HAMILTON— Rising from the ashes and emerging with new pieces inspired by the visual and musical arts is Phoenix Project Dance. Norwich's local dance company –who is celebrating its 10 year anniversary– is hosting its annual performance in Hamilton this weekend.

The company is celebrating its anniversary by performing four new pieces, along with two favorites, at 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21 and Sat., Nov. 22 at the Palace Theater located at 19 Utica St. in Hamilton.

“It has become a holiday tradition to do the performance around Thanksgiving. Our company is like a family,” said executive director and choreographer, Mikey Perkins. “The venue is amazing; it almost makes you feel like you are part of the show.”

Phoenix Project Dance is named after the reborn firebird, because re-invention is the driving force behind its artistic vision. In line with that vision, the company created a piece titled Pollock, inspired by the life of expressionist artist, Jackson Pollock.

“It is based on the movie about his life, mixing the art of dance with the creation of a masterpiece,” said Perkins. “It's about how he created his own art inspired by his life experiences.”

The piece uses paint mixed especially for the company by Golden Artist Color and is set to the music from the movie Pollack. Pollack's abstract, colorful splatter paintings from the 50's were the inspiration for the choreography. Travis St. Denny of Norwich and Christina Jensen of New Berlin perform the visually artistic duet.