FARMINGTON – The University of Maine at Farmington Dancers fall season has begun. Members include Ashlea Andrews, Samantha Baker, Kristen Bready, Veronique Caissie, Ryan Ellis, Chantal Gagnon, Tara Hart, Heather Jackson, Rebecca LaRovera, Katie O’Neil, Rebecca Stevens and Ashanti Walker.

UMF Dancers’ founder and artistic director Margaret Gould Wescott has returned for her 26th year.

The dancers began the season by performing liturgical dance at Trinity United Methodist Church in Farmington on Oct. 30. They used creative movement to accompany three hymns. The company’s processional included a gift of garden gourds brought forward with slow, sustained reverent movements. The Rev. Terry McKinley and music director Sandra Hoyt extended an invitation to the company to perform.

The UMF Dancers, along with members of two modern dance and composition classes, traveled to Portland’s Merrill Auditorium to see the Martha Graham Dance Co. on Oct. 17.

The company is studying the work of Andrea Olsen, Middlebury College professor of dance and environmental studies program faculty member. Her textbook is titled “Body and Earth.”

The dancers have taken classes in many outdoor environments such as Rollo Pond, Sandy River, Clearwater Lake and in various fields and wooded areas. The company is exploring a holistic understanding of person and place. They are examining how people can most responsibly inhabit both body and planet.

The culmination of the fall season will be the dancers’ winter concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, in the Nordica Auditorium. Members of the community and surrounding area are invited. Admission at the door will be $6; $1 for students.