Gregory Catellier of the Emory Dance Program is in the midst of a creative endeavor so grand in scope that it will take four concert series and several years to complete.

This month, his organization Catellier Dance Projects presents "...the final frontier," the second in a series of four evening-length works, the first of which premieres at Emory’s Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts May 17-19.

Each work ruminates on a different element of dance: time, space, energy and body. In "...the final frontier," Catellier brings seven dancers, a dance media artist, a composer, a team of designers, a control technician, a robot camera, and nine six-foot balloons together for an exploration of spatial relationships.

The lecturer in the University’s dance program leaps into the new territory of space, focusing on architecture, outer space and what it means to be close.

In the completion of "...the final frontier," a project that began last May, Catellier employs the help of many artistic collaborators. Seattle-based media artist Jeff Curtis lends his talents with the dance for camera piece, "Transit," and original music by Atlanta composer Kendall Simpson, also of the Emory Dance Program, provides the backdrop for dancers Alex Abarca, Virginia Broyles, Corian Ellisor, Claire Molla, Kristin O’Neal, Chelsea Spencer and Jessica Womack.