Most 19-year-olds don't have their own dance company.

Those that do most likely can't say the same one year later.

Ronald K. Brown and his dance company Evidence are one such success story in a world of cutthroat competition for acknowledgement. Brown is one of the very few 19-year-olds who managed to pull together a successful dance

company, and at 8 p.m. Saturday, Evidence will perform at Eisenhower Auditorium.

The Harlem-based dance company's genre is "modern and ballet fused with Afro-Cuban styles and West African forms such as Sabar, [and] a lot of different Caribbean dance forms," said Arcell Cabuag, associate artistic director of Evidence. The company has been around since 1985 and has four men and four women, Cabuag said.

Evidence performs at a variety of different venues. Shows range from lecture demonstrations at schools to performances at big-name theaters.

"We perform at [New York] City Center, Kennedy Center, a lot of big theaters around the country," Cabuag said.

In addition, the company has performed in many foreign countries such as Hungary, Holland, Mexico and Greece. The dancers have also traveled to Cuba and the Ivory Coast for research purposes, Cabuag said.

Laura Sullivan, marketing and communications director for the Center for the Performing Arts, said Evidence was booked because it fit the dance series that the center is pursuing this year.

"Dance is a genre we are trying to build. We are working to build a greater audience," Sullivan said.

The performance is a series of three dances, each with its own inspiration. Cabuag said "One Shot," the first piece in the performance, "was inspired by photos taken by Charles 'Teenie' Harris," who took pictures of the spirit of African-American life in Pittsburgh from 1936 to 1975.

"Ron was inspired to discover the story behind and inside the pictures, which delve into the essence of dignity, hope and family," Cabuag said.

The second piece, entitled "Come Ye," was finished in 2002 as a tribute to jazz singer Nina Simone, and is "a dance to summon the warriors and angels and activists that were dedicated to pursue liberation and peace amidst human struggles," Cabuag said. As a backdrop, "Come Ye" will also have photos and film created by Robert Penn.

The third and final piece, "Upside Down," is a portion of an older composition that was last performed in 1997. It was part of "Destiny," a collaboration piece between Evidence and contemporary African company Jeune Ballet d'Afrique Noire of the Ivory Coast, Cabuag said.

"There's quite a range of work that people get to see because of the process of his work changing," Cabuag said of Brown's choreographic techniques.

The music comes from a variety of composers such as Ahmad Jamal, Anonimo Consejo and jazz legend Billy Strayhorn. "One Shot," for example, is actually three different duets, Cabuag said.

Sullivan expects that the performance will draw a mixed crowd.

"I think we'll see some girls from [Penn State's student dance company] Orchesis. I expect to see dancers. Hopefully, we'll see African-American people because it does touch on some of their history," she said.

Cabuag agreed that the company usually draws a variety of people.

"The response is normally good. People are moved by the stories and the grace of the dancers," he said.

Cabuag said students can expect "to see fully invested dancers with dynamic energy, performing dances with the use of traditional folklore."