Stewart/Owen Dance Unveils Award-Winning Contemporary Choreography To Tampa Audiences

Stewart/Owen Dance brings a dynamic collection of contemporary choreography and audience favorites to Tampa. The program's centerpiece is Stewart/Owen Dance's newest work, Again, for the First Time, inspired by the human life cycle. Additional works include What Remains, an explosive ensemble work set to a propulsive soundscape and the vivaciously retro Memory Affair, and Silver Spoon, a charming and quirky battle for control.

Celebrated as "sensual" by The Washington Post and hailed as "humorous, elegant, and wild" by Seattle Dances. Their acclaimed work has toured nationally and globally with fifteen U.S. State Department tours.

Wife and husband co-founders Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart's award-winning choreography has been presented by festivals and companies across the U.S., and their careers have taken them across the globe on fifteen U.S. State Department tours to teach, perform, and choreograph contemporary dance with Washington D.C.-based Company E.

In 2017 they made North Carolina their home base where they work to cultivate the craft of storytelling through movement. Working with regional dance artists, writers, musicians, and storytellers, these cross-genre collaborators cultivate the craft of storytelling through movement - even choreographing music videos for Moses Sumney, Sylvan Esso, and Ben Phantom.

Stewart/Owen Dance won the Audience Choice Award at the NYC Dance Gallery Festival 2018, was commissioned as Dance Gallery 2019 Level UP Artists, are recipients of a McDowell Regional Artist Project Grant, a North Carolina Artist Support Grant, and were voted "Artists Who Most Pushed the Boundaries with the Human Body" by 2020 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival.

Originally from Amity, Pennsylvania, and received her B.F.A. in Dance from Wright State University. She has danced professionally with Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, the Kennedy Center's production of Children of Eden, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance and Company E. Vanessa performed regularly at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and worked extensively through the State Department touring as a Cultural Ambassador during her time with Company E. These tours took her to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Cuba, Israel, Palestine, Republic of Georgia, Azerbaijan, China, and Uruguay where she taught, performed, and choreographed contemporary dance and musical theater productions.

Vanessa was awarded a McDowell Regional Artist Grant, a Fellowship in Choreography by the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Audience Choice Award at the NYC Dance Gallery Festival, and her choreography has been presented at Wright State University, the Women in Dance Conference, YES!

Dance Invitational, Velocity DC, Agora Dance, Shenandoah University, McCallum Theatre Choreography Festival, Asheville Fringe Arts Festival, CHOP SHOP Contemporary Dance, Richmond Dance Festival, Versatility Dance Festival, Palm Desert Choreography Festival, Austin Dance Festival, Stavna Ballet, and Company E.

She has served on the faculty of Stavna Ballet, Joy of Motion Dance Center, Company E, the Academy at Terpsicorps, and WNC Dance Academy.

Originally from Tulsa, OK, started his training at Tulsa Youth Ballet and received his BFA from UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. Gavin has danced professionally with Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, Owen/Cox Dance Group, MOVE: the Company, Richmond Ballet, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, Company E, and Dark Circles Contemporary Dance Company. During his time with Company E, he performed regularly at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and worked extensively through the State Department touring as a Cultural Ambassador. These tours took him to Kazakhstan, Sweden, Turkmenistan, Russia, Cuba, Israel, Palestine, Azerbaijan, and Uruguay where he taught, performed, and choreographed contemporary dance.

Gavin was the first Richmond Ballet II member to create new works for both Richmond Ballet and Richmond Ballet II, and he has also presented choreography at UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, Virginia Commonwealth University, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, Agora Dance, Velocity DC Dance Festival, McCallum Theatre Choreography Festival, and Company E.

He has served on the faculty of Company E, CityDance, Metropolitan Ballet Academy, the Academy at Terpsicorps, WNC Dance Academy, the YMCA of McDowell County, French Broad River Academy, and the Ballet Conservatory of Asheville.

General admission is $23.00 and HCC students, faculty, and staff are admitted free of charge with a valid ID. The box office opens one hour prior to the performance. Advance tickets can be purchased at hccdancetickets.org. For more information visit hccfl.edu/dance. The Mainstage Theatre is located in Tampa at 1411 E. 11th Ave.

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