Fans of dance performances will get the chance to take in a rare, in-person performance this weekend.

Nimbus Dance, a New Jersey-based contemporary dance company, will perform live for an outdoor audience in downtown Jersey City this Saturday. It is the group’s first in-person performance since the pandemic began.

Choreographer Samuel Pott, the artistic director of Nimbus Dance, likens the experience to the strange feeling of people taking off masks in public after 14 months.

“And it’s a face you haven’t seen in over a year. So that same experience is what it feels like to be on a stage in front of a live audience for the first time in over a year,” he says.

The event will include various dance numbers, including some that were inspired by the pandemic.

“Getting close but still staying away. Kind of having a tug-o-war with the fabric about how we were feeling during the pandemic,” says guest artist Sarah Lane

Lane is a former principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre, and will also perform a piece inspired by the pandemic.

The company completed its new studios and performance space last year, earlier in the pandemic. But the company has yet to be able to welcome an audience inside because of restrictions. Until the Nimbus Arts Center At The Lively can host an audience, a parking lot across Warren Street serves as the space. A stage and lighting will be set up there for Saturday night's show.

Saturday's show is the first event in the launch of the summer-long Nimbus Arts Festival. It features many types of performances, not only the dance company. Ticket and schedule information is available through the Nimbus website.