Dance component offers acts for all artistic tastes

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By Jean Battey Lewis THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Washington has a reputation for high-flown rhetoric, and official pomp and circumstance. Then along comes the Capital Fringe Festival to upend all that. Audacious, and sometimes slyly subversive, by its very nature it encourages controversy - at least it hopes so.

Now in its third year, Fringe is bigger than ever. This year, it begins July 10 with 30 percent more performances and more than 100 groups participating.

What's seen on stage is just part of the Festival's impact. Fringe has now acquired the old AV Ristorante on New York Avenue NW and built a theater inside. "We'll be running it as a year-round theater available for rent," says executive director Julianne Brienza.

Fringe strengthens the arts scene here, especially for emerging artists. "During the festival we don't have performances on Mondays and Tuesdays; we have workshops, and artists have the chance to relate with each other," Miss Brienza says.

The dance component of Fringe is an intriguing blend of senior local artists such as the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and Maida Withers continuing their highly individual approach; younger groups looking to make their mark by bold provocation, such as Mason/Rhynes production of "Sex, Love & Vomit;" and gentler pleasures such as reimagining the legendary Isadora Duncan.

For venue locations and show times for the following dance groups. please call or e-mail the festival:

Old Lore Theater in "The Fiddler Ghost," a world premiere telling an ancient folk tale through theater, movement, art, dance, music, myth and a live Fiddler. Forum at the Harman Center on July 11, 13, 17-19 and 22.

"Fare Well - The End of the World As We Know It!" by avant-garde choreographer Maida Withers, explores man's relationship with nature in a multimedia work at the Shakespeare Theatre at the Harman Centeron July 11, 12 and 19.

Mason/Rhynes production of "Sex, Love & Vomit" at Warehouse-Beyond, July 11-13 and 19-20. Also "Black Expression: Eclipse - 24 Hours of Blackness!" by Mason/Rhynes highlighting prominent black artists from Washington and around the country at Dance Place on July 26 and 27.