 "Photo: Courtesy of Dance St. Louis")
Want to impress your significant other? Take her to the dance. Dance St. Louis and the Touhill have just the ticket for you.
Dance St. Louis, the area's premier presenter of dance, and the Touhill Performing Arts Center announced the new "Spring To Dance Festival" on the Touhill's Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall stage last Tuesday, April 1, at a 10 a.m. press conference.
The new annual festival of dance will take place over the Memorial Day weekend, May 22-24 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.
Live performance, whether theater or dance, is a marvelous experience, but the higher price compared to a movie means many younger people rarely, if ever, go to live performances, not matter how enjoyable. Often, they do not even know what they are missing.
Dance St. Louis and the Touhill PAC have the solution with the Spring To Dance Festival, a remarkable new annual three-day program that offers world-class dance performances for little more than the price of a movie ticket.
Spring To Dance Festival was inspired by an event in New York. One New York dance company concerned that price was keeping people from developing a taste for dance launched a program where you could get a ticket for a world-class dance performance for $10, less than the price of a movie tickets in New York. They called the program "Fall For Dance."
Now Dance St. Louis is bringing the same idea to the Touhill PAC, with the Spring To Dance Festival. The yearly festival of dance will bring dance troupes from around the world to perform here. Each night's program will be different.
Spring To Dance Festival is all about the number three. During the three-day Spring To Dance Festival, over 30 dance companies from around the world will participate.
The price is $30 for three days, just $10 a night, which makes it a true bargain.
Every evening of the festival is a triple bill of events. Doors will open at 5 p.m. for demonstrations, and information booths from local arts and education organizations in the Touhill lobby.
Starting at 6 p.m., the Touhill's smaller Lee Theater will feature performances by outstanding region dance troupes.
At 8 p.m., it is the evening's main event, featuring a world-renowned dance troupe in the Touhill's big A-B Performance Hall.
You can find a complete list of the featured dance troupes, as well as information about each of them, at the Dance St. Louis website at http://springtodance.com/, if you click on Spring To Dance.
Spring To Dance Festival will be another first for the area. World-acclaimed stars will be featured along with the best rising young troupes from the Midwest region.
Dance styles will range from flamenco and tap to ballet and jazz. There will be cutting-edge contemporary and cross-cultural fusions as well.
The organizer of Spring To Dance, Dance St. Louis, is not a dance company but a dance presenting organization that has brought the best in dance, from ballet to modern, to St Louis for over 40 years.
The organization was formed with the idea of bringing the best in dance to St. Louis, and their dance offerings include the full spectrum of dance, from classical ballet, contemporary ballet, and modern dance to ethnic, ballroom, tap, jazz, and hip-hop. The dancers include renowned classic troupes and cutting-edge artists.
Among the dancers and dance troupes they have brought to the area are STOMP, American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Riverdance, Martha Graham Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Tap Dogs and Pilobolus.
The dance programs are preceded by an informative talk on dance and the organization also works with community groups and schools to promote interest in dance.
Dance St. Louis' next program, the last of their regular season, will be the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, on April 11 and 12 at the Fox Theater.
Once, Dance St. Louis presented their programs almost exclusively at the Fox Theater, but in recent years, they have more often brought their wonderful dance program to the beautiful Touhill PAC.
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