After only one performance by Jess Curtis/Gravity, you'll understand that he's a rare breed. Last year's Symmetry Project stripped its performers of cover and pretension, literally, as two naked bodies moved around each other and the room for hours as the audience contemplated the meaning of it all. On a whole other level above exhibitionism, the performance raised important questions about the body in its most vulnerable form, and it was entrancing.

This time around, Jess Curtis/Gravity presents us with Dances for Non/Fictional Bodies, an exploration of the body's future and its relevance, beauty, and desirability. The world premiere at YBCA imagines a fictional body based on socially-imposed ideals that rarely exist in reality, thus rendering it more a machine than an autonomous, empowered figure. And at the same time, each piece celebrates the beauty and idiosyncrasies of the five performers' individual bodies.

This is the Bay Area choreographer's third presentation as a YBCA artist-in-residence and he's assembled an all-star team including local performance artist extraordinaire Guillermo Gomez-Peña. Dances for Non/Fictional Bodies is guaranteed to be really out there in the most interesting of ways—provocative, serious, entertaining, intelligent, sensuous.

When: Thurs. 2/3 - Sat. 2/6, 8 p.m.
Where: YBCA Forum, 701 Mission St., 415-978-2787, ybca.org

Clips from 'Dances for Non/Fictional Bodies' from Jess Curtis/Gravity on Vimeo.