The show will highlights facets of Black dance culture. “Tap dance and body percussion and sand dance are Black American art forms that we bring into this space,” says company co-founder Ryan K. Johnson. The SOLE Defined Live dance company performs at the MACC’s Castle Theater on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25, $40, $50, plus applicable fees, available at MauiArts.org.

A unique performance will enliven the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Thursday when Maryland’s dance company SOLE Defined will present “a 75 minute percussive dance experience that takes audiences on a rhythm roller coaster,” explained company co-founder Ryan K. Johnson.

Titled “SOLE Defined Live,” the show sounds like nothing we have ever seen before on Maui. “This work is my approach on creating synthesizing technology and live instrumentation, the body being a drum, to create sounds that the dancers perform to,” Johnson said. “You’ll see a piece called the Human Body, where we’re taking body percussion, tap dance, and vocalization, and putting it into a loop machine in real time. Then all these layers of sounds coming from the human body are turned into the orchestration of the work, and the dancers dance to that piece. It’s been exciting to create and something that I have not seen done before.”

The show will highlights facets of Black dance culture. “Tap dance and body percussion and sand dance are Black American art forms that we bring into this space,” he noted. “Sand dance is an art form that we are working to preserve where the dancers will actually dance in sand. The rhythms will be produced from the sand, from the hard leather shoe with movement happening on top of the sand. Along with that, you’ll see the call and response in choreography, but also with the audience.”

Drawing the audience into the experience, “there’s a solo where we turn the audience into performers. They are actually creating the rhythm that they get to enjoy. The synergy and the energy of Black culture, of call and response, of the ring shout, and circular motion and movement, the improvisational element of jazz and tap dance and social dances and club dances come to life in this experience.”

Emphasizing joy and free expression in his choreography, Johnson explained, “one of my missions as a curator of art is to also create work that pushes back against some of the norms of theater. What happens when we break the fourth wall? What happens when dancers can be human? And what does that do for the artists when then have that freedom to be human versus to be very robotic in approach? All of these things coming together really create a gumbo of flavor and passion and excitement and music and movement. And I think it’s dope.”

Johnson’s extensive resume includes performing with The Washington Ballet, in the award-winning “Stomp” and “Step Afrika!,” and Cirque Du Soleil’s “The Beatles LOVE” show. “Being a part of Cirque du Soleil is a humbling experience,” he said. “Being on the show that’s so thoughtful and so well designed, it really helped me develop the work that we’re doing.”

When Johnson was a middle school student, he had an influential encounter with dance legend Gregory Hines, who starred in the movie “Tap.” “A woman named Mary Slater got me into tap dance and Mary always told me to keep my shoes with me,” he recalled. “We went to see Gregory Hines perform, and he asked if there were any tap dancers. My entire school yelled and pointed at me. He asked me if I could tap dance. I said, yeah. And he said, ‘no you can’t, go sit down.’ I just saw the movie ‘Tap.’ I already learned the street scene and I wind up going on stage and I do that phrase. He stops me and goes, ‘you stealing my steps?’ I said, I told you I could tap dance. Everyone in this company has a story that has connected them to generations of the work that has inspired them or that has poured into them.”

The SOLE Defined Live dance company performs at the MACC’s Castle Theater on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25, $40, $50, plus applicable fees, available at MauiArts.org.