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You could say that Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble’s latest show is a bit of a museum piece — one that spans centuries and styles of art. “Gallery” is a series of vignettes that bring works of visual art to life through dance. The Palo Alto-based dance company presents the show March 29-30 at Cubberley Theatre.
The ensemble’s artistic director and founder, Menlo Park resident Natasha Carlitz, said she was looking to do a more diverse and varied show, following up an all-Mozart piece “In Parting,” that was spurred by the death of a close friend and focused on a singular subject.
“I don’t remember exactly where the idea came from,” she said, “but I thought, ‘art is so different, and if I base works on different paintings and sculptures, they will take me in different directions and they will be associated with different types of music and different types of movement. It’ll be fun for the dancers to get to do a lot of different things after being very classical in the Mozart piece.'”
From a 16th-century Dutch portrait to 1960s op-art, the show touches on many different artistic movements and styles.
Carlitz selected the art that inspired the choreography in a variety of ways,
“There are a mix of pieces that I have loved my whole life, which were just really fun to work with, like making a deeper connection with an old friend,” she said.
Chief among those old friends is Matisse’s “The Snail,” which Carlitz said she “fell in love with” when she was just 4 years old. The colorful painted collage enchanted Carlitz as a young child visiting London’s Tate gallery. Her family lived in England for a year and outings to the Tate would spark her imagination, she said.
She used favorite pieces as a jumping off point, but also included works by artists that she had never heard of before.
“I started seeking out new pieces of art — things that were new to me and sparked new ideas or were visually interesting to me. Some maybe four to six (pieces) are artists that I had not heard of before I started working on this project. All my YouTube and suggested links everywhere are now completely art-based, so I’ve just gone down some of those rabbit holes and learned new things,” Carlitz said.
SLIDESHOW: A 16th-century Dutch painting of female musicians served as one of the jumping off points for a piece in “Gallery.” Courtesy Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble. 
SLIDESHOW: For “Gallery,” the company’s artistic director, Natasha Carlitz, drew on the color and movement from some of her favorite artworks, but incorporated works by artists that was new to her as well. Courtesy Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble. 
SLIDESHOW: The bright abstract works of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian are featured in a piece in “Gallery.” Courtesy Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble.
Audiences will get to see the art that inspired the choreography projected behind the dancers during the show. In addition to Carlitz’s choreography, “Gallery” also highlights pieces by two guest choreographers who are dancers in the company.
“There’s a prologue that introduces the artwork, and so I think that although the moods of the pieces are really different, it should feel kind of like entering a gallery and strolling through the rooms where there’s different art but you’re still in the gallery,” Carlitz said.
“And just for fun, for an inside joke, we’re using Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition‘ for the prologue,” she added.
Selecting the music for each piece also led Cartliz down some illuminating paths.
“What I didn’t anticipate was how much fun it has been to choose the right music for each of the pieces because I got into researching the artists and their relationships with composers or their different connections, which are all described in the program notes,” she said.
For example, she noted that a piece inspired by French artist Sonia Delaunay is accompanied by the traditional jazz championed by the Hot Club de France, a music society co-founded by her son, Charles Delaunay.
Company composer-in-residence Mike Coffin contributed music to the show, as well, with two original works, one based on a travel poster and the other taking inspiration from Edward Hopper’s famous painting “Nighthawks.”
“I was not allowed to hear it until it was complete, so I did not influence it at all,” Carlitz said of Coffin’s Hopper composition. “And then I worked with the combination of the painting and the music to try to bring out what I felt were stories in both of them. The piece is called ‘Four Stories.'”
While all of the pieces convey unique stories and emotions, from poignant tales to humorous moments, overall, Carlitz’s aim for the audience’s experience is simple.
“Joy, that’s it. Yes, I just want to make people happy. If they start getting more immersed in art or thinking about the musical connections or something like that, that’s a plus. That’s like extra credit. But really, I want them to feel happy,” she said.
“Gallery” takes place March 29-30 at Cubberley Theatre, 4120 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Tickets are $15-$45. carlitzdance.org.