Farrell Dyde Solo Dance Concert Dat is Het

Dancer/choreographer Farrell Dyde celebrates more than 40 years onstage with Dat is Het: Farrell Dyde Solo Dance Concert. Modern dance has changed significantly over the past four decades. Dyde concedes that his work has evolved in that time, but maintains its basic goal has remained the same. “In some ways, it’s exactly the same,” he tells us. Dance, Dyde says, is about putting bodies in space and time, about working with energy. That was true at the beginning of his career and is true now. “Early on I formed an attitude and philosophy about [my] work…and I’ve kept that [attitude.]”

Dyde, who describes himself as “more like Jerome Robbins than Balanchine,” counts José Limón, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham as major influences. “Many of the approaches are similar; it’s all evolved and influenced by the world we live in today. Hopefully, the work I’m doing now expresses something about a man who’s a certain age in this time in history and affected by the things that are going on.”

The program takes its title from the Dutch phrase “Dat is het,” which means ‘That is it.’ Dyde came across the phrase in reading a Van Gogh biography. “Vincent was very much concerned with the it-ness of his paintings. He was trying to get to a point where it was the final absolute statement. That idea grabbed me. For me, this may be it for me as far as my solo performing is concerned. It may be the last time I perform solo…but I’ve said that before.” (We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll see Dyde onstage in more solo work in the future.)

8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The Barn, 2201 Preston. For information, visit farrelldyde.org. $12.

Nov. 21-22, 8 p.m., 2014