For Gounouj in situ, Léo Lérus—resident artist of Chaillot, the national theater of dance, in Paris—translated the frog of his native Guadaloupe into intimate human terms with the help of a drum, thumb piano, and leafy surrounds. This North American version at the annual Crossing the Line Festival not only swaps out the island’s protected forest for New York City’s Governors Island but also exchanges the original quartet for a duet. The choreographer’s affection and worry for his homeland, so ravishing and so easily exploited, emerges as tenderness and delicacy between the regal former Ailey member Asha Thomas—now in her experimental and Parisian second career—and the young Robert Cornejo. A short, refreshing ferry ride from the bottom of Manhattan, the performance is free. —Apollinaire Scherr

There are three performances on October 3: at twelve-thirty P.M., two P.M., and three-thirty P.M.