Last month, Dance Critics Association/World Dance Alliance-America combined to offer conference meetings and performances at the beautiful Scotiabank Dance Centre in Vancouver. I participated as a panel moderator, with PNB’s Doug Fullington, looking at what gets produced and presented, and why. What goes into decisions about company programming? Considerations that are perhaps not so obvious to us critics and viewers?

One of the highlights of the meetings was Li Chiao-Ping’s “Riot of Spring.” The piece embodied the WDA theme “Evolve + Involve,” while also celebrating the 100 year anniversary of Stravinsky’s idiosyncratic score.

I caught the group in rehearsal August 2. The movement was strong and focused, as the music demands. The narrative, striking. Predictably, Li’s work is a complicated study in rhythm, power, and grace. “Riot of Spring” is but one of many memorable pieces choreographed since she emerged as a Dance Magazine “25 to Watch” barely a decade ago.