LEWISTON — Prometheus Dance, Boston’s premiere dance company, opens the 2014 Bates Dance Festival with its latest work, “Heart of the Matter,” in performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 11 and 12, in Bates College’s air-conditioned Schaeffer Theatre, 329 College St.

The viscerally charged and dramatic “Heart of the Matter” marks Prometheus’ 25th anniversary. Exquisitely performed by the company of eight, the piece dissects the impact of relationships over time and how we hurt each other in the name of love.

“Heart of the Matter,” wrote Boston Globe reviewer Karen Campbell, reflects “the essence of our true selves after we strip away the dreams and experiences of life that no longer matter.” The dancers “reveal this essence by slowly peeling away the vestiges of civility until we are left with little but primal urges.”

With “Heart of the Matter,” Campbell wrote, “the choreographers have hit the jackpot.”

Prometheus Dance holds a free Show & Tell lecture-demonstration at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 8, in Schaeffer, and offers question-and-answer sessions following the July 11-12 performances. At 7 p.m. July 12, in Schaeffer Theatre, prior to the evening performance, dance writer Debra Cash offers an Inside Dance lecture.

For more information, visit www.batesdancefestival.org/EventNotes/Prometheus14.html.

Prometheus Co-Artistic Directors Diane Arvanites and Tommy Neblett have created more than 50 works for their company, as well as forming The Elders Ensemble, an affiliated company of post-professional dancers ages 60-85. Arvanites and Neblett have received numerous awards and honors, including a National Endowment for the Arts Creativity Grant.

Prometheus Dance has performed throughout the Northeast, as well as in Western Europe and Latin America. They have been presented and/or commissioned by Lincoln Center Out of Doors, The Joyce Theater, the Celebrity Series of Boston, Dance Umbrella, CRASHArts, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, Conn., and Opera Boston, among others.

Tickets to

‘s “Heart of the Matter” cost $25 for the general public, $18 for seniors and $12 for students. These may be purchased online, by mail, or, starting June 30, in person or by phone at 207-786-6381 from 1-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Learn more at: http://batesdancefestival.org/tickets.php. For more information, visit batesdancefestival.org.