DANCE

Even if Ronald K. Brown were not one of the best choreographers of his generation, you'd have to give the man kudos for imagination – or audacity, depending on your perspective. Pairing Terry Riley with Bob Marley? Yet doesn't doing such a thing make sense for Order My Steps, a piece purportedly about "ambition, confidence, and stumbling through life on one's path"? This work, a Bay Area premiere, will be joined by another, Come Ye, which is inspired by the music and holistic artistry of Nina Simone. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater commission Grace has become Brown's signature piece; it will be lovely to see it performed by his own superb dancers. Brown is more than a clever and gifted maker of movement and steps. He creates out of a deeply "evidenced" core of spirituality, the kind of yearning and awareness that speak to a need for rootedness. Brown finds it in his African American and African heritage. He once said that despite being Brooklyn-born, he felt more at home in Africa – but the chords he strums resonate far beyond any sociocultural boundaries. (Rita Felciano)

RONALD K. BROWN/EVIDENCE

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, Sat/28, 8 p.m.; Sun/29, 2 p.m.

700 Howard, SF. $18-$35. (415) 978-ARTS, www.ybca.org