Sonya Delwaide
Sun/26-Sat/28, ODC Theater

BALLET DANCERS HANG up their pointe shoes when they come to the end of their performing career. I don't know what the equivalent would be for a barefoot dancer, but one thing is clear: Sonya Delwaide's retirement from dancing is both good and bad news. The decision leaves the Canadian transplant more time and energy to develop her considerable choreographic talent. But it also takes a lanky, lightening-fast, and highly idiosyncratic dancer permanently off the stage. Delwaide mesmerized the audiences the minute she first stepped out of the wings at Laney Theater in the duet Du balcon during the last Bay Area Dance Series, in 1996. She and her then-partner, Jadson Caldeira, reprise the work for this farewell show. But this performance – dubbed "Du passé au présent" – is also about looking to the future. Delwaide presents two world premieres: Le temps (Time), featuring a quintet of dancers who rarely have the opportunity to perform together. The score, performed live by the Del Sol Quartet, is by Gabriela Lena Frank. Also seeing the light of day is a second, yet untitled work. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m., ODC Theater, 3153 17th St., S.F. $16-$18. (415) 863-9834, www.odctheater.org. (Rita Felciano)