Program to showcase pieces by five female choreographers

company, they brought their experience with them,” she said. “The program itself is really diverse.”

Two male and three female dancers will be seen in Petry’s work “On the Verge.”

“It’s working off of an idea of taking risks or being in danger — being on the edge, as it were,” Petry said. “I keep asking the dancers to literally tilt in their bodies, so they’re always slightly falling and feeling the falling.”

Kotrba, who danced with Balletmet prior to joining Columbus Dance Theatre, choreographed “A Study in Thought,” a piece for five male and five female dancers that draws from both classical and contemporary styles.

Featuring a series of pas de deux, Kotrba said, the dance aims to illustrate “a rough idea of thought — like thinking or thought process.”

The entire company will be onstage for Kane’s dance “Together … Then, Now and Always,” which makes use of Motown classics by Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Jackie Wilson.

“When I was a young child — my siblings are quite a bit older — in my house all they ever had on was Motown,” said Kane, who grew up in Columbus in the late 1950s and ’60s. “Literally, I think it’s some of the first music I started dancing to.”

The choreography is jazz-inspired, Kane said, but also incorporates popular dances of the time, including the mashed potato and the stroll.

“I hope people actually stand up and start dancing in the audience,” she said.

Petry — who pointed to statistics demonstrating that women are underrepresented among the ranks of choreographers and dance leaders — appreciates the company’s effort to focus on female choreographers.

“It’s really great to have this mixed program of contemporary work, ballet, jazz — with all women,” she said. “It’s like, why not?”