HOLLAND - A new work by a guest artist will be featured during performances by Aerial Dance Theater at the Knickerbocker Theatre of Hope College beginning Thursday, Oct. 28.

The concerts will be presented on Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 28-30, and Thursday-Friday, Nov. 4-5, at 8 p.m. The Knickerbocker Theatre is located at 86 E. 8th St. in downtown Holland.

The company's fall season will premiere a new work titled "Kawabata Suite," by guest choreographer William Charles Crowley, which presents dance images drawn from the novel "Palm of the Hand Stories" by the Nobel Prize winning author Yasunari Kawabata. Five of the novel's stories have been translated into motion to depict Kawabata's poetic comments on daily life in Japan in the 1920s.

"Kawabata Suite" was funded by a grant from the Hope College Patrons for the Arts and is part of "Japanese Culture Comes to Hope College," a series of events being presented on campus in October and November. The work will present two Japanese exchange students, Sayaka Nakatsuji and Kayoko Aoki, on stage in collaboration with both new and returning company dancers.

The program will also feature "Esa Sociedad" by Jose Luiz Hernandez, which was a gift from GrossoModo of the Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro. It premiered last spring and was produced by a grant from the Holland Area Arts Council. Lisa Fogle Sachs, Jeffrey Kurtze, and Kara Wilson and Jessica Mumford alternating in the same role, will dance this powerful emotional trio. Aerial and GrossoModo have collaborated on several occasions in the last four years in a continuing cultural exchange supported by Hope College, the Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro, and the sister cities of Holland and Queretaro.

"Unwritten Letter", a solo choreographed and performed by Steven Iannacone, artistic director of Aerial Dance Theater, will make its Holland debut on the program. This piece, set to the sound of a resonant tenor vocal, premiered in Queretaro in May this year.

Daniel Kwiatkowski will be joined by new company members Josh Cummings, Jillian Koestner, David Paarlberg, Dolores Sanchez, Terasa VanDenend and Erin Whaley and the rest of the company for "De Tuin der Lusten" (Garden of Earthly Delights), a movement exploration of a lush distant landscape with stunning visual and atmospheric effects by Erik Alberg, resident technical director of the company. This piece was also funded by the Hope College Patrons for the Arts along with the Hope College Cultural Affairs Committee and the Holland Area Arts Council.

Tickets will be available at the door, and cost $7 for regular admission and $5 for senior citizens and students. Admission is free for children under 12.

There will also be an informal question and answer session following each performance for audience members to participate in discussion with the company members.

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