Making a Spectacle

With song and dance (and text and glitter), these multimedia shows pull out all the stops.

Born in Japan, American dancer and performance artist Maureen Fleming studied avant-garde art form butoh under co-founder Kazuo Ohno and honed her slow-moving contortions in works like 2013’s B. Madonna. World Music/CRASHarts presents this retelling of the myth of Persephone, which finds Fleming writhing down stairs and swathed in suspended fabric. Audience members can also expect accordion music, taiko drumming, 3-D video projections, text by Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang—and some nudity.

April 21-22 at the ICA

Christal Brown danced with all-female troupe Urban Bush Women and founded an ensemble dedicated to performing works by female choreographers. But the Middlebury College professor and choreographer is working with a cast of nine male performers for The Opulence of Integrity, a look at the life of athlete and activist Muhammad Ali that combines boxing, martial arts, hip-hop and modern dance with audio recordings and monologues, retracing his time with mentor Malcolm X, his stand against the Vietnam War and more.

March 31-April 2 at the Dance Complex

Ani Taj’s New York troupe, the Dance Cartel, has been taking over the Ace Hotel basement with its glitter-filled residency for years, and now ONTHEFLOOR—a 90-minute extravaganza incorporating DJs and video installations—is making its way to Cambridge. Face-painted, funky leotard-clad performers range from Tom Ford models to comedians and writers, emboldening audience members to bust a move themselves (or at the very least belt along to “Total Eclipse of the Heart”).

April 27-28 at Oberon

THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: VISUAL ARTS | THEATER | MUSIC | COMEDY | FILM