The art and sport of dance

Daniel Wilkins creates dance in a style he calls “all-terrain.”

It’s a dance vocabulary that fuses athletic, even rugged, movements with elements of modern and classical dance, the martial arts and yoga.

All-terrain is a word that conveys the notion “that you can go over any territory,” said Wilkins, who is a dancer as well as a choreographer.

Audiences will see just how broad that territory can be when Wilkins premieres a new work called “Religilistic” in performances this weekend in Edmonds and Seattle.

“Religilistic” is a nine-movement dance that celebrates many of the world’s major religions, from Buddhism to Judaism to Hindu to Christianity.

The soundtrack ranges from klezmer music to African drumming, and chanting to classical. The inspiration for the choreography comes from sources as diverse as the Whirling Dervishes of the Sufis to West African dance.

Wilkins created this work for his own company of dancers, an eight-member group based in New York City called danielandsomesuperfriends.

He’s augmented the work with dancers from Olympic Ballet Theatre in Edmonds, where he is associate artistic director. And he’s tapped into his connections to the New York performing arts scene for costumes created by noted fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, set design by visual artist Lyle Starr and lighting design by Jeff Sugg. “Religilistic” will have its New York premiere in June.

Audiences may not see in the dance everything that he sees, but that’s OK, Wilkins said.

He’d like people to come away from “Religilistic” with a sense of the joy and love of life, and a feeling of celebration for the community and interconnectedness of all people.

Wilkins grew up in a dance family. His parents, Helen Wilkins and the late John Wilkins, founded Olympic Ballet Theatre in Edmonds more than two decades ago.

Daniel Wilkins began his training at OBT and danced many roles as a guest artist, including five seasons as Cavalier in “Nutcracker.”

“I was into sports a lot,” he said. “I developed coordination, agility and speed.” That influenced the course of his dance career, which continued in New York where he studied at the School of American Ballet, was coached by such dance notables as Peter Martins and Suzanne Farrell and danced with a number of companies.

He founded danielandsomesuperfriends four years ago. Among the company members is his wife, Danielle.

Wilkins, who is 33, has the lean and muscular body required to dance the big jumps and explosive moves that he frequently choreographs.

“I feel like I am the best ever at this point,” he said, adding, “My body has been nice to me.”

After his father’s death last year, Wilkins returned to Edmonds to help his mother run Olympic Ballet Theatre. While he will continue to dance in New York, he’s happy to be back in Edmonds and part of OBT.

“My parents put together a really great school,” he said.

Wilkins dances solo in one of the movements in “Religilistic,” but he’s really dancing with a silent partner. He calls it a kind of duet without anyone else.

The missing partner is his dad, and the dance is a tribute to him.

“He was my mentor,” Wilkins said. “He not only created me but he really nurtured me as a young man and gave me a strong since of who I am and what my direction can be.

“He was a great man and I feel very proud and lucky to have him as my father.”