HAMPTON ROADS is turning into a hot - or at least very warm - spot for dance fans, and that's largely due to the major dance groups brought in each spring by the Virginia Arts Festival.

While we don't rival New York, this area is still getting many of the great groups that grace the stages at Lincoln Center or the Joyce, without having to travel or pay Manhattan ticket prices.

Another batch is coming this way. Four dance groups are booked for the festival, which takes place beginning this week through May 26 in venues throughout the region. Those groups are Martha Graham Dance Company [1], Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, [2] Noche Flamenca [3] and, new to this year's festival, Black Grace [4].

Festival Director Rob Cross has to jump through hoops to make such programs happen.

Each season he and his staff work hard to snag a lineup that offers an entertaining blend of dance styles, raise steep sums to mount costly productions with orchestras, then market the performances to every conceivable corner where dance appreciation might exist in Hampton Roads, from dance academies to retirement villages.

"The quality of companies and the variety of dance companies they bring in has really helped to develop a sophisticated dance audience," said Deborah Thorpe, who chairs the Governor's School for the Arts' dance department.

The result: more people in seats, which brings in more money, which allows the festival to go after more ambitious offerings.

Cross is stoked about the trend. It's his second favorite art form.

"Dance is just so powerful," he said. "It's the human body at its ultimate flexibility and fitness. What they can do is pretty spectacular."

Dance has been a focus of the arts festival since it began in 1997. That year, two contemporary companies were booked, Garth Fagan Dance and Mark Morris Dance Group.

Getting Morris' revered company right off the bat helped the festival land other major groups and grow a reputation among audiences for top-notch performances.

Nationwide, the audience for dance has fluctuated through the years but is on the upswing.

"For many dance companies across the country, ticket sales are steadily climbing; some are even soaring," Dance Magazine reported in March 2007. One of the companies cited for rising ticket sales was the Ailey troupe, which performs at Chrysler Hall in early May.

Cross netted Ailey for three performances on a weekend - during the group's 50th anniversary season, no less. That makes it a banner year for the festival.

"We got lucky," he said. "One, they were available. Two, they sold so well for us (in 2004 and 2006) that we were able to move it to a weekend."

Weekend gigs cost more, because it's presumed the presenter will be able to sell more tickets. (Cross would not reveal Ailey's or any other dance groups' fees, saying that's not fair to the groups, which must continually negotiate contracts.)

Dance in general is expensive to present.

"You have so many people," he said. That means more air fares, hotel fees, meals and around-town transportation.

Add a 52-piece orchestra, which is what Birmingham Royal Ballet required last year, and it becomes exorbitant. Ticket prices can only go so high, so the festival must bridge the gap with substantial donations. Of this year's $5.6 million budget, $2.8 million must be raised, Cross said.

Breaking the bank for a big event can reap national attention. Last year, Dance Magazine published a favorable review of the English company's Norfolk performances.

Hanna Rubin, who wrote that review, said in an e-mail interview this week that she was impressed with the Virginia festival's commitment to dance and that she is aware that it has made "a conscious effort to bring in high caliber companies with a strong modern or classical repertoire."

In shaping this year's dance lineup, Cross said he thought, as usual, about achieving "a good mix." No classical ballet is booked this year. "There was nothing touring that worked for us, artistically."

He called Ailey "one of the most important American dance companies in existence." The troupe presents contemporary dance with universal themes, often through a black lens.

In 2006, the festival sold more than 2,000 tickets for both of Ailey's midweek performances in 2,500-seat Chrysler Hall, Cross said, and the company's student matinee sold out.

"One of the things that's exciting about Ailey is it draws the loyal dance audience, the people who love dance and will come to anything we do that's good dance. But they also reach a very diverse audience."

The Graham company will perform in Williamsburg on May 23. Graham commissioned many 20th century composers to write music for her dances. On the Peninsula, the bill will include one of her best-known dances, "Appalachian Spring," to music by Aaron Copland.

"I sit there with tears in my eyes during that," Cross said. "It's so simple on the surface, but it grabs me by the heart."

Early on, the festival committed to providing live orchestral accompaniment for groups that want it. This spring, the Graham company is the only one set to perform with the Virginia Symphony.

Live accompaniment "heightens the dancer's sense of being in the moment," said Aaron Sherber, music director for the Graham company, speaking this week from his Baltimore home. He will conduct on May 23.

Another festival goal is to introduce new companies to this region. Black Grace, set for April 22 in Norfolk, consists of Maori and Samoan male dancers and is "very athletic and very cutting edge," Cross said.

Noche Flamenca, last here in 2005, offers a "very sensual and kind of hypnotic" approach to traditional Spanish flamenco, he said. This time, the troupe will be presented at Christopher Newport University's concert hall in Newport News and in a club setting at Portsmouth's Renaissance Hotel.

Cross attributed the rise in the festival's dance audience to a pent-up demand in this area.

"We have a year-round opera company and a year-round orchestra and theater company, but there hasn't been a large ballet or dance company with a whole season. I think we have filled a void there."

An enthusiasm for dance has risen, in part, from the trend toward fitness and the hugely popular dance competition shows on television.

"It's my favorite out of all performing arts," said Beverly Mason of Virginia Beach, a former dancer/actress who plans to see three of the festival's four offerings. She moved to Hampton Roads in the mid-1990s, after having lived in South Africa, England and California. "It's one of the most culturally surprising things for me in South Hampton Roads. When you're not in a huge sophisticated city, you don't expect any appreciation for dance.

"We don't see as much dance, but the dance we do see is really good. We do lag a little behind the big cities in innovation. We're probably getting things a couple of years behind, but you'd think that we would be way behind."

Dance audiences often consist of people who, as youngsters, were exposed to the art form.

The festival hopes to stoke that fire through master classes, workshops and student matinees available to local schools. Three of this year's groups are participating. Ailey's eight master classes will include visits to Thorpe's Governor's School department and to Old Donation Center, a Virginia Beach public schools program for gifted children.

"It has been just amazing for them to see world class dance at such a young age," said Laura Wright, who chairs Old Donation Center's dance program, which serves 300 elementary and middle school children.

Thorpe said it's "a huge opportunity" for the 65 high school students in her department. Besides experiencing different styles of dance and teaching, the students make connections for summer study and advance training, she said.

And for the festival, it's a big chance to cultivate the dance fans of the future.

"For me personally, after classical music, dance is my largest passion in the performing arts," Cross said. "It will always be a major part of the festival."

News librarian Maureen Watts helped research this article.

Teresa Annas, (757) 446-2485 teresa.annas@pilotonline.com