Adrienne Willis, ADI’s executive director, saw the same revival and resolved to book “Necessary Weather” for the inaugural season in her renovated theater. “It’s so beautiful. You don’t even realize that there is no music, because the lighting is done in a way that it’s like a score,” Willis said. “It’s one of the best pieces of dance works I have ever seen.”

Staging “Necessary Weather” was so important to Willis that long before construction crews arrived, she sat down with lighting consultant John McGovern and looked at the technical riders. They wanted to make sure the theater could handle whatever lighting tools the piece required.

That kind of foresight is rare, McGovern said. He helped Willis rent special equipment for this weekend’s performances, including expensive rotating colored lights called sea changers. But they were also surprised to see that despite the importance of light in “Necessary Weather,” Tipton uses fewer bulbs, gadgets and spotlights than most troupes performing at ADI this year.

She’s a minimalist who never uses three lights when one will do. And yet, she illuminates dance like no one else can.

“It’s like this,” McGovern said. “Everything in the lighting world has already been done, just like every chord in music has already been played. But then you’ll see Jennifer Tipton try something new, and it’s like nothing the world has ever seen before.”