Our local modern dance companies are kicking up a rehearsal ruckus, and they’re willing to let us watch!

MAY 3-19 BodyVox will present The Cutting Room , a unique pairing of dance, music, and Hollywood outtakes. In case that combo is hard to imagine, allow them to demonstrate with this 6-minute sequence set to snippets of When Harry Met Sally ’s love stories. Portraying a wide variety of boy-meets-girl scenarios and narrator personalities, artistic directors Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland seem to draw from their admitted influence of classic Warner Brothers cartoons, designing moves that hyperbolize human emotion with a somewhat self-effacing, goofy grace:

JUNE 6-16 Polaris will unveil X-Posed , and apparently company fans should expect surprises. “Unlike last year’s Lil’ Mo , we are not focusing on a single theme this time,” reports marketing director Natasha Kautsky. “This is emerging to be a really diverse repertory show.” Artistic director Robert Guitron is set to premier new work, while visiting choreographers contribute their own flair to the mix. Here’s a sneak peek at one featured guest collaborator, Lauren Edson of Boise’s Trey McIntyre Project, getting Polaris in step after just the first few hours of practice:

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