Ahh, the dastardly constraints of time. Seriously: If there were more hours in the day, I’d write a lengthy series of posts on all the various dance performances taking place around town this weekend—and then I’d go see them. As it is, I don’t know if I’ll catch any.

But don’t follow my example. This weekend, get out of the house and expand your horizons by seeing one of these shows.

The name brings to mind a cluster of teenaged jazz wannabes from some podunky dance studio, but actually, the Maryland Dance Ensemble is UMD’s repertory company. Tonight and tomorrow, it’ll perform choreography by professors Sara and Patrik Widrig, Adriane Fang, and Alvin Mayes, as well by guest choreographer Keith Thompson. The show will also feature an improvised duet by professor Sharon Mansur and Daniel Burkholder. Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., $25.

Before you write this off, give it some thought. Dancer Tevyn East briefly lived in D.C. a couple years ago before taking off for greener pastures. A beautiful mover, she doesn’t talk about one of the biggest things in her life: her Christian faith. Now she’s created and is starring in a one-woman show, Leaps and Bounds, focusing on personal and ecological transformation. Sure, it’s from a Christian perspective, but that kind of exploration is so desperately needed right now that I say, why not check it out? It’ll be this Saturday afternoon at the Friends Meeting House at 2111 Florida Ave. NW and includes a hands-on workshop and a healthy meal featuring locally sourced food. 2 p.m., $20.

It’s a biannual standard, but a lot of the region’s choreographers got their start here. Joy of Motion’s Dance Project: A Choreography Showcase allows timid dancemakers to try out their ideas on a receptive audience without having to commit to an evening-length performance. Saturday night’s show features work by a bunch of new folks, including Kaution Dance Kru, RVA Dance Collective, Taurus Broadhurst Dance, and Lea Archer, among others. 8:30 p.m., $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

Over at Dance Place, founder Carla Perlo is getting ready to say goodbye to the company she started 18 years ago. On Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, Carla & Co.—a group that was begun with the intent of cultivating dance audiences—will hold its last season performance in the Brookland venue. Not surprisingly, given Perlo’s transition as well as all the construction going on next door to the theater, the theme is change. Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 4 p.m., $22.

A completely different performance will be happening at the same time at Columbia Heights’ GALA Hispanic Theatre. It’s the last weekend of the venue’s sixth annual flamenco festival, and local boy Edwin Aparicio will be performing with his company on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Don’t be fooled by that ‘local’ moniker, though—Aparicio has studied flamenco around the world and brings an international reputation, as well as talented dancers and musicians, to the stage. Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., $30.

Last month, Dana Tai Soon Burgess and his company spent a few weeks in residency at the Corcoran, hanging around the exhibit, “Spencer Finch: My Business, With the Cloud,” that’s currently showing in the museum’s rotunda. The result is a suite of six dances that utilize the rotunda’s airy, curved space and reference a key moment in history. The company will perform the pieces, cumulatively called “America’s Cloud,” on Sunday afternoon in the museum. 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2:30 p.m., free with admission.

Photo by Enoch Chan