It’s a Sunday afternoon, high above Main Street in Bangor, and the sun streams through tall windows onto the black, padded floor of River City Dance Center.

As teenagers and children sit clustered in groups, giggling, catching up and waiting for rehearsal to begin, longtime dancer Stevie Dunham describes the piece she set for the Robinson Ballet’s Spring Dance Concert.

“They wanted me to do a hip-hoppy, upbeat piece,” Dunham, 19, said. “I was listening to popular hip-hop music and I wasn’t really feeling it.”

Though Dunham choreographed a piece for last winter’s performance of “The Nutcracker,” she was bound by the music and tradition of the popular ballet. For “ZA ZA RU,” she chose music from Cirque du Soleil and let her imagination run wild.

“It’s a lot of different types of movement mixed in together to make it my style – not anybody else’s,” said Dunham, who will study dance and choreography next fall at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.

Her piece is only one of the highlights of the Robinson Ballet Spring Dance Concert, which steps into Orono this weekend and Ellsworth the next. Don’t let the name fool you – it’s not just ballet, and the dancing isn’t the only draw.

Pianist Masanobu Ikemiya, the artistic director of Arcady Music Festival, will play at both concerts. One piece in particular, Scott Joplin’s “The Easy Winners,” will show off Ikemiya’s love for ragtime.

“I’m just wild about it,” Ikemiya said by phone from New York. “It’s just such a joyous and energetic music. To feel that energy and beat, I can just see someone dancing to it.”

Actually, two people will dance to it: Dunham and Nathaniel Bond perform a jaunty, fun little number choreographed by Keith Robinson, who serves as the company’s co-artistic director with his wife, Maureen Lynch. Ikemiya’s music will also accompany Lynch’s dance to Debussy’s “Claire de Lune,” a poignant, haunting piece.

“Artistically it’s just such a good experience to be able to work with live musicians,” said Maureen Lynch, the Robinson Ballet Company’s co-artistic director. “When we go back and have taped music, it’s like there’s something missing.”

Each spring, Robinson Ballet tries to collaborate with outside choreographers and arts groups. Last year, Cathy Young visited from Minneapolis to choreograph a jazz piece. The year before, The GEMS, an Orono-based string quartet, accompanied the dancers. Before that, it was the L.A. Brass Quintet.

This year, Terry Lacy, who dances with the New York City Opera Ballet, has choreographed a provocative piece. (And guys, if a dancer comes into the audience and asks you to join her onstage, do it. Trust me on this one.) Laren Lynn of Orono will make her debut as a Robinson Ballet choreographer as well.

And now, this partnership with Arcady will benefit both groups – the Robinson Ballet’s audience will get to hear live music, and this summer, dancers will perform at several Arcady concerts.

“To have that collaboration is very important and very special,” Lynch said. “I think it helps with our audience building, but the artistic element is important, too. You’re supporting each other in a different way, other than just going and seeing each other’s performances.”

Ikemiya says that support is essential for the region’s arts organizations, many of which have suffered in hard economic times.

“By helping each other out, we can get through this,” Ikemiya said. “This is just the beginning. Hopefully, we’ll start doing more and more of this sort of thing. … The more arts organizations that collaborate, the better for the community. It brings more people together.”

A summer partnership is in the works between Arcady and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, and Ikemiya is looking forward to teaming up with Robinson Ballet again. The music – whether classical chamber or ragtime – is made for dancing.

“It’s going to be fun,” he said. “The possibilities are endless.”

Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.

Robinson Ballet’s Spring Dance Concert

Who: Robinson Ballet and Masanabou Ikemiya

What: Spring Dance Concert

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1 at Hauck Auditorium at the University of Maine in Orono; 7 p.m. Saturday, May 8, and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 9, at The Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth

Tickets: $14 for adults, $10 for seniors, $8 for students under 18. Available at River City Dance Center in Bangor and Ellsworth, Dr. Records in Orono, The Grasshopper Shop in Rockland and Bangor.

Information: 989-7226