Dancer-choreographer Nejla Y. Yatkin in her role as Mata Hari. Photograph by Astrid Riecken/The Washington Times.

The acclaimed Nejla Yatkin / NY2Dance opens the 2013 season of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Dance Festival with the Maine premiere of “Oasis,” a piece featuring a score by a Maine composer and based on a tale considered the Middle Eastern forerunner of “Romeo and Juliet.”

Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, July 12-13, at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College’s air-conditioned Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

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Tickets are $25 for the general public, $18 for seniors and $12 for students. Tickets may be purchased online; by phone at 207-786-6161 from 1-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; or by mail or in person. Learn more about .

A discussion with the artists immediately follows the July 12-13 performances.

“Oasis” is an evening-length multimedia work based on the allegorical Middle Eastern story of Layla and Majnoon. The piece employs mystical realism to weave a layered story through movement, poetic imagery, shadow play, humor and text. Featuring a score by Maine-based Persian composer Shamou, “Oasis” grapples with issues of veiling, torture and inequality.

Ìýartistic director Yatkin has been described by The New York Times as “a magician, telling tales and creating worlds with understated images and movement.” She was born in Turkey and grew up in Berlin, Germany. Her work integrates diverse traditions to explore the beauty and complexity of memory, migration, transformation, identity and multiculturalism.

She has received the New York International Fringe Festival’s Award for Overall Excellence in Choreography in 2012, the Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship in 2008 and five Metro D.C. Dance Awards.

She has created staged and site-specific works for film, theater and opera. Recent commissions include Dallas Black Dance Theatre, The Washington Ballet, Darpana Performing Group in India, Baltimore Ballet, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble and River North Dance Chicago.

The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Dance Festival, a summer series of renowned contemporary dance, is in its fourth decade as a leading American dance center. The festival is an important laboratory for artists noted for important contributions to the contemporary dance lexicon. In addition to presenting dancemakers who have experienced significant artistic growth through the festival, the BDF continues to welcome emerging choreographers.

More about the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Dance Festival

Founded in 1982 at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College, brings together an international community of contemporary choreographers, performers, educators and students in a cooperative community to study, perform and create new work.

The festival serves as an annual destination for artists, students and audiences to engage in a full range of dance activities and performances that foster a creative exchange of ideas, encourage exploration of new ground and afford access to a wide spectrum of dance and movement disciplines.

Members of the Bebe Miller Company. Photograph by Julieta Cervantes.

A renowned summer series of contemporary dance, the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Dance Festival takes place July 12 through Aug. 10 at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, presenting masterworks and Maine premieres by four renowned contemporary dance companies:

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Performance times, locations and ticket costs . For more information, please contact 207-786-6381 or dancefest@bates.edu.

Dancer-choreographer Nejla Y. Yatkin. Photograph by Astrid Riecken/The Washington Times.

Opening the 2013 season, perform the Maine premiere of Oasis. This evening-length multimedia work is based on the allegorical story of Layla and Majnoon, regarded as a Middle Eastern predecessor to Romeo and Juliet.

Featuring a score by Maine-based Persian composer Shamou, performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 12 and 13, at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College’s air-conditioned Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

Yatkin, artistic director of NY2Dance, was born in Turkey and grew up in Berlin, Germany. Integrating diverse traditions, her work plumbs the beauty and complexity of memory, migration, transformation, identity and multiculturalism. One of Dance Magazine’s 2005 “Top 25 to Watch,” Yatkin was described by The New York Times as “a magician, telling tales and creating worlds with understated images and movement.”

One of America’s most gifted dancemakers, returns to the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Dance Festival for his seventh creative residency since 1992. Celebrating its 25th season, Varone’s exceptional company performs the stunning new works Carrugi and Able to Leap Tall Buildings, as well as the company’s signature work Rise.

Doug Varone and Dancers return to the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Dance Festival in 2013. Photograph by Cylla von Tiedemann.

Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, July 18 and 20, in Schaeffer Theatre.

Since its founding in 1986, Varone’s company has commanded attention for expansive vision, versatility and technique. On stage and on the screen, Varone’s kinetically thrilling dances make essential connections and mine the complexity of the human spirit.

The Village Voice wrote that the company comprises “superb dancers. Varone’s choreography — with its hesitations, awkward tenderness, bravery and belligerence — emphasizes their humanity.”

A longtime BDF favorite, the returns to Lewiston with the retrospective performance installation A History. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 26 and 27, in Schaeffer Theatre.

Miller’s newest work, the evening-length A HistoryÌýcenters on the nuanced, decade-long dancing relationship between company veterans Angie Hauser and Darrell Jones. Incorporating video by Lily Skove and an accompanying installation by Maya Ciarrocchi, the duet shares what dancemaking feels like, sounds like and thinks like.

Award-winning dancer and choreographer Miller has been making dances for more than 25 years. A New York Times reviewer wrote, “Her movement is infused with a spirit that clings to the audience even after she and her dancers have left the stage.”

A scene from “Voyeur,” a multimedia work created by Bridgman | Packer Dance and inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper. Photograph by Arthur Fink.

Together for more than 30 years, has developed a unique approach to integrating video into dance — making it, in effect, a third partner for artistic directors Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer. Voyeur, their latest work and ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ festival offering, invites audiences into this evocative world.

Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 2 and 3, in Schaeffer Theatre.

In Voyeur, Bridgman and Packer push into new territory choreographically, thematically and technologically. Inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper, the piece presents fragments of private lives played out on a set whose windows and doorways allow the audience to be, like Hopper, “one who looks.”

Recipients of numerous grants and awards, including the first Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to two individuals for collaborative work, Packer and Bridgman have toured throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Central America.

Other festival events

The festival offers a series of events in addition to the mainstage performances:

The annual , a global mix of music by 10 remarkable composers and players, takes place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 31, in the Franco-American Heritage Center, 46 Cedar St., Lewiston.

Choreographer Kendra Portier.

Ìýconcerts, showcasing diverse styles and perspectives by visiting choreographers from across the U.S. and around the globe, take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Aug. 8 and 9, in ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College’s air-conditioned Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

The ,Ìýpresenting dancers of all ages and abilities performing modern, hip hop and contemporary works by festival artists, and also representing the festival’s Youth Arts Program, takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, in Alumni Gymnasium, 130 Central Ave.

Show & TellÌýlecture-demonstrations offer a glimpse of the creative process at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays in Schaeffer Theatre, featuring Nejla Yatkin on July 9; Doug Varone, July 16; Bebe Miller, July 23; and Bridgman | Packer, July 30.

The festival offers a special Show & Tell about site-specific choreography by Stephan Koplowitz, an award-winning artist known for creating multimedia works for architecturally significant sites, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 28, in Room 301, Pettigrew Hall, 305 College St.

Inside Dance: Understanding Contemporary Dance, a series of pre-performance lectures and post-performance talks, offers insight into the artists and their work. Saturday lectures precede the Varone performance at 7 p.m. July 20; Miller at 7 p.m. July 27; and Bridgman | Packer at 7 p.m. Aug. 3, all in Schaeffer Theatre. Talkbacks follow most Friday evening performances.

Information about tickets and locations for all festival events, as well as additional performance details, appears on the festival website:

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