Jean Isaacs has been spreading the gospel...

Jean Isaacs has been spreading the gospel of modern dance in San Diego since 1969, not only through her own Three’s Company concerts, but also by sponsoring no-frills performances. Now, after years of nurturing the art form with only crude technical support--and virtually no outside funding--the Lo-Tec Series is firmly established on the local horizon. And artists from around the country, as well as San Diego dancers and choreographers, are stepping into this ring.

When dancer Doreen Amelia and musician Gary Stokes team up for a pair of performances at Three’s Company’s Hillcrest studio at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, their multimedia work will inaugurate a summer season that will run through Sept. 6 and feature a dozen different concerts.

“The look hasn’t changed,” Isaacs said of the series, “but this year we have support from the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts), which means more support for some of the artists.

“We have about half local and half out-of-towners. In general, we take chances. We pick people that we haven’t seen lately (on San Diego stages). The level isn’t always even, but this is an experimental series.”

This year’s grab bag will include Cincinnati-based Shawn Womack, formerly of San Diego Ballet; ex-Cunningham dancer Albert Reid, and Lula Washington’s L.A. Contemporary Dance Theater. Isaacs has ferreted out a few underexposed local performers and included another “Dance X-Change,” which features an assortment of new works and on-the-spot critiques by local dance critics.

Amelia’s kickoff concert, “Believe It or Not . . . An American Story,” is an amalgamation of dance, music, songs, sculpture, text and slides. Based on interviews with San Diego schoolchildren, it represents a child’s view of reality and myth.

“We were wondering what children were thinking about,” Amelia said. “The piece is just an exploration of the different dichotomies--what children know and what they believe. They still think about Prince Charming but, on the other end, they’re dealing with robots. How do we deal with teaching them history, so we don’t keep making the same mistakes?”

Amelia’s “Fragmented Justice” debuted during last year’s Lo-Tec series.

“It was the first time I had shown the piece. In fact, it was still a work in progress,” she said. “But it got me an invitation to show the piece at the Lyceum and at Mandeville Auditorium. There aren’t enough opportunities like this.”

Next weekend’s program will highlight the work of two post-modernists from Santa Barbara, Margaret Tedesco and Laurie Burnaby; and Stephanie Gilliard & Groundwork, a Riverside dance collective. Shawn Womack and Dancers will perform July 4 and 5.