Maintaining a successful arts organization is no small feat, particularly a professional dance company.

But Ormao Dance Company proves it can be done and done well. The nonprofit, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary, is the only professional dance company in the Pikes Peak region to pay its dancers for rehearsals and performances.

“It took us a long time to get there,” said Artistic and Executive Director Jan Johnson. “Having a dance company in this time is very challenging. It’s always been challenging, but especially now.”

But Ormao isn’t solely a dance company. It’s also home to a dance school with classes for kids and adults throughout the year, and community engagement programs like Dance for Parkinson’s, a dance movement class for those with Parkinson’s disease.

“All three coexist beautifully under the mission statement and overlap with each other as much as possible,” Johnson said. “Because of that, the community is all in and interested in our work and what we’re doing.”

Ormao will celebrate its milestone year with “Ovation 2.0.” Patrons, donors, dancers and directors were asked to vote on their favorite pieces from throughout the years. Four favorites were selected, and 16 dancers will perform them Saturday at Ent Center for the Arts.

The company also asked Larry Keigwin, artistic director of Keigwin + Company in New York City and co-founder of Green Box Arts Festival, to help celebrate by choreographing a new piece for the curtain call.

The pieces

– Patrons and donors’ choice: “S.I.L.K.,” premiered in 2021, choreographed by Jan Johnson

Dancers move in and out of more than 90 yards of silk.

“It’s an otherworldly kind of landscape. It’s abstract enough that anyone feels like they can find a story in it. That’s why it’s so memorable,” Johnson said. “I use Steve Reich’s music – very tonal and repetitive. He’s using a proverb that was written by philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. It’s repeated vocally. It sounds like it’s Gregorian chant, but it’s not because it’s contemporized. It’s men’s voices, then you hear women’s voices come in, then you hear a marimba playing. It takes this one sentence: It’s how small a thought it takes to fill a whole life. It’s a Zen koan, a paradox. There’s no clear explanation.”

– Board of directors’ choice: “Absolution V5,” premiered in 2017, choreographed by Johnson

“The score is a mix of Max Richter music,” Johnson said. “I’ve done it for 13 and as many as 16 dancers. It is intended to be lots of humanity where you can create heartfelt imagery with so many bodies moving together or not together. Soloists juxtaposed against a large group of humanity. People popping out with individual stories throughout.”

– Dancers’ choice: “That Blooms at Night,” premiered in 2023, choreographed by Kim Davagian

“She (Davagian) was in a traumatic car accident, and as a result, she had to do so much work during the day on her rehabilitation,” Johnson said. “It was hard to find herself again. But at night, when it was dark, she felt most herself. She didn’t have to present anything or be what she thought everybody thought she used to be. She allowed herself at night to really be her true self and bloom. It’s very virtuosic dancing. It’s not easy choreography.”

– Artistic director’s choice: “Atmosphere,” premiered in 2013, choreographed by Tsui-Shuang Lai

“It’s a reflection of family life and what those relationships might be like,” Johnson said. “It’s set at a dinner table with five chairs. You can see the relationships unfold. There’s the middle child, who’s never heard and finally explodes. There’s the youngest, who’s never heard and just wants to be seen. There’s the instigator who’s always causing trouble. And the leader of the family who’s trying to go one way. It’s that sense of underlying relationships that are not spoken but can be communicated through movement, posture and gesture.”

IF YOU GO

What: “Ovation 2.0” by Ormao Dance Company

When: 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave.

Price: $18-$42; 719-255-8181, entcenterforthearts.org