When art, music, and dance come together, it makes for an interesting "Journey" and the Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) was the point of departure for Wednesday  night's "Art with a Twist" program.

Inspired by DC artist Freya Grand's exhibition "Journey," the Jane Franklin Dance Company performed to original music by composer Steve Rogers. About 40 people turned out for the free event, held in the GRACE art gallery, among Grand's landscape paintings.

"It's really important to have the paintings, to help people make sense of what they are seeing," says Jane Franklin, artistic director of the Northern Virginia-based Dance Company. "The landscape environment, and how emotion ties to that, is very fragile territory. It's much more abstract."

Rogers' music, composed with computer synthesizers and sequencers, was written specifically to go with four of Grand's works.

"I saw a lot of movement in these paintings," says Rogers, who used his own interpretations, along with feedback from the artist, for his compositions.  "Freya kept referring to minimalist music. The four pieces [of music]… all individually use minimalism in very different ways."

Having a dance performance in a gallery presents its own challenges, with limited space and a concrete floor serving as the stage. But Franklin, used to adapting her work to unusual and non-traditional spaces, says this allows for a unique perspective.

"It's a different experience for the audience," says Franklin. "The performer/audience relationship changes when the audience is that close. Boundaries disappear with these kinds of spaces and I find that kind of thing really interesting."

GRACE's "Art with a Twist" program started about three years ago and is based on the gallery's major exhibitions, says JoAnne Bauer, GRACE's exhibitions director.

"It's a way to use the exhibitions to talk about other ideas and to make some of those connections between art and other art forms," says Bauer.

 "I liked the mix of the different art forms and how they all worked together," says Peg Green, a fabric artist and painter, who came to see the show with friend Jan Heginbotham, a sculptor.

 "It's thrilling to see the arts come together," added Heginbotham.

Grand, who attended the gallery performance, enjoyed seeing her paintings interpreted through music and dance.

"It's a really unique and unusual experience," says Grand.  "It's not the kind of thing that exhibition venues do. I give GRACE a lot of credit for being so inventive."