Dancers have to dance.

The challenge for dancers ages 18 and older is finding a studio or company to dance with.

Ashley Steeves loves to dance, to create and to dream.

Although she danced with several dance companies, each with a different focus (ballet, hip hop, break dancing and jazz), Steeves found herself looking for something more. And as an adult, she just hadn't found the place for her.

“I was looking for more classes with a tight-knit group of more advanced dancers,” said Steeves, 27.

That search led Steeves, and Elizabeth Rancourt-Smith (who Steeves met through her sister Autumn Steeves) to establish the Resurgence Dance Company (RDC) in September 2013. Both women shared a single vision: to create a place for adult dancers possessing a higher level of technique and an interest in learning and experimentation.

Here's where the “resurgence” comes in — and the exceptions to the expected experience level.

The company would be one in which individuals who had danced as children were invited back to the dance, so to speak, to build on their previous experience while creating new ones. It would also be a company that provided the opportunity for individuals who had always wanted to try dancing to give it a go.

Steeves and Rancourt-Smith began teaching classes right away, using space at the Tony Dance Fitness Studio in Bath. Since its founding, guest instructors also come in to teach multi-week sessions on everything from jazz to hip hop.

RDC is composed of nine core members: Ashley Steeves (principal dancer), Autumn Steeves (principal dancer), Jaime Bane (apprentice), Kate Olsen-Pietrowski (corps dancer), Annabelle Gardiner (soloist) all of Brunswick; Beth Jarvis (soloist) of Woolwich; Tina Goodman (corps dancer) of Bath; Robert Lowrie (corps dancer) and Chris Gray (principal dancer), both of Portland. What's a corps dancer? One that is not a soloist or principal in a company.

RDC dancer Gardiner also has her own studio, Miss Annabelle's Dance, and invited RDC to be part of a spring recital in 2014. A few month's later, RDC's first big show, “Singer/Songwriter Dancers,” was at the Chocolate Church Arts Center (CCAC) in late June.

“We had the Burlesque Divas from Bath dancing to Katy Perry; I used music recordings for some pieces,” Steeves said. “Our soloist dancers danced alongside the musicians while they played original songs. Annabelle danced with Jessica Feinberg playing piano, I worked with Nicholas Clark, and Liz Smith danced with Timothy Goad ... it was fun, but very scary at first!”

Rancourt-Smith left the company shortly after the Chocolate Church show. The new mother had too much to juggle and little time to do it.

RDC returned to the Chocolate Church on Jan. 17 and 18 this year with its first all original show. Written and choreographed by Ashley, “We Are Rebels,” incorporated contemporary ballet dance with a fable-like story line set in a dystopian future society. This show featured a cast of 40 dancers –

“I put on my headphones one night after the big June show and listening to the music, I had a vision that included my dancers,” Steeves recalled. “It was kind of video game-ish and futuristic. I saw a rebel person going up against an evil king and twisted queen ... and then it just took on a life of its own.”

Steeves listened to a lot of music, and tried to find the best fit and flow for the scenes of the show and her dancers.

“I know a lot of people don't like pre-casting a show, but this story was based on the talent I already had,” Steeves said. “The music was electronic to rock to cinematic. I used a couple pieces from ‘Inception’.”

Steeves figures she spent 100 hours writing and choreographing “Rebels.”

By spring of 2016, Steeves plans to present RDC's next big production — a retelling of the vintage story of “Beauty & The Beast,” interpreted through metaphors, perhaps a bit of original music, and, maybe even a few vocal moments!

Steeves is thoroughly enjoying the artistic freedom that comes with having your own company, which “fills her soul in a big way.”

Every dance company has something that sets it apart from another, whether it's the dance genre that is focused on or the material it chooses to work with.

Resurgence Dance Company is all about telling stories through movement, gesture and facial expression of the body, rather than words. Storytelling also requires having dancers in your company who can act as well as dance.

“It's really satisfying for me to have audience members share their interpretations of what they've just seen,” Steeves said.

The creative freedom Steeves has with her own company gives her the opportunity to write original shows for production every two years.

“Telling a story is really big with me, whether it's told in three minutes or 90,” Steeves said. “RDC tells stories that intrigue people and apply to their life experiences now.”

For information on RDC’s dance classes, always open to the public, visit Resurgence Dance Company on Facebook and learn a new way to tell stories of your own.