“Bicycling with Bach,” “Mr. Bach Comes to Call, “Dancing with Bach.”

The Bach Choir has been, ahem, thinking outside the Bach.

“Dancing with Bach” honors its progenitor with “The Greg Funfgeld Family Concert presents Dancing with Bach,” 3 p.m. Feb. 27, Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, Bethlehem.

Greg Funfgeld, Bach Choir of Bethlehem Artistic Director and Conductor, and the Bach Choir and Bach Festival Orchestra will handle the music of Bach, and one non-Bach work in the “Family Concert.”

Kim Maniscalco, Lehigh Valley Charter Arts Artistic Director of Dance, and Lehigh Valley Charter High School of the Performing Arts students, whom Maniscalco, along with Charter Arts dance faculty Amy Berry and Rebecca Moyer, will choreograph, will handle the dancing to Bach and to one non-Bach work in the “Family Concert.”

It will be Funfgeld’s final “Family Concert” as Choir artistic director. Funfgeld retires after the Bach Festival in May.

The “Family Concert” program is:

J.S. Bach:

• Choral movements from Cantatas 78 and 120

• “Badinerie” from the “Second Orchestral Suite”

• “Gigue” from the “Third Orchestral Suite”

• “Crucifixus” and “Et resurrexit” from the “Mass in B Minor”

• The audience will be invited to sing the “Dona nobis pacem” with The Choir and, after a brief rehearsal, everyone is to it as a three-part round or “canon.”

• Third movement from “Second Brandenburg Concerto”

Claude Bolling:

• “Fugace” from “Jazz Suite for flute, piano and drums”

“So much of Bach’s music is inspired by the dance,” Funfgeld says. “In his musical writing, the dance forms are always in the back of his mind.

“There are literally thousands of pieces that have dance meters,” Funfgeld continues in a phone interview. “And Bach in his youth learned to dance.”

The “Gigue” from Bach’s “Third Orchestral Suite” and the “Badinerie” from Bach’s “Second Orchestral Suite,” which are on the “Family Concert” program, are examples.

Maniscalco choreographs the Third movement from the “Second Brandenburg Concerto.” Dancing are 10 students from Charter Arts’ ninth and 10th grades.

Says Maniscalco in a phone interview:

“We started creating and playing with movement. We started walking, kind with regal walking and we got into some footwork.

“Bach wrote for court dances. Ballet came out of court dancing.

“Our goal was to not partner during the pandemic. It sort of has a partner feel to it.

”Greg [Funfgeld] talked directly to the students, very inspirationally, about the music they’re dancing. ‘Courting Joy’ is the title of my piece. He talked about how joyful the piece is.

“As I choreographed it, we couldn’t contain ourselves. We put in some big jumps and turns.”

Moyer choreographs “Crucifixus” and “Et resurrexit” from the “Mass in B Minor.”

Says Maniscalco, “It’s about when Christ died and it’s always dark and then bright and happy.” Seven Charter Arts juniors and seniors are dancing.

Berry choreographs 20th-century French composer Bolling’s “Fugace” from “Jazz Suite for flute, piano and drums.” Eight Charter Arts juniors and seniors are dancing.

“It’s very rhythmic and high-energy,” Funfgeld says of the Bolling piece.

“I’ve seen these dancers twice in rehearsals,” Funfgeld continues. “I think the kids are wonderful.”

“We’re dancing in front of the choir and the orchestra,” Maniscalco says of the Baker Hall stage. “So, we taped out the size of the space on the studio floor.

“The first time they’ll hear live music is the day of the concert,” says Maniscalco.

There will be a dress rehearsal the morning of the concert in Baker. Student dancers have been rehearsing to recordings.

Of dancers performing to live music, Maniscalco says, “It’s overwhelming in the best way. There’s nothing like live music. It’s like this glorious moment.”

Says Funfgeld, “Dancers love to perform with live music. So often they have to perform for recorded music.”

Of the combination of dance and Bach, Funfgeld says, “It’s a feast for all the senses. They help us to ‘see’ the music.”

Dancers will be attired in beautiful costumes. The performance in Baker Hall will include professional stage lighting.

Maniscalco, Charter Arts director of dance for 20 years, says this particular “Dancing with Bach” program was postponed from 2021 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shutdown.

“He [Funfgeld] asked us to be a part of his retirement year. I was so honored,” says Maniscalco

“You’ve got a choir and then the orchestra. And then you think about the history,” continues Maniscalco.

“Greg told us the story about the ‘Crucifixus’ and ‘Et resurrexit.’ He told us that the first time that the Mass in B Minor was performed in the U.S. was in Bethlehem by the Bach Choir. That gave me goosebumps: that the students will be part of that, performing in the same city as part of Greg’s retirement.

“The Bach Choir and Orchestra are world-famous. They ‘live’ right down street from us [Charter Arts].”

The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, founded in 1898, gave the first complete American performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor in 1900 and Christmas Oratorio in 1901.

“The part about my job that I love is providing opportunities for the students to show them what the possibilities are. I’ve enjoyed all my community partnerships, especially the Bach Choir,” says Maniscalco.

The Bach Choir of Bethlehem has collaborated with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and dancers from Muhlenberg College, DeSales University and Repertory Dance Theatre.

“It’s always been a great joy. It just gives you a new take on the music,” says Funfgeld of dancers and the music of Bach. “It’s an inspiration to us.

“I think people have been dancing to Bach’s music for decades and centuries,” continues Funfgeld.

“The dances were a courtly thing in Bach’s time. These [‘Dancing with Bach’] are going to be more modern dances. I think it’s going to be fantastic.”

Tickets: www.BACH.org; 610-866-4382