When you live it, you can feel it, so you can share it on stage.

That's part of the contention of Ronald K. Brown's dance company, Evidence, which makes its Hawai'i concert debut this weekend at the Hawai'i Theatre.

"I really see dance as a mode of expression," said Brown, 36, from his New York base. "We definitely try to convey how we feel, how we relate, as we build different worlds — conversations between dancers, expressions that we hope communicate with the audience."

As in conversations, Brown said his choreography can reflect "different tones. When you're angry, there's not just one expression, but many different colors and nuances. We strive to get this range of feelings."

Evidence's program is titled "Walking Out the Dark." It's not an assembly of doom and gloom; rather, darkness is a metaphor for the company to explore elements of lightness and brightness, though Brown said that his numbers also reflect notions of darkness in themes of damaged relationships, abyss between two people, elements of love.

Evidence is a company of eight; its name refers to what you learn, observe, retain and share as an individual. "Each one of us is an example of all the things we know," said Brown. "I want my company to bring its history, its traditions, to all we bring to the stage. We're all evidence of these experiences."

Though founded in 1985, Evidence did not formally organize until 1996, making it a young company in the New York dancescape. "Making dances was the most important thing to me when I started up the company, but my colleagues all said, 'You don't want to have a company, tour, have a board of directors, raise money and schmooze.' Guess what? I've made a major decision, made it official: In April this year, I finally moved into an office space (he was operating out of home, in a room dedicated to Evidence), and I'm now walking that fence. It's important for dance to be a business."

Brown, who grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, said he had an inkling, as a second-grader, that dance might be in his future.

"We had a Black History Week program, and we all had to come dressed as something we wanted to be," he said. "So I came as Arthur Mitchell (of the Dance Theatre for Harlem), in black tights and T-shirt and (with) little experience in dance. I was always one of those kids dancing in the house, complete with a program, and made my family watch. And I was very excited when I watched the Alvin Ailey company on a school trip."

Early on, he started with ballet. "I remember I was 12, and my mother and I were headed to an audition in Harlem for a scholarship program, and she went into labor for my little brother," said Brown.

"I thought, oh, I was going to be a big brother, and I had to stop this dream of dancing, which would be frivolous. It wasn't till three or four years later that I would come back around to dancing."

His inner city roots were a curse and a challenge. "When you grow up in an inner city, you don't believe in the American dream, for the most part," said Brown. "You don't believe it's for you. What you imagine you want would not be readily available or reachable; what you have and what you know is just what's on your block."

But the ghetto fueled his imagine and nurtured his aspirations. "Sure, things were hard to come by," said Brown. "I grew up in a neighborhood that I loved. I didn't feel danger; there was always an element of not wanting to leave your kind. It's a comfort zone, your support system, after all."

But he knew he had to get out to chase his dreams. "You understand there's another world out there," he said. "But that's how culture is set up. Everyone can't acquire that dream; the system is such where some people have more than others."

Color, he said, is a factor in what he does and how he does it.

"Who I am is essential to the work I do," said Brown. "There's no real way for me to get away from who I am. That is, in this life, and in that of my ancestors, the work is always about your roots. I may not be specifically talking about my black brothers or sisters, but the body language will suggest, or conclude, that I am dealing with an issue the way a black man would."

His company is made up of seven African Americans and one Filipino.