SPOLETO'S INTERNATIONAL DANCE.

CHARLESTON, South Carolina--Dance from France, Spain, and Brazil, as well as the United States, takes center stage as part of the twenty-third Spoleto Festival USA, to be held May 28 to June 13 in this historic port town. Dance, along with opera, theater, and music, has been part of the festival since its first year in 1977, says general director Nigel Redden. "We want the companies we present to be first-rate," he says. "Diversity--in style as well as culture--also figures into the selection. Dance is obviously a language that can cross borders very easily."

Dance travelers will have an opportunity to see six companies this season: the U.S. troupes Miami City Ballet, Ron Brown/Evidence, and 33 Fainting Spells; and foreign companies Quasar Companhia de Danca, Compagnie Philippe Genty, and Ballet Flamenco de Antonio Canales.

The festival invited Miami City Ballet because, according to Redden, "Eddie Villella has trained a great group of fine young dancers who are dancing extraordinarily well." The Seattle-based 33 Fainting Spells with dancer-choreographers Dayna Hanson and Gaelen Hanson (no relation) make a festival debut with Maria and the Storm Cloud, an exploration of adolescence. New York-based Ronald Kevin Brown combines the passion of social protest with loose-limbed, fluid dancing. "He has a real ability to connect the message and the way he puts dance together," says Redden.

Ballet Flamenco de Antonio Canales from Spain makes its first major U.S. appearance at Spoleto with Canales's Torero, an homage to the bullfight, drawn from traditional Gypsy flamenco as well as his classical training at the National Ballet of Spain, where he was a soloist before founding his company in 1992.

Quasar Companhia de Danca embodies Brazil's culture of youth and beauty. "There's a kind of gorgeousness ... a life-loving quality," Redden explains. The company incorporates quirky humor and high-velocity moves in Versus. Compagnie Philippe Genty, the surprise hit of the 1992 festival, returns with an American premiere, Dedale, a surreal dance-theater piece with images of flight, puppets, and lots of props, such as huge boulders that dancers can squeeze between.