17th Annual DANCE THIS! Set for This Weekend at the Moore Theatre

For nearly 20 years now, STG's signature dance program, DANCE This, has been providing the perfect opportunity to see dance from around the world, have your heart be touched, and witness the building of cross-cultural embrace through the art of dance.

Celebrating 17 years of collaboration, young performers get the unique opportunity to work with each other and with renowned International dance artists for an experience that increases professional acumen and makes lasting memories. Past guest artists have included Broadway professionals, award winning dancers from New York and Los Angeles, famed companies such as Hubbard St. Dance, and ground-breaking artists like Savion Glover to name a few.

Slated to perform this year is cultural dance from the Melody Institute, a center dedicated to the teaching and understanding of Chinese language, culture and dance in the Puget Sound region, that teaches Chinese folk, traditional, modern, and ethnic dances around the Pacific Northwest. From Redmond marking their first time in DANCE This, is the Prashanthi Chitre Institute of Performing Arts where traditional classes, Bollywood and Contemporary dance are offered. Joining them, crowd favorites from last season's Global Party, New Islands United (NIU) Roots, a Tongan & Samoan cultural dance and music group from White Center.

A multi-year participant in Dance This, Northwest Tap Connection recently returned from Brazil will bring the energy with an Afro-Brazilian piece, infusing what they learned, while visiting the country. The piece will include a collaboration with various artists in the community. Long time choreographer to DANCE This, Daniel Cruz, will be bringing his Hip Hop company Cruz Control, which is sure to be a show stopper. Also, long time STG Mentor and choreographer, Amy O'Neal, will present a short excerpt from her latest evening work Opposing Forces, that was presented at On the Boards just this past year, and touring nationally through 2016. This excerpt features Bboys from Seattle's Massive Monkees crew and DogPund crew who have also performed in past DANCE This shows. Chris Daigre, teacher and choreographer, will bring to the stage an intergenerational piece, performed to live music, showcasing the harlem renaissance era with a piece called, Take Me Down to Duke's Place. Seattle's premier drop-in dance center, Westlake Dance Center's Black Floor Collective, will add to the program with a Jazz Contemporary number.

Rounding out this great line-up will be a dance number from the Tony-Award winning musical, Disney's Newsies, performed by local dancers. Disney's Newsies touring production (in Seattle at The Paramount April 2016), associate choreographer Lou Castro will set this piece on the DANCE This ensemble. Rex Kinney, STG's Project Director for DANCE This Intensive and DANCE This Camp, will be choreographing the finale featuring all the dancers. Mark Haim, is returning as Artistic Advisior for this year's DANCE This. He is an internationally recognized choreographer and dance teacher, and has created works for dance companies such as the Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballett Frankfurt, and the Joffrey Ballet. His 2013 work for a company of 14, This Land Is Your Land, has been seen in Paris (Theatre de Vanves) and New York (The Joyce Theater). Most recently, he was choreographer for The Consul and Tales of Hoffmann at the Seattle Opera.

You will have two chances to see this year performance: Tonight, July 10th and tomorrow, July 11th, both performances are @ 7:30PM at the Moore Theatre. Tickets are on sale now! Student and group tickets are also available. For more info on Dance This, visit www.stgpresents.org.

STG's mission is to make diverse performing arts and education an integral part of its region's cultural identity while keeping three historic venues, The Paramount, Moore and Neptune, alive and vibrant. STG presents a range of performances from Broadway, off-Broadway, dance and jazz, to comedy, concerts of all genres, speakers and family shows - at these three iconic theatres in Seattle and venues throughout the Puget Sound region and in Portland, Oregon.

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