The April sun shone brightly outside the Draper Dance Studios on University Avenue on a recent Sunday afternoon while, inside, the dancers rehearsed in the dark, illuminated only by handheld flashlights. The company was rehearsing "LumaVoce," one of five pieces Rochester City Ballet will perform at Canandaigua Academy this weekend as part of the spring program, "Fire and Light."

"LumaVoce" opens in complete darkness, quickly establishing a mood of solemn mystique as the dancers use the flashlights to show only an eerily lit face here, a row of muscular legs there. The tension inherent in Stephen Kennedy's industrial-edged score combines with the almost aggressive sharpness of the carefully choreographed movements to create a compelling starkness. Kennedy, instructor of sacred music at the Eastman School of Music and director of the celebrated Christ Church Schola Cantorum, composed the music after artistic director Jamey Leveritt set the choreography, a reversal of the usual order in which movements are set to pre-existing music.

In the second movement, live vocalists take the stage, performing over Kennedy's recorded track, improvising their music on the periphery of the dancers. By the third section, the tension has escalated, the dancers' movements faster and sharper, with a growing possessiveness as they thrust their lights outwards, then snatch them back. Colored strobes stroke the stage, flashing reds building towards an explosion of neon. The music, too, grows more threatening, with hints of static harshness, oceanic roars, and heavy breathing. The smack of bare feet hitting the floor resounds as dancers jump and spin. Then they drop to a squat, their palms thumping the floor savagely. 

Leveritt has made significant changes to "LumaVoce" since RCB premiered it last spring at Nazareth College. She likens her creative process to sculpting.

"There is a lot of mental work before I actually set the choreography on my dancers," she says, "but then, when I'm working through the movements with them, it's like a sculptor actually getting her hands into the clay, molding it."

Adding a soloist, Brandon Alexander, is one of Leveritt's major changes to the piece since last year. Alexander is relatively new to the company; he left Chicago's Joffrey Ballet, where he was an apprentice, to join RCB last summer.

During the afternoon rehearsal Leveritt watched with a critical eye, still tweaking the choreography to smooth out any last-minute glitches. At one point she found the timing off and leapt from her chair to effortlessly demonstrate (in jeans, high suede boots, and a long belted sweater, nonetheless) how she wanted Alexander to move more quickly out of a pirouette and into a held stance.

"Try en dedans," she instructed, demonstrating an inside pirouette, one that turns inwards toward the dancer's body rather than the more commonly used en dehor, or outwards turn, in which the dancer spins away from his center.

Alexander tried en dedans. Leveritt watched intently then shook her head. "No. Try en dehor again, but as fast as you can this time. Maybe you can fit a double in."

And on the two of them went, while the other dancers watched and waited, taking the moment to catch their breath.

Besides Alexander, Kaitlin Fitzgerald, Adam Kittelberger, Katie Lally, Tara Lally, and Amanda Melrose-Smith will be performing in "LumaVoce" this weekend.

Four other works are part of the weekend's program. "Bravo! Colorado" is another collaboration between RCB and Rochester's musical talent; the suite is composed by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's principal pops conductor, Jeff Tyzik. Last summer, Leveritt's choreography for two of the movements premiered at CMAC in Canandaigua. She has since set the suite's last movement to dance. With its classical dance vocabulary, intensive pointe work, intricate partnering, and romantic orientation, "Bravo! Colorado" nicely juxtaposes the very contemporary "LumaVoce.

"A mixed bill is exciting for audiences," Leveritt says. "It's like going to a film festival and getting to see half a dozen shorts."

An excerpt from "Intimate Portraits," also a new piece, will feature Tara Lalley dancing to Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain." Leveritt set the piece on Lalley - that is, she choreographed the movements specifically for Lalley to perform. An untitled piece, first performed at the organ dedication at Rochester's Christ Church, and the Russian classic "Firebird" will round out the program.

Fire and Light

By Rochester City Ballet

Saturday, May 2, 7:30 p.m. & Sunday, May 3, 2 p.m.

Canandaigua Academy, 435 East St., Canandaigua

$10-$40 | rochestercityballet.org