Wan-Chao Dance photo by Brad Dosland, Taboo Media

Many traditional dancers are no longer content with merely preserving a valuable heritage; they want to put their own stamp on it. So now there's a new kind of dance, already conveniently labeled “ethno-contemporary.” Taiwanese-born, Indonesia-raised, and additionally US-trained Wan-Chao is at the forefront of this promising new genre. She dedicated Keep Her Safe, Please! Jakarta 1998 (Sat/16-Sun/17 at the Cowell Theater) to the victims of the anti-Chinese pogrom that included particularly vicious attacks against women.

The thoroughly contemporary work draws on both Chinese and Indonesian music and dance. Sharing the program will be Gadung Kasturi Balinese Music and Dance in three works. One of their dancers, Rotrease Regan Yates — ten years with Gamelan Sekar Jaya — has a whole encyclopedia of dance in her body: ballet, modern, Polish, Russian, Javanese, Cambodian, and of course, Balinese. 

Keep Her Safe, Please! Jakarta 1998

Sat/16, 8 p.m.; Sun/17, 1 p.m., $12-$20

Cowell Theater

Fort Mason Center

Marina at Laguna, SF

 (415) 345-7575

www.fortmason.org