If July’s dance performances were summer wines, they’d be full-bodied yet cool and crisp, sometimes spicy, always layered with deep, rich notes, meant to be savored slowly on the endless Portland summer nights.

Since I don’t drink and know almost nothing about wine, except that it looks and smells beautiful, I thought I’d have a little fun and asked AI to describe each of this month’s performances as if it were a wine. I liked the idea of wine as a sensory metaphor that could describe the artists and their work through texture, flavor, and atmosphere, without needing to drink a single drop. So here you go!

Olga Kravtsova’s Harvest of Woman returns fully envisioned this month as an earthy red; bold, unfiltered, and complex. It opens with deep notes of clay and smoke, followed by a lingering intensity that speaks of labor, ritual, and survival. Harvest of Woman is a profound exploration of the visible and invisible labor of women. 

Allie Hankins’ By My Own Hand, Part 4: MELODY is a natural pét-nat — effervescent, unpredictable, and a little wild. Fermenting voice, tape, and movement in real time, it fizzes with sonic overtones and dreamlike repetition, leaving a finish that’s both haunting and bright.

Set to Geovanny Vega’s music, which is heavily influenced by hip hop, funk, soul, R&B, and metal, XO-interstitium’s evening-length performance is an Alsatian-style Pinot Gris — aromatic, textured, and quietly expansive. It opens with floral notes and soft fruit, then deepens into something weighty and contemplative. Like the work itself, it moves in stages: from the warmth of co-regulation in Honey Touch, to the bright curiosity of Lantern Consciousness, to the grounded wisdom of Body Veil; a wine to feel as much as taste, best experienced slowly and with all the senses engaged.

The MOVE Residency showcase at NW Dance Project is like a well-balanced rosé: crisp, refreshing, and crafted with care. The choreographic voices of James Gregg and Rebecca Margolick offer contrast and complement: one bold and structured, the other nuanced and expressive, with a bouquet that feels both global and distinctly Pacific Northwest.

Ten Tiny Dances is a flight of unexpected blends — each small pour packed with surprise, clarity, and invention. Served on a 4-by-4-foot stage, these performances distill the essence of choreography into something concentrated and potent.

A-WOL’s Art in the Dark is the sparkling white of the lineup: bright, ethereal, and tinged with forest air. Suspended among the trees, the performance catches light and shadow like bubbles in a flute, dancing between gravity and flight. 

So what do you think? Are you thirsty now? Thirsty for art?

Oregon summers are out of this world, absolutely worth the eight dark months that come before. Without the dark, you can’t have the light, right? And with this beautiful weather comes a feeling of total expansiveness and freedom of expression. Art looks and feels different in this context: looser, more alive, more interesting. So relax, open your mind, take it in, breathe, and enjoy — and maybe have a glass of wine, too!

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Harvest of Woman
Created and performed by Olga Kravtsova
July 4–6 
CoHo Theater,  2257 N.W, Raleigh St., Portland

Created and performed by Russian-born, Portland-based movement director, performer, and interdisciplinary artist Olga Kravtsova, Harvest of Woman is an immersive exploration of women’s visible and invisible labor. Through visceral movement, sound, and design, the piece reveals bodies pushed to their limits and voices reclaimed — portraying endurance as both a form of survival and defiance.

Developed with collaborators Jason Okamoto (sound/video), Duma Du (design), and K.C. Renée (clay artist), this sensory performance invites audiences into a raw, physical reckoning with sacrifice, persistence, and transformation: “Experience the ritual. Witness the endurance. Join the harvest.”

This month on her Stage & Studio podcast, host Dmae Lo Roberts talks with Kravtsova about her immigrant experience and the new work. They discuss the themes of women’s unseen labor, endurance, and survival, as well as the creative process and collaboration behind the work.

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Move Showing
Presented by NW Dance Project
5:30 p.m. + 7:30 p.m. July 11
NW Dance Project Creative Center, 211 N.E. 10th Ave., Portland

Join NW Dance Project at its Creative Center for the finale of the company’s MOVE residency, featuring new works by rising choreographers James Gregg and Rebecca Margolick. Margolick, a Dance Magazine “25 to Watch” dancemaker, brings her globally inspired vision. Gregg, an award-winning Los Angeles-based artist, blends powerful movement with innovative storytelling. 

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By My Own Hand, Part 4: MELODY
Presented by Allie Hankins and Shaking the Tree’s Open Space Residency Program
July 11-13
Shaking the Tree Theatre, 823 S.E. Grant St., Portland

Portland dance artist Allie Hankins presents By My Own Hand, Part 4: MELODY, an experimental solo performance that delves into the biomechanics of voice. Blending movement, memory, and sound, Hankins uses analog tape loops to generate unpredictable rhythms, textures, and imagery that she will respond to in real time.

Functioning as both elegy and manifesto, MELODY excavates the past while reaching toward an impossible future. Evoking lamentation, dreamscape, and humor, the work invites audiences into a liminal, ever-shifting space where time and meaning blur.

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XO-interstitium
Trash Babes Productions and A PWNW Alembic Co-Production
July 18-27
Performance Works Northwest, 4625 S.E. 67th Ave., Portland

Set to Geovanny Vega’s music, this evening-length performance delves into the interstitium: the spaces between our bodies, relationships, and shared consciousness. The work is rooted in embodied healing and progresses through stages of somatic research. Honey Touch explores co-regulation through touch; Lantern Consciousness fosters neuroplasticity through play and movement; Body Veil uncovers the body’s innate wisdom through movement.

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TEN TINY DANCES®
7 p.m. July 19
The Round, 12600 S.W. Crescent St., Beaverton

Created in 2002 by Portland dance artist Mike Barber, Ten Tiny Dances explores the endless possibilities of performing on a 4-by-4-foot stage. The format challenges choreographers to think inventively, offering audiences a unique and surprising experience. Dancers might perform on top of the stage, underneath it, or even turn it on its side; the only certainty is the unexpected.

This year’s lineup includes performances by Minh Tran, Kenya Marquea, Ritual Azteca Huitzilopochtli, Krubel Amare, Cydney Wilkes, and Ten Tiny Dances founder Mike Barber in a new work by Randee Paufve. Also featured are Sweta Ravisankar and Shivani Joshi; Ben Youngstone and Hanna Davis; Kenny Frechette and Hannah Krafcik; and Andrea Parson.

As a bonus this year, the first 100 guests will receive a limited-edition outdoor blanket featuring images from past performances (one per group).

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ART in the DARK: 10 Laws
Presented by A-WOL Dance Collective: Aerial Without Limits 
7:30 p.m. July 24 and 11 p.m. Aug. 2
Mary S. Young Park, 19900 Willamette Drive, West Linn

The dancers of A-WOL Dance Collective (short for Aerial Without Limits), once again will be suspended from trees under the stars for their annual Art in the Dark performance at Mary S. Young Park in West Linn, along the Willamette River. Featuring the music of East Forest, the troupe will create magic as its members twist and turn through the treetops, creating an unpredictable performance experience that lives between the tangible and the ethereal.