Just a few days after Lane Alexander, co-founder and artistic director of the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, oversees the four different programs that begin Nov. 26 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance — and comprise his Global Rhythms 6 celebration — this modern-day Pied Piper of the percussive arts will head to China, where last year he was given a 10-year appointment as senior adviser to the Beijing Contemporary Music Academy.

“The school is a great deal like Chicago’s Columbia College — but with facilities to die for — and it fills a unique niche in the Chinese education market,” Alexander said. “It has courses in everything from ballroom to hip-hop to American tap dance (which has a sort of subculture following in China), and you can study graphic design and arts management there as well.”

As a co-founder of the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Alexander has been championing the multifaceted “language” of percussive dance for 20 years. And this weekend’s series of action-packed Global Rhythms concerts suggest the radically different local and international accents of that language, as well as Alexander’s plan to put more instrumental music into the overall mix of his programming in seasons to come.

Following are highlights of each of the Global Rhythms programs, with Alexander’s comments:

NOV. 26, 8 p.m.:

Be the Groove: This Chicago-based rhythmic performance ensemble captures the urban beat by fusing movement and instrumental percussion.

Fulcrum Point New Music Project: Chicago-based Fulcrum Point’s Jeff Handley and Tina Laughlin will will perform David Lang’s 1991 piece “The Anvil Chorus,” in which the “melody” is played on resonant junk metals of the percussionists’ choosing, from xylophone to gong. Talk about banging on a can.

Diabolus in Musica: A decidedly offbeat part of the roster, this French medieval-style ensemble makes its Chicago debut performing “La Rose Tres Bele,” a work of monody and polyphony created by 13th century female poet-composers, or “trouveres.” They play period instruments, including flat drums, flutes and harp, and there is even a bit of courtly dance involved in this haunting, beautiful, completely different work.

BAM!: The Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s own performance ensemble will be on display at every show with a series of premieres devised under the banner “Interchange,” and choreographed by Emmy Award winner Ted Levy, Riverdance star Martin “Tre” Dumas, sand-dance master Guillem Alonso of Spain and Fernando Barba of Brazil’s Barbatuques.

NOV.27, 3 p.m.:

Jump Rhythm Jazz Proj­ect:This Emmy Award-winning Chicago-based dance company that combines dance, music and verbal gymnastics will perform “Why Gershwin?,” a wry romantic duet.

Alphonsus Academy & Center for the Arts: This Chicago-based step-dancing group is comprised entirely of students from the arts-oriented Lake View school.

South Shore Drill Team: The discipline and theatricality of this ensemble is incredible. It performs highly choreographed, precision-tooled parades that are set to a wide range of music and involve the manipulation of rifles, swords and flags. This organization has helped turn many kids’ lives around over the 30 years of its existence, and has won acclaim nationally and internationally.

NOV. 27, 8 p.m.:

Step Afrika!: A big hit when it performed during the 2009 Global Rhythms program, this Washington, D.C.-based troupe was the first professional company in the world dedicated to stepping — the dance tradition, popular among African-American fraternities and sororities in the post-World War II years, that sort of formalized “handboning” or “Juba dance.” The style is now practiced in high schools, colleges and churches around the country, and this company has expanded its rep to include Zulu dances, South African gumboot dances and hip-hop, so it covers both the roots of dance and contemporary forms.

Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theater: The company’s signature work, Dame Libby Komaiko’s “Bolero,” set to the ever-hypnotic music of Ravel, is a thriller — starting with a single woman in red and ending with this Chicago-based company’s full ensemble setting the stage ablaze with capes and fans.

NOV. 28, 3 p.m.:

Tatsu Aoki’s Miytumi Project with Jasc Tsukasa Taiko: The leading taiko (or Japanese drumming) ensemble in the Chicago area, this experiment in Asian-American fusion mixes the traditional with cutting-edge jazz.