Black Grace

Informed audiences know to sit far from the stage at a Black Grace performance, so that they can see — but not end up wearing — the sweat flying off the hyperkinetic troupe. Neil Ieremia's all-male New Zealand company showcases Maori and Pacific Islander dance through a witty and highly athletic contemporary lens. -Stephan Paschalides

Spectrum Dance Theater

Donald Byrd has transformed this light-jazz Seattle ensemble into a strapping, down-and-dirty troupe that presents irreverent works like The Sleeping Beauty Notebook — a deconstructed fairy tale in which the romantic pas de deux happens on the floor, with the Prince semiconscious and the re-awoken Beauty horny as a three-balled tomcat. Must be all that coffee. -Stephan Paschalides

Chunky Move

We don't know what the hell "Chunky Move" means, but after taking in the Melbourne company's latest offering, Tense Dave, the kooky crypticness seems apropos. Avant-garde without pretension and slick with an anarchic sense of humor, director Gideon Obarzanek fuses dance with theatre, film, martial arts, and whatever else it takes to produce his idiosyncratic world. -Stephan Paschalides

Ben Munisteri Projects

Music is the furious driver behind New York-based Ben Munisteri's rapid-fire choreography; dancers and audiences alike remain on their toes as he flawlessly jumps from a Cornershop bhangra track to a Satie piano melody to a Donizetti soprano aria. In one production, just attempting to keep pace with his use of the Run Lola Run soundtrack is an ADD viewer's dream. -Stephan Paschalides

MOMIX

Whether they're dangling from jungle gyms, tying themselves in knots, flying around on poles, or impersonating desert lizards — all while dressed in phantasmagoric costumes — MOMIX's "dancer-illusionists" distort the boundary between dance and gymnastics. Moses Pendleton's Connecticut-based troupe seems to finally be soaring past Pilobolus, his celebrated ex-company, to reach higher ground. -Stephan Paschalides