Group Motion Dance Co.

Fri., March 13, 8 p.m., $30 (includes post-performance party), and Sat., March 14, 2 and 8 p.m., $20, Painted Bride Arts Center, 230 Vine St., 215-387-9895, paintedbride.org.

by A.D. Amorosi

dance

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Lo Monthang, Nepal, must be heaven on Earth. Why else would nu-classical composer Andrea Clearfield go so far to get inspired? With contemporary artist Maureen Drdak by her side, Clearfield traveled to the region, studied Tibetan culturae, made field recordings and found that the horse that carries the prayers of the faithful to the heavens is the sturdiest mare. (Equestrian culture is big in Nepal.) When she returned, she turned those lessons into an evocative desert-song for Group Motion's new work, Lung-Ta, or The Windhorse. Together with choreographer/storyteller Manfred Fischbeck, Clearfield has created a moving tribute (literally and figuratively) to Buddhist spirituality and stillness with a soundtrack (played live by Philly's Network for New Music) that's as epic, potent and swirling as its accompanying movement. Though several pieces fill the evening's "Shadow and Light" program — Brigitta Herrmann's Courage, Megan Bridge and Peter Price's A Shadow in the Aeolian Palace — The Windhorse, just another chapter in Group Motion's 40th anniversary season, is the holiest.

Fri., March 13, 8 p.m., $30 (includes post-performance party), and Sat., March 14, 2 and 8 p.m., $20, Painted Bride Arts Center, 230 Vine St., 215-387-9895, paintedbride.org.