Longtime friends of the Yard, Gus Solomons Jr and Carmen de Lavallade, return with Paradigm, their company of fellow luminaries, for a weekend of performances in the Yard’s intimate Patricia N. Nanon Theater. Island audiences may remember Carmen de Lavallade and Gus Solomons from last summer’s tribute to Patricia Nanon at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center, in which they performed Three Scenes from Archy & Mehitabel. Both Solomons and de Lavallade serve on the Yard’s advisory board and are familar faces at Yard events on Martha’s Vineyard and in New York. Solomons, a Yard alumnus, is a regular member of the selection panels for the yearly choreographers’ residencies.

“ . . . with the truest of dancers, theater comes from the inside,” writes Gia Kourlas of The New York Times about Paradigm, an ensemble whose members can rightly be referred to as living history. Together, Carmen de Lavallade, Gus Solomons, Michael Blake, Karen Brown and Valda Setterfield demonstrate the eloquence that years of experience bring to dance expression. The company boasts an astonishing record of artistic collaboration with, collectively, Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Agnes De Mille, Katherine Dunham, Talley Beatty, George C. Wolf, American Ballet Theater, and Dance Theater of Harlem. Paradigm was created in 1996 by Solomons, de Lavallade and Dudley Williams to promote and celebrate the talents of mature artists on stage and to create a dance repertory specifically for seasoned professional dancers. Since then, they have performed to critical and audience acclaim in New York and nationally. This weekend’s program will include works by Jonah Bokaer, Donald Byrd, Kay Cummings, Carmen de Lavallade, Dwight Rhoden and Gus Solomons jr.

Paradigm: Dance Legends in Concert at the Yard is at 8 p.m. on July 17, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on July 18, and 7 p.m. on July 19 at the Yard on Middle Road in Chilmark. Tickets are $100 for premium seating, $50 for general seating, $25 for seniors and people under 30. For details, call 508-645-9662, or visit dancetheyard.org.