8 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, Reynolds Theater

The lowdown: A unique project that ADF launched last year in place of the International Choreographers Commissioning Program, Past/Forward will feature contemporary choreographers restaging important works from the past and creating a new piece. All will feature ADF students.

What you'll see: "Tympani," Laura Dean's 1980 study in patterns, staged by East Carolina University teacher and former Dean dancer Rodger Belman; German choreographer Hanya Holm's "Jocose" (1984), set to Ravel's "Sonata for Violin and Piano" and re-created by Don Redlich, for whose company Holms made the piece; Erick Hawkins' "New Moon" (1989), about new beginnings, re-created by Katherine Duke, artistic director of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company; and "Preliminary Study for Depth: the upper half of high and low," an M.C. Escher-inspired, ADF-commissioned premiere by Weaverville native Mark Dendy, who got his start at ADF as a student.

Japanese Festival

8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday in Page Auditorium; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Reynolds Theater

The lowdown: ADF directors Charles Reinhart and Jodee Nimerichter saw about 20 troupes in Japan last fall, from which they culled this diverse mini-fest.www.dairakudakan.com and ludens.at.infoseek.co.jp and www2.gol.com/users/keitakei.