Andrew Gillis

Dancers in the 2013 Locally Grown Dance Festival at the Schwartz Center include, from left, Kayleigh Hind, Yannick Lingelbach, Nate Mattingly and Emma Borden.

Faculty and student dancers, actors and choreographers from Cornell and Ithaca College will present new, original work on the theme “Cultivating Risks” during the 2013 Locally Grown Dance Festival, May 1, 2 and 4 at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

The festival, sponsored by Cornell’s Department of Performing and Media Arts, examines the idea of risk that lies at the heart of the arts. Co-directors Jumay Chu and E.D. Intemann, in collaboration with choreographers and designers, are asking the performers to place themselves in positions of risk, where they can discover the delicate balance between the vulnerability of the creative act and the rigorous discipline of virtuosity.

“The world seems to be at great risk economically and politically,” said Chu, a senior lecturer in dance. “As artists, we have all worked this year on the idea of risk and what it means to us.”

To challenge the dancers and illustrate risk in the concert, Chu and Intemann, the department’s resident lighting designer, asked sound designer Warren Cross to score the production independent of the dancers and choreographers. After developing the score and choreography separately, they shared their work to find how it fit together.

Along with choreographers, dancers and actors, the directors worked with guest artists Kumi Korf and Roberto Silva Ortiz, who created dreamy tracings against bold strokes on 20-foot-tall fabric panels, suggesting the landscape of the production.

Bringing these groups of artists from various fields together allows them to negotiate the process of collaboration and its risks for success, with differing imaginations and disparate methodologies, Chu said.

“How is the integrity of each artist sustained?” Intemann asked. “Can we loosen the boundaries of definitions in the search for new and shared grounds to cultivate all the arts?”

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. in Kiplinger Theater. Tickets: $13, $11 for students and senior citizens; with half-price tickets available through Friday, April 26 ($7 general, $6 students/seniors). Tickets are available at http://www.schwartztickets.com, at the Schwartz Center box office, 430 College Ave., or by calling 607-254-2787.

Kathy Hovis is communications manager in the Department of Performing and Media Arts.