The alfresco offerings of the Battery Dance Company’s annual sampler are distinguished by the variety of the local participants and the unfamiliarity of the international ones. This year, the troupe of Guru Radha Mohanan, a pedigreed master of Kathakali, makes its United States début (with a show to itself on Aug. 17), while the Yuko Takahashi Company presents a Japanese take on mainline modern dance. The fourteen New York groups include those of Dusan Ty´nek, Jacqulyn Buglisi, and Amy Marshall. See batterydanceco.com for a full schedule. (The Lawn at Battery Park. Aug. 14-15 at 1. 1 New York Plaza. Aug. 16-20 at noon.)