LEWISTON — Some of the best-known and best-loved dance artists from more than three decades of the Bates Dance Festival return to celebrate with 35th Anniversary Gala performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 28 and 29, in Bates College’s air-conditioned Schaeffer Theatre, 329 College St.

The program features work, much of it new, by some of America’s top dancers and choreographers: “Short Story,” a poignant duet by Doug Varone and Natalie Desch; an excerpt from “The Making Room,” by Bebe Miller and Angie Hauser; a glimpse of “Crazy Beautiful,” a new solo by Tania Isaac; excerpted solos by Larry Keigwin, Sara Pearson, Patrik Widrig and Riley Watts; and a piece choreographed for students by festival veteran Michael Foley. A party follows Saturday’s performance.

For the Saturday performance and party, admission is $60. Otherwise, tickets are $35 for adults, $27 for seniors and $20 for students. Online tickets are available at batestickets.com. For more information, please visit the festival website, at batesdancefestival.org, or call the box office at 207-786-6161.

Friday’s 35th Anniversary Gala performance is dedicated to the memory of Marcy Plavin, who founded the Bates College dance program and the festival. Plavin, whom generations of Bates dancers cherished as a friend and mentor, died last November.

Saturday’s events will honor festival director Laura Faure, under whose guidance the Bates Dance Festival has become a leading American dance center, celebrated as a laboratory for important contributors to contemporary dance. Faure retires after the 2017 season, her 30th. (Faure will be succeeded by Shoshona Currier, a Maine native who has been director of performing arts for the city of Chicago for five years.)

The gala performances “speak to longtime relationships and the history of the festival,” Faure says. “For an audience to see the arc of an artist’s career is very rare,” but it’s something the Bates Dance Festival offers in abundance.

The festival’s 35th anniversary season features spectacular public events from July 7 through Aug. 5, including site-specific multimedia performances at a downtown mill building.

Founded in 1982 at Bates College, the Bates Dance Festival brings together an international community of contemporary choreographers, performers, educators and students to study, perform and create new work.

The festival serves as an annual destination for artists, students and audiences to engage in activities and performances that foster a creative exchange of ideas, encourage exploration of new ground and provide access to a wide spectrum of dance and movement disciplines.

Bebe Miller and Angie Hauser

Tania Isaac