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RWB ends its season with Pure Ballet in May. (DAVID COOPER)

The new year rings in with hot-off-the-press shows courtesy of Winnipeg’s vibrant dance community. Here’s a look at what lies ahead:
   
Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers: Get set for the highly anticipated world premiere of artistic director Brent Lott’s 97 Positions of the Heart, at the Rachel Browne Theatre, May 10 to 13. Based on the work of 20th-century Canadian writer Elizabeth Smart, the full-length dance/theatre work chronicles her passionate and often turbulent 40-year love affair with English poet George Barker, reflected in Smart’s 1945 cult prose poem, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept.
   
The approximately 75-minute work captures the intensity of the bohemian writer’s life as she railed against oppressive social pressures and fought to live life on her own terms. The show will be performed by company dancers Kristin Haight, Lise McMillan, Johanna Riley and Sarah Roche, joined by apprentices Mark Medrano and Emma Rose.
   
An integral part of the show will be spoken text by Manitoban poet Jaik Josephson. The production includes multi-disciplinary artist Andrew Milne’s slit-scan film/video design, as well as Norma Lachance’s costumes and sets/lighting by Dean Cowieson.
   
Also keep an eye out for the official debut of VERGE, a company of six to eight local emerging dancers established to provide invaluable performing experience. The youthful troupe will present a program of contemporary new works at the Rachel Browne Theatre, March 2 to 4.
   
Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Next on tap is ethereal classic Giselle, choreographed by Peter Wright after Jules Perrot, Jean Coralli and Marius Petipa, March 7 to 11. The company last staged the romantic story ballet more than a decade ago, with this year’s newly revamped production featuring elegant new sets by Nicholas Cernovitch and costumes designed by Peter Farmer.
   
Pure Ballet closes the season May 9 to 13 with a triple bill of contemporary work that includes the North American premiere of Peter Quanz’ Luminous, Argentine choreographer Mauricio Wainrot’s Carmina Burana and an atmospheric new ballet by Jorden Morris titled The Doorway: Scenes from Leonard Cohen, which  delves into the complex mind and soulful heart of the beloved bard.
   
And the rest... : Winnipeg’s newest dance company, The Lime Project, officially debuts with the world premiere of artistic director Nina Jane Patel’s JURN.E, Jan. 11 to 14. The full-length show performed by eight of the city’s top contemporary dancers — Natasha Torres-Garner, Arlo Baskier-Nabess, Claire Marshall, Ming Hon, Johanna Riley, Branwyn Bundon, Rachelle Bourget and Patel — journeys into the "deepest secrets of the self" as a meditation on life, death, love and loss.
 
Young Lungs Dance Exchange explores new artistic territory while pushing creative boundaries with its annual showcase, No Idling, at the Gas Station Theatre. The eclectic program features all-new works by its dedicated members and runs Jan. 13 and 14. It later presents the collaborative Burn & Dodge, May 7 and 8 at the Rachel Browne Theatre. Billed as "one big game of broken telephone," it features four dancers and four composers in three cities: Vancouver, New York and Winnipeg.
   
NAfro Dance continues to shake things up with its second production, Mapiko, held at the Gas Station Theatre, March 2 to 4. The full-length production originally staged in 2006 is being revised by company artistic director/choreographer Casimiro Nhussi this spring.
   
Gearshifting Performance Works presents a new multi-media creation at the University of Winnipeg’s Asper Centre for Theatre and Film, April 19 to 22, performed by an ensemble of six dancers including artistic director/choreographer Jolene Bailie.
   
Drive Dance is in high gear for the Winnipeg Dance Preservation Initiative’s International Dance Day event, held each April 29 in collaboration with Dance Manitoba and other local dance organizations. The three-member troupe consisting of dancers Arlo Baskier-Nabess, Kathleen Hiley and Robyn Thomson Kacki will perform a site-specific work at the Legislative Building and The Forks, choreographed by WDPI co-founder/director Stephanie Ballard.
   
Balletomanes will be able to get their next fix of Q Dance as artistic director/choreographer Peter Quanz stages his third show at the Gas Station Theatre, June 7 to 9. The annual rite of spring has become an eagerly anticipated event at which an ensemble of elite Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancers perform up close and personal in intimate venues.