Evidence Dance Company performs 'On Earth Together' with music by Stevie Wonder. (Courtesy the Kravis Center)

Brooklyn-born choreographer Ronald K. Brown brings a new program inspired by the music of Stevie Wonder to the Kravis Center on Tuesday and Wednesday

On Earth Together is a dance devoted to healing the damage of diaspora, the separation of people from their ancestral homeland, especially involuntarily, told through dance, spoken word and kinetic storytelling. This dance has at its core a theme of compassion and understanding and Wonder’s music seems to smooth the rough edges with a message of beauty and love.

Directions, nearby dining, invite a friend

In fact there’s great joy and tenderness in these performances. Here are four reasons to see Evidence Dance Company:

1. Ronald K. Brown. Only 19 when he began his dance company in 1985, perhaps he called it “Evidence” because people were always demanding he prove himself. Now, 27 years later, Evidence is considered one of our most important African-American dance companies. Brown likes to shine a spotlight on human interaction, as he did in his 2008 piece Two Year Old Gentlemen, an all male program which explored men’s relationships, especially the father-son bond.

2. The company: Consisting of about 10 gifted dancers, Brown selects artists who have “an open, sharing spirit.” The physical demands of dance and an “environment that is full of discipline,” Brown says, have as much to do with the growth and healing of the dancer as it does with the audience. “We need to include positive reflections of ourselves, to know that we have a place in this world,” Brown told writer Amanda Furness.

3. Multiculturalism. Brown has combined organic forms of dance from Latin America, the Caribbean, West Africa, Cuba and America into a melting pot of movement and expression. Brown once said, “Classical lines are as essential in dance moves from Guinea as using the back is in choreography from Haiti. The hip-hop culture is creating an openness and honesty about the way people live” that is reflected in dance.

4. Stevie Wonder: Brown has used Wonder’s music since he began his career as a choreographer in the late ’80s, and he returns to the master singer/songwriter for On Earth Together. This dance of inclusion features the songs You and I, Blame It on the Sun and All I Do, and Wonder’s warm tones and uplifting lyrics provide the dancers with the perfect backdrop for this message of healing.