LADIES NIGHT Announced at Los Angeles International Dance Festival

On April 15, 2020, the inaugural Los Angeles International Dance Festival (LAIDF) - a 16-day dance experience across 12 venues and 30 performances across Southern California - will feature a special one-off performance called "Ladies Night," at Royce Hall at 8:00pm, showcasing three extraordinary LA dance companies: ATE9, TL Collective and Barak Ballet. All three dance companies were founded by women (Danielle Agami, Micaela Taylor and Melissa Barak), who bring a wealth of diverse perspectives to their choreography, attributed much to their different ethnic backgrounds and past experiences.

Danielle Agami was born in Israel and has presented her choreography in several different frameworks, including Dahlia (2010) at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, which was subsequently staged at the The School of Visual Theater's Dance-Video Festival in Jerusalem as well as in Berlin, Germany.

Micaela Taylor, an African American professional dancer/choreographer from Los Angeles, began her training in hip-hop and African dance at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy and Lula Washington Dance Theatre, before observing a ballet class at the age of 12 and shifting her focus from commercial dance to ballet and modern dance. She has since performed with several companies and founded the Los Angeles-based contemporary dance company, The TL Collective in 2016. Her individual movement style of hip-hop combined with contemporary technique is best described as Contemporary/Pop.

Melissa Barak danced with the New York City Ballet for a decade from 1998 - 2007. When she was only 22-years-old, she was youngest choreographer in New York City Ballet history to be commissioned an original work. Barak has been awarded the Mae L. Wien and Choo San Goh Awards for Outstanding Choreographic Promise and has been named a "Top 25 to Watch" by Dance Magazine.

Together, the three dance companies will present a night of eclectic, diverse performances-ranging from a fusion of contemporary dance and theatrical hip hop (including elements of groove, acrobatics and high level athleticism) to syncopated group works that explore complex themes and breathe new life into contemporary ballet.

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