As an exciting outgrowth of the Nickerson-Rossi Dance program held at the Annenberg Theater in the spring of 2016, the Palm Springs Dance Festival will take dance programming to the next level in 2017 with 3 consecutive days of eclectic dance performance, education, and outreach.
Beginning on Thursday, March 2, 2017 and running through Saturday, March 4, The Palm Springs Dance Festival will offer a plethora of opportunities to engage with dance including three separate performances that range from emerging student talent to acclaimed professional works as well as more than two dozen eclectic master class workshops with more than a dozen gifted instructors. Performance venues include Village Fest in Downtown Palm Springs, the Helene Galen Performing Arts Center at Rancho Mirage High School, and the Annenberg Theater at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Master classes will be held at CK Dance Studio, Dance with Miss Lindsay, Step by Step Studio, and on the stage at the Annenberg Theater. The faculty line-up and opportunity for learning is extraordinary, and the performance line-up is expansive and impressive.
The Gala performance focuses on professional concert dance and includes recognized talents. Catherine Cabeen, based in New York City, whom The New York Times has called “highly kinetic, complex… visually exquisite”. Seda Aybay/Kybele Dance Theater founded in LA; Seda has choreographed multiple award winning works, most recently garnering second place at the McCallum Theatres’ Choreography Fest, and first place at the Front and Main Festival in Temecula. Internationally award–winning Joshua Peugh/Dark Circles Contemporary Dance, founded in Seoul, South Korea; Joshua has been recognized as Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” breakout stars of 2015, and is a former 1st place Winner at the McCallum Theater’s Choreography festival.
Recognized as a boundary pusher, Stephen Agisilaou/Vertical Shadows is one of Melbourne, Australia’s most respected independent dance companies, selling out theaters and gaining five star reviews for a unique, undefinable style of movement. And Michael Nickerson Rossi/Nickerson-Rossi Dance is hailed for complex intricacies and beautifully orchestrated mixtures of artistic movement and emotional freedom, whose choreography will include a duet featuring guest dancer Lorenzo Pagano, a soloist from the Martha Graham Dance Company, awarded the recognition of “Male Rising Star” by the Italian International Dance Festival. Nickerson-Rossi Dance will also perform a piece by guest choreographer Lori Bryhni, Professor Emeritus and Co-Director of the Off-Balance Dance Company at Modesto Junior College.
Other performances include the stirring Dance Diversity Showcase, a free public performance brimming with diverse styles of dance as performed by various dance schools and companies on an outdoor stage at the Palm Springs Village Fest, and Emerging Talent, where inspiring student works are featured depicting a progressive dance journey from middle-school through college at the Helene Galen Performing Arts Center. The Palm Springs Dance Festival was created through the partnership of Nickerson-Rossi Dance and Astonish Events, LLC. For Tickets and more information, check out PalmSpringsDanceFest.com
To learn more about this event, please contact:
Darcy Carozza
760 406.1414
