(Photos submitted) Rubberbandance Group founder Victor Quijada and dance troupe partner Anne Plamondon display the elasticity, athleticism and grace human bodies have.

The acclaimed Rubber-bandance Group's hybrid style of dance -- which combines hip hop, break and ballet -- will grace various Spencer stages, as well as be highlighted during interactive workshops scheduled through Monday. The Montreal-based dance troupe's "Elastic Perspective" show, which will be performed Monday night in the old Spencer Middle School auditorium, will also mark the "final hurrah" of the four-year SPOT project's collaborative effort in Spencer.

"This is a perfect end to our four-year SPOT project. We're going to end it with a real bang," Charles Swanson, executive director of Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa, said of the Rubberbandance Group's forthcoming performances and residency activities.

The goal of the SPOT Family Arts Adventure project has been to bring nationally- and internationally-known performers to youth and adults in rural America. The four-year program was made possible due to an $800,000 grant to the Hancher Auditorium from the Wallace Foundation. The grant, which was part of the foundation's "Leadership and Excellence in Arts Participation" program, was complemented by support provided by the University of Iowa, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Iowa Arts Council.

Spencer was one of four communities across Iowa selected to partner with Hancher in the SPOT program. Perry, Marshalltown and Iowa City also collaborated in the SPOT project, which was initiated in November 2003, when the grant was awarded.

"I'll never forget coming to Spencer in November of 2003 and making the announcement. I just couldn't wait to come to Spencer and announce our plan for the next four years," Swanson, a Spencer native, recalled. "It's hard to believe that will be five years ago this November. I'll never forget all the ambassadors walking in. We announced it at the Spencer Community Theatre Playhouse. Spencer was delighted -- and I was delighted."

Over its four-year term, the SPOT project has worked to create workshop and performance experiences that families and people of all ages could participate in and attend. The collaborative venture has brought artists of different genres and art forms, including musicians, dancers and those with theater backgrounds to Spencer, Marshalltown, Perry and Iowa City each of its four years.

"We wanted something that everybody could go and enjoy, have that common experience, and leave the performance and residency activities with some lasting impressions, experiences that they can have and talk about forever," Swanson said. "We really feel like we've been fortunate because it's worked.

"On the other hand, the communities have really taken it and done their job, too. Spencer, in particular, has really organized the activities well, worked together as a group well and formed a real bond. ... I really do think that, from all levels, this has been a real win-win. We're very, very pleased with how everything has worked."

The collaborative program, he added, will continue following this summer, but in a different form. With the establishment of an endowment over the last four years, Swanson said communities statewide will have the opportunity to apply via the Hancher Web site to have an artist brought to them. A different community will be selected each year, he explained.

The Hancher Auditorium executive director, meanwhile, also indicated that SPOT has been a "win-win" situation for all of the visiting artists involved.

"Many of them leave and say they never look at a residency again in the same way," he said. "It's very unusual to bring an artist to a state like Iowa for three weeks; people just don't have the resources or the time to make something like that happen. So, for a lot of these artists, this has been the first time that they've really done something like this for such a long length of time and in such depth."

"Rubberbandance Group tours frequently throughout Canada, the U.S. and Europe, mostly in metropolitan cities, large theaters and big festivals. This project has taken us out of the norm and allowed us to come in contact with smaller communities, to perform in very intimate spaces and to get close to very fresh, young audiences," commented Victor Quijada of the Rubberbandance Group, this summer's second, and final, round of featured artists in the SPOT project.

In 2002, after years of exploring dance and theater from urban, classical and contemporary angles, Quijada, nicknamed "Rubberband" as an 8-year-old, founded the Montreal-based collection of dancers from contemporary and breakdance backgrounds. Today's Rubberbandance Group ensemble, which takes from all of the 32-year-old's influences -- ranging from hip hop to ballet -- moves like no other dance company.

Since its inception, Rubberbandance Group has received acclaim for its innovative work "Slicing Static," but is probably best known for its "Elastic Perspective" collection of works.

"Elastic Perspective was created in the earliest phase of Rubberbandance Group, when the questions and experiments I was conducting dealt with bringing together ballet and break, the two extremes of dance that I had been so heavily influenced by," Quijada said of the show slated to be performed at 7 p.m. Monday in the old Spencer Middle School auditorium. "Since then, I have more or less created a signature vocabulary that lends itself to the exploration of human relationships, concentrating primarily on psychological constructs, behavioral patterns and emotional conflicts."

Speaking telephonically from Perry, where the dance company performed before arriving in Spencer Thursday, Swanson said of Rubberbandance Group, "It's like a fusion of the physical elements of break dancing mixed with the elegance of ballet. They do things that I have never seen dance companies do before. It's a form of dance that even people who have never experienced dance before, people who think that they don't have any interest in dance, this is something that would really intrigue them. The strength of these dancers is truly amazing. They'll just blow you away. I hope people do come to the performance.

"We don't check IDs at the door," Swanson added. "It's for people of all ages. I want to encourage everybody to come, because this is the last hurrah until maybe some day. I hope we can, at some point, come back to Spencer -- but it's time to give some other communities a shot at this, too."

* Following its June 9 performance in Spencer, the Rubberbandance Group will take its "Elastic Perspective" show to Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa on June 14. According to Quijada, group members will then begin work on Phase II, a three-part, 90-minute work set to premiere in October. Tours of the new Rubberbandance Group show are scheduled throughout 2009.

SPENCER SCHEDULE:

Saturday, June 7

10:30 a.m. -- Noon: Adult/Child Interactive Workshop for students entering first through fifth grades, in the Spencer Middle School auditorium, 104 E. Fourth St.

2 p.m.: Dance into the Library with the Rubberbandance Group, 21 E. Third St.

4 p.m.: Street Dance at the East Leach Park Skatepark, at the corner of South Grand Avenue and East Fourth Street

Sunday, June 8

1 p.m. - 3 p.m.: Bust-A-Move Workshop for students entering sixth through 12th grades, in the Spencer Middle School auditorium, 104 E. Fourth St.

4 p.m.: See the moves of the Rubberbandance Group at the Southpark Mall center court, 901 S.W. 11th St.

Monday, June 9

7 p.m.: Rubberbandance Group Performance at the Spencer Middle School auditorium, 104 E. Fourth St.

* To register for a workshop or to receive more information on upcoming performances, contact Spencer Community Theatre at 262-7336.