Grant Street Dance Company is a little like the Joy Luck Club in leotards.

Ten years after Kim Jureckson's idea for a multigenerational dance company came to fruition, it's still bearing fruit — and this year, it's some ambitious fruit.

The company's weekend concert, "An Invitation to the Dance," celebrates 10 years of modern dance.

"It's a milestone. I'm still sort of incredulous that we've managed to stay together in such a positive way," said Jureckson, who launched her idea for the company with nine other dancers in cramped space on Grant Street. "One of the dancers said one reason the company lasted so long is there are no divas. And there aren't. We really dance as a company in the truest sense to support each other in dance."

Five original members are still in the company — an impressive feat considering dance is hard on the body and the schedule.

"I've been extremely blessed with the dedication and passion of these dancers. It means giving up every Sunday of your life to be together for five or six hours," Jureckson said. "But it's also about the connections we have, from the high school student trying to figure out what she'll wear to the prom, to the older dancer getting a divorce or going through menopause. It's really a unique group of women and dancers."

In the beginning, Jureckson designed all the company's choreography. As new members joined, they brought ideas and gave the company new style.

"We've grown and expanded our horizons," Jureckson said. "By bringing in other people's ideas, our movement vocabulary has expanded. And we're all 10 years older. Some of the movement had to change. But that's good. It forces you to find another way to express yourself through dance and not beat yourself up because you have to move away from certain techniques. That's healthy. You don't get stuck."

For "An Invitation to the Dance," Grant Street Dance members took on an entirely new challenge. In addition to original choreographed pieces, members will dance "Brahms Waltzes," a set of 16 very short dances choreographed in 1967 by modern dance pioneer Charles Weidman.

Valerie Henry, director of Lancaster's Dance Discovery and Dance Mosaic, got the rights from the Dance Notation Bureau to reconstruct the waltzes based on their Labanotation score — that is, the coded "how-to" directions used to re-create choreography. Labanotation is to dance what sheet music is to music — the notation symbolically indicates everything, from which body part to move, to floor plans, to transference of weight.

After Henry reconstructed the notations for Grant Street dancers to learn, the nonprofit Dance Notation Bureau sent a "checker" to make sure Grant Street properly re-created the choreography.

"We were all frightened to death the day the checker came," Jureckson said. "And there were a lot of corrections that we had to make because it's hard to get it right. We were all so nervous."

In the end, Jureckson said she appreciates the fluid process of creating dance with the choreographer in the room. And the blessing of video — a far more user-friendly means of re-creating choreography.

"When we do our own choreography, if the dancer says 'How do you want my head?' I can have them show me both ways and then decide. But when you're reconstructing from a score, you can't do that," Jureckson said. "(From a score) you have to do to the best of your ability what the score says, even though it might not feel quite right."

Jureckson said Weidman's dry sense of humor is apparent in his choreography, as are his signature "falls" and "recovery," the illusion of the body gracefully falling and rebounding.

In addition to several pieces with original choreography and two Grant Street revival pieces, the concert also includes a short retrospective documentary created by professional videographer and photographer George Winchell, who has danced with the company for years.

And for those who might be intimidated by the idea of "modern dance," Jureckson said it's really about enjoying what's happening on stage.

"'An Invitation to the Dance' is just that — the audience is invited to come and simply enjoy the music and movement without feeling they have to 'get' something," Jureckson said. "I think they'll be pleasantly surprised and hopefully inspired and uplifted."

An Invitation to the Dance, the 10th anniversary concert of Grant Street Dance Company, Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2:30 p.m., Roschel Performing Arts Center, F&M College, $15 adults, $10 students, 431-2444.

E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com