebotte's painting "The Floor Scrapers" (1875) and set to a Napoleonic marching tune that the original floor scrapers might have sung as they worked
Chroma
Vibrations and psychedelic geometry, inspired by "Planetary Folklore (Participations)" from 1969, a set of magnets designed by Victor Vasarely (the "father of op art") that the viewer can reconfigure into endless new versions of the artwork
Float
Alternately serene and jagged, movement through space patterned after Alexander Calder's mobile "Maripose" from 1960
Four Stories
An interpretation of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" (1942) brings the dancers together at last in a bright space at the end of a cold lonely day
Joker
A bold romp based on Sonia Delaunay's painting "Joker - 1962"
Jouissance
Braiding together, three dancers echo the serene joy of the singer, flautist, and lutenist of "Three Musicians," painted by an anonymous early sixteenth-century Netherlandish artist dubbed "Master of the Female Half-Lengths"
L'Escargot
Q: What's slow on the outside but filled with fast vibrant energy within? A: "The Snail" by Henri Matisse (1953)
Pavane for Three
Three dancers intertwine and find their connections to the earth and to one another in this extrapolation from the formal court dance, based on Barbara Hepworth's "Forms in Movement (Pavan)" (1956), which itself was inspired by musical and dance forms
Shtetl
Finding community in times of both tribulation and celebration, based on Marc Chagall's stained-glass window "The Tribe of Issachar" (1964) and mural "Introduction to the Jewish Theater" (1920)
Square Dance
Geometry, form, negative space, based on Piet Mondrian's "Composition with red, blue and yellow, 1942"
Still
Strength at peace, movement in a moment of suspension, in response to Ansel Adams' photo "Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park" (1942)
The Choir
Sassy and upbeat, a new work commissioned for performance with Emma's Revolution live in concert
No photograph on file 2022Built in the Dark
Constellations
Pulled by gravity, stars in the firmament find their optimal relationships
In Parting...
The beauty and sorrow of love and loss, as portrayed in a suite by Mozart
Love You More
A joyous gathering replaces the traditional wedding march
feline interludes
Skulking, sleeping, preening, playing, supremely indifferent to the audience, a house cat takes the stage
No photograph on file 2021fireflies
Jellyfish
Translucent creatures of the deep float and pulse through their element
No photograph on file 2021Raccoons
Seasons of Distance
Celebrating the changing face of nature, at a time of distance from other people
Walls and Windows
NCDE's first online work: a video trilogy exploring the limits and possibilities of our sheltered-in-place world
Frog Galliard
With utmost seriousness, a frog quartet jumps through the figures of a Renaissance dance
Leopard Cubs
Playful babies stalk and tumble
Nesting Robins
Strutting and fluttering, proud parents find worms for their young
Praying Mantis
An implacable insect stalks its prey
Put Out the Fire
A blend of hip-hop and modern dance set to a rousing song about climate change
Sea Turtles
Massive creatures glide serenely through the deep
Ants at Work
Follow a hard-working but rather comical tribe of ants, determined to build a nest and secure their eggs
Approaching Infinity
Serene and meditative, reaching for the celestial
Capuchin Monkeys
Monkeys swing through the South American rainforest
Emperor Penguins
Penguins huddle for warmth on top of the world, to the strains of a waltz surely written for them
No photograph on file 2019growing forget-me-nots.
No photograph on file 2019Intermediary
Red Iguana
Reptilian romp
School
Streaming, turning, and twisting, a school of fish fills the stage and beyond
Sea Otters at Play
Acrobatic and charming, rolling smoothly through the water
No photograph on file 2019SPIRITed Body
Springbok
A herd of South African antelopes known for their exuberant "pronking" leaps
Chasing Limelight
Follow that spotlight...
Fanfare
The show must go on!
Jam Every Other Day
Two couples tease and tangle
Kaleidoscope
In and out and roundabout, ever-changing patterns in radial symmetry
Live Your Life
The joys of childhood and dreams of an independent future
Notes on Bach's Score
Melodies emerge onstage as dancers write musical notation with feet and bodies
Throughline
Steady as the tides, movements connect into a single thread in this quiet duet
Wait for Me
A poignant depiction of connections made and lost, performed with live music by violinist Kate Stenberg and cellist Vanessa Ruotolo
We the People
... in order to form a more perfect union ...
The Episodic Alice
Vignettes from "Alice in Wonderland"
Daily Bread
It's all about collaboration
Icarus Learning To Fly
Icarus tests his wings
No photograph on file 2016Paths
Present
A brash and bold ensemble work set to Coffin's first orchestral composition
Study in Entomology
A playful magnification of what might be happening in the depths of your front lawn
Echo Lake
A summer's day in Maine
No photograph on file 2015Esperanza: ForeverME
Euclidean Plane
Graphing movement in the xy-plane
Flamenco à la Russe
Olé!
