FELD FILLS FIVE WEEKS AT THE JOYCE.

NEW YORK CITY--Ask Eliot Feld about his most recent work and he'll playfully say that he "doesn't like to talk about his dances," At this point, with more than 100 pieces under his belt, including works for American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and the Joffrey, and the forty years he's worked in the dance biz, this Brooklyn-born dancer-choreographer doesn't need to say much. Feld's eclectic work reveals time and again his diversity and longevity, which can be seen April 6 to May 9 when his company, Ballet Tech, steps onto the Joyce Theater stage to present four programs of works old and new.

The five-week run offers three premieres: Felix: the ballet, Mending, and Cherokee Rose. Felix, featuring all twenty company members, is named for Felix Mendelssohn, whose string symphonies will propel the dancers. The lightheartedness of the title is reflected in the dance, says Feld, adding, "if it's not, I'm up a creek." With Mending, a male/female duet, Feld continues his collaboration with the Bang On A Can All-Stars musicians, specifically the group's cofounder, Michael Gordon, who will perform at nine of the performances. Patricia Tuthill, who's been dancing for Feld since 1993, performs the solo Cherokee Rose, which, Feld says, is set to dobro music, "a beautiful and plaintive sound." When naming the piece, Feld says that he was trying to think of something ubiquitously American, like "Susanna," but Cherokee Rose stuck with him. "The Cherokee Rose is Georgia's state flower; it's thorny and beautiful," says Feld. "But it was imported from Japan. They don't tell you that."

The other dances rounding out the season include some revivals (including Contra Pose, The Gods Amused, and A Soldier's Tale, after a sixteen-year absence) and some repertory works (Doo Dah Day, Yo Shakespeare, and Paper Tiger). On three separate evenings, the dances will be grouped by musical category: American popular song, music of the late twentieth century, and European masters.

Kids, and their parents, won't be left out this season, as Feld's Kids Dance returns for three different programs on weekend matinees. The five-year-old company features fifty kids between the ages of 11 and 16, who train (for free) at the Ballet Tech School. Included on the bill is George Balanchine's Tarantella, as well as Meshugana Dance, The Jig Is Up, and Hello Fancy, among others.