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25 to watch: Dance Magazine's annual look at who's new and breaking through in 2006.

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POWERHOUSE CRICKET

Because he jumps higher and quicker than anyone alive, hip hop and underground house dancer James P. Colter is nicknamed "Cricket." A fearless capoeirista, Cricket bounces across the stage, launching his small, compact body into flight and flipping off double-triple somersaults or aerial turns. When grounded, he will do slow motion handstands then slowly leverage down. Or, he might slide across the floor on his head. He seems to spend more time upside down than right side up. Wonderfully intelligent and gentle, Coher is also an admired teacher, intent on spreading the history of hip hop to others. A New Jersey native, Colter moved to Philadelphia to dance with Rennie Harris' Puremovement. Back in the day, Cricket also opened for mainstream recording artists like KRS-One, Deee-Lite, and Will Smith. This year he can be seen in Puremovement's concerts touring across the nation. Recently Cricket founded his own Philadelphia crew and company, Crazy Natives/Soul Motion, dedicated to performance and education. An inspirational dancer and man.--Sally Sommer

COUNTER REVELATION ANUOK VAN DIJK

Anouk van Dijk's dancers move as if their limbs were shot out of a cannon. Ask the choreographer how she gets this effect, and she's likely to haul out a notebook filled with diagrams illustrating Countertechnique, the movement system she has developed over the past 20 years. "It uses three-dimensional counter directions within the body to establish a dynamic sense of balance and control," she says, "unlike the traditional approach in modern dance where most movements are controlled from the pelvis." This month the Netherlands-based anoukvandijk dc is in residence at the Maggie Allesee National Center far Choreography in Tallahassee to make a DVD of Countertechnique principles. But the best demonstration is in watching the dancers move. They whip, spin, lunge, and fall flat on their faces. As it looks, van Dijk assures us that her unique approach actually reduces the incidence of injury. See the company at MASS MoCA in Jan., Tallahassee and Seattle's Velocity Dance in Feb., and Danspace Project in New York in October. --Karen Hilderbrand

NIGHT LIGHT CAITLIN VALENTINE

When Caitlin Valentine performs, she glows. With her seemingly effortless technique and beautifully proportioned body, Valentine exudes joy onstage. She began training in tap, jazz, ballet, and musical theater in New Jersey, but switched her focus solely to ballet when she moved to Florida at age 11, dancing at Orlando Ballet's school and joining the company at age 16. "Orlando Ballet is like a family," she says. "I love being here. Being 19 and in a bigger company I wouldn't have these opportunities." She revealed her expressive talents as Guinevere in Samantha Duster's Camelot last spring, and credits Dunster, school director Peter Stark, and the late company artistic director Fernando Bujones for her accomplishments. "Performing is what I love. I give it everything and I hope that shows." Catch her in May at Orlando's Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre when the company present Bujones' version of Raymonda: The Medieval Times Ballet.--Kate Mattingly

FLASHBACK TO HEROISM KURT DOUGLAS

Kurt Douglas performs the heroic Limon repertoire with vibrancy, attack, and inner joy. Now in his fifth year with the Limon Dance Company, he attributes his success in such pieces as Psalm and A Choreographic Offering to the powerful, dramatic content of Limon's work. "It's about being artistically vulnerable," Douglas says. "1 love to recreate Limon's row, masculine emotions." After studying the Graham technique at New York City's LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, Douglas headed to the Boston Conservatory of Music to train with former Limon dancer Jennifer Scanlon. After graduating with...