Four Winds
Winds blow and dancers scatter
Soundings
An exuberant ensemble work evoking the tides of Somes Sound in Acadia National Park
Turnabout
Turnabout is fair play... and this duet is all about taking turns
No photograph on file 2015unwound
Waiters' Waltz
Serving tea on the lawn at a lakeside cafe
No photograph on file 2014Espea
Point, Counterpoint, Tangent / Arc
Finding perpetual motion in the intricate patterns of harmonic oscillation
No photograph on file 2014Scaled To Fit Page
Secant Recant Descant Descartes
Finding perpetual motion in the intricate patterns of harmonic oscillation
Weather or Not
Weather balloon?
No photograph on file 2014With Compass Alone
Spheres
Graceful, whimsical, and full of surprises, a study in circles
No photograph on file 201227th Avenue
No photograph on file 2012Caged
Inconceivably Found
A light-filled meditation set to a very personal solo guitar score
Julia & Mandelbrot
A kaleidoscopic exploration of fractals' whirling mathematical patterns and repetitions.
No photograph on file 2012Pur Ti Miro
Restart
Start and start over again: a portrayal of determination and mutual support, regardless of failed approaches or missed connections.
No photograph on file 2012Searching for Home
Fragment (Choreogenesis)
A look at the process of creating movement in the studio.
Peace, from One to Z
A moving meditation, set to an achingly beautiful wordless aria by Villa-Lobos.
Stages
An intimate window on the evolution and dissolution of relationships.
Zvezda—Star
Through wind and storm, one star rises.
Farthingale Quartet
A decorous and elegant Renaissance court dance—with a twist. The farthingale, a style of hoop skirt fashionable in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, originated in the Spanish court.
Tightrope
A playful solo evoking adventures on the high wire.
Xylophonia
A lighthearted and surprising dance for five creatures and three props.
Catulli Carmina
Formal and dramatic, Orff's setting of Roman poet Catullus's love poems, made flesh and blood and sculpted line. "Serious and stately" — Michael Phelan, <i>baydance.com</i>
Context
An examination of how our understanding of choreography is informed by external influences such as music, costume, and lighting.
Current
A lively and flowing trio set to a commissioned score.
Figment
A tender, quirky duet in which anthropomorphic creatures connect, disengage, and play together.
Tempus Fugit
Classically beautiful meditation on time, encompassing "Du Temps Perdu," an elegaic slow movement in which the dancers investigate their relationships with a shared past, and "Movement in Present Tense," a lively celebration of making the most of the time we have. Named one of the "Top 5 Emotional Dance Moments 2011" by Bay Area Dance Watch. For my father.
Time. Running. Out
Dancers driven to the edge of endurance in a rebellion against the inevitably finite nature of time.
Triptych
Three haunting solos: Luna, Amor, and Eclipse. "There was daring in 'Triptych,' three different devotional solos showing off, improbably, the dancers' backs..." — critic Paul Hertelendy
Circulation
A suite of playful and sometimes hilarious dances set to the California Guitar Trio's intricate melodies, ranging from Bach to rock.
Off Your Rocker
Silly and exuberant, a playful romp on unstable rocking props. "Proof that creativity knows no bounds," according to Gary Masters of sjDanceCo. Dedicated to Ruby & Celeste McDougal, who inspired this piece.
Sextet, in Halves and Thirds
Light and elegant, a series of partnerings and patternings, relationships that form and re-form as duets and trios. This was the first piece choreographed specifically for the newly founded Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble.
Luna
A poignant and contemplative exploration of balance and mood, constancy and change.
Palindrome
An intellectual puzzle of phrases that run backwards and forwards.
Elemental Fire
Frenetic and flickering, a solo commissioned to complement a display of original art portraying the other three elements: earth, air, and water.
Principles of Magnetism
Seven dancers flung across the stage with the explosive energy and momentum of colliding bodies.
Bookworms
Three bookcase-dwelling critters, scuffling and squabbling within the confines of their small world.
Plurality
A formal study of unison in a growing ensemble, driven by the power of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Swallowtail Summer
Metamorphosis, starting with unexpected movements within a cocoon and bursting out into passion and colour.
From a Confined Place
Fervent breath and form arising from restriction, just as von Bingen's music soars from within her convent walls.
Mercury
Dark and light, fast and intense, an investigation of the mutability of the mercurial temperament and properties of the silvery element.
Portrait with Purple Hat
Character study, earthy and romantic.
Linear Transformations
A colourful series of mathematical games and puzzles, tracing the body's path through multiple dimensions and numerical patterns. For Leonard Carlitz, mathematician (1907-1999)—with love.
Post-Op
Choreographed immediately following surgery for a broken foot—a determined journey through anesthesia and healing, danced on crutches.
Orffworks
Based on the poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus: "Suns may set and rise again, but for us, when our brief light has set, there's the dark of perpetual night."