April 23 through May 9, various, locations, www.movementresearch.org

If you prefer your dance liberated from the black-box theater, check out some of the events that form Dance Movement Research’s Spring Festival, a wild and refreshing dance festival.

Most of the events, says one of the festival’s curators Will Rawls, “aren’t at traditional dance venues.” The opening party is at the New Museum and other events include the always-engaging Brian Brooks (April 26, during a walking tour of LES art galleries), a “democratic dance session” on April 25 led by Milka Djordjevich in which all are welcomed to locomote and WPA, choreographed by Walter Dundervill at Fred Torres Collaborations on April 29, which looks at UNESCO’s inclusive Dance Day 2009 idea.

Bottom Line: An engaging and highly recommended dance festival. Full of fun and devoid of the usual dance-movement researcher.