Chop Shop Enters Second Decade of Sharing Dance on the Eastside

CHOP SHOP: Bodies of Work, a contemporary dance festival, returns in February 2018 with an outstanding line-up of eight dance companies and artists from the Pacific Northwest and farther afield. Now in its 11th year, the festival serves up its signature mix of performance, education, and dialogue, sharing the best of contemporary and modern dance with audiences both experienced and new to the art form.

"Celebrating our 10th anniversary in 2017 was such a thrill and we're really looking forward to entering our second decade of sharing contemporary dance on the Eastside," says festival Founder and Producer Eva Stone. "The dance artists and companies audiences will experience at the 2018 festival are incredible - together they offer unique insights on how contemporary dance is evolving and I'm excited that CHOP SHOP offers them a platform to exhibit their points of view."

CHOP SHOP presents two festival performances at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center, Saturday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 18 at 3:00 p.m. Both performances feature the same exciting program and the full artist line-up will be announced in early November.

Accompanying the 2018 festival performances is the Experience Dance Program, with opportunities for audiences of all ages, abilities, and experience levels to engage directly with dance. The Experience Dance Program returns in January 2018, bringing free and open to all modern dance classes and interactive lecture-demonstrations to a variety of Eastside venues. Experience Dance Program participants also receive a reduced price five dollar ticket to the CHOP SHOP 2018 performance of their choice. The Experience Dance Program class schedule and venues will be announced in late November.

About CHOP SHOP: Bodies of Work

CHOP SHOP's mission is to offer insight on contemporary dance and its creative process, in order to forge deeper connections between artists and audiences through presentation, education, dialogue, and experience. The festival is committed to promoting work that is accessible to a diverse audience, comprising both new and experienced dance viewers, and educating the community-at-large through free outreach classes offered through our innovative Experience Dance Program.

Since its founding in 2008, CHOP SHOP has shared and championed the work of more than 300 individual artists from 54 dance companies, welcomed 800+ Experience Dance Program participants to free and open to all ages and abilities dance classes, and invited countless dance students to engage directly with professional artists in over 50 different master classes. Artists featured in past editions of the festival include Spectrum Dance Theatre (Seattle), Joshua Beamish (Vancouver, B.C.), zoe | juniper (Seattle), Adam Barruch Dance (New York City), Kiyon Gaines (Seattle), Grand Rapids Ballet (Grand Rapids, Michigan), //TECTONIC MARROW SOCIETY (Seattle), Price Suddarth (Seattle), Gabrielle Revlock (Philadelphia/New York City), Whim W'Him (Seattle), Donald Sales (Vancouver, B.C.), Mark Haim (Seattle), and Alex Ketley/The Foundry (San Francisco). For more information visit chopshopdance.org.

Photo: Dancers: Jessica Johns and Toa Paranihi (New Zealand School of Dance)

Photo: Stephen A'Court

To post a comment, you must register and login.