Pioneering Youth Dance Festival In SLC Culminates With Two Memorable Concerts

After three successful years, NEW CENTURY DANCE PROJECT (NCDP) returns to Salt Lake City August 13-17, 2019 with an all new focus. NCDP, the brain-child of Santa Fe-based choreographer and educator Francisco Gella (RDT dancer 1996-1998), brings together professional teaching artists, dancers and companies from Utah and across North America to share their expertise and artistic excellence with young aspiring dancers ages 8-22 training for their future. For the third year, RDT is proud to be a sponsoring partner of the event held at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.

Beginning this year, all of the festival's activities are geared toward the art of performance and the craft of choreography. Student participants will spend five days developing tools to explore creating their own work, understanding the importance of strong technique and personal artistry in performance, and learning original choreography created onsite to perform at the closing festival concert. . The diverse classes and workshops offered during the festival will be a safe space to encourage risk-taking and self-exploration - essential elements to performing and choreographing.

The festival will culminate with two unique performances featuring over twenty talented dance makers - a STUDENT CHOREOGRAPHY SHOWCASE on Friday, August 16, and the FESTIVAL GALA CONCERT on Saturday, August 17.

The STUDENT CHOREOGRAPHY SHOWCASE on Friday, August 16 is an evening of diverse choreographic works by twelve student choreographers from dance conservatories, schools and college/university dance programs spanning North America. These promising, exceptional young artists represent some of the very best of our collective dance future. Someday, members of the audience will be able to say they saw the work of these dance-makers before they broke out. The choreographers showing work include: Aimee Brotten (Tulalip, WA), Biana Calderon (Escazu, San Jose, Costa Rica), Grace Coleman (Centennial, CO), Quaba Ernest (Brooklyn, NY), Brian Golden (Orange, CA), Rosie Granito (Aurora, CO), Eliana Hayward (Knoxville, TN), Arianna Shahin (Ambler, PA), Ezra Sosa (Provo, UT), Emma Wall (Orange, CA), Rebecca Webb (Salt Lake City, UT), Leila Williams (Los Angeles, CA), Louis Williams (Austin, TX).

The FESTIVAL GALA CONCERT will be the NCDP culminating event. This exciting concert features the selected works of thirteen professional and emerging choreographers from across the United States (including representation from Utah) and Latin America. The concert also includes guest artists, NCDP student participants in work created for them during the week's festival, and a special performance by Repertory Dance Theatre, sponsoring partner of NCDP. Choreographers include: Rebecca Aneloski (Salt Lake City, UT), Alexandra Bender (Chino, CA), Sarah Franco (Salt Lake City, UT), Francisco Gella (Santa Fe, NM), Daniel Higgins (RDT, Salt Lake City, UT), Haley Johnson (Draper, UT), Kelli Leighton (Folsom, CA), Hannah Millar (Fresno, CA), Daniel Ojeda (Boise, ID), Sam Picart (Seattle, WA), Eileen Ramirez (Escazu, San Jose, Costa Rica), Jessica Zamarripa (Laredo, TX).

All of the choreographers presenting work were selected by an expert national panel of adjudicators from a competitive pool of applicants. They will be competing for a new RDT choreographic commission to be created in the 2019/20 season and an additional opportunity to present new work at next year's NCDP festival.

For festival details, concert tickets, and to register for master classes/workshops, please go to https://newcenturydanceproject.org.

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