Grand Center's Dancing in the Street September 26, 2009

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GRAND CENTER’S ‘DANCING IN THE STREET’ FESTIVAL RETURNS SEPTEMBER 26 FOR ITS THIRD YEAR
Featuring Four Stages of Non-Stop Dance, Dancing Lessons,
Street Performers, Live Music
ST. LOUIS (JULY XX, 2009) – The art, beauty, athleticism and energy of dance comes to life September 26 as Grand Center produces its third annual “Dancing in the Street” festival, presented by Wells Fargo Advisors. Serving as the opening celebration for the District’s fall arts season, this festival will be filled with juried performances and features approximately 50 dance companies with nearly 700 dancers performing a variety of dance styles, including tap, ballet, clog, modern, hip hop, Indian, belly, jazz, salsa, flamenco and much more, on four outdoor stages. In addition to stage presentations, site-specific dances will add to the excitement throughout the district. “Dancing in the Street,” a free event, will enliven Grand Center from
1 to 9 p.m.
This year’s festival promises to keep the crowd, as well as the dancers, on their toes.
A surprise performance will erupt in front of the Fox Theatre on Grand Boulevard at
3:20 and 6:20 p.m. with audience participation encouraged. Everyone is quite secretive about it. Even rehearsals are taking place at an undisclosed location.
“In previous years we featured one major headline act. This year, we have designed the program to showcase a variety of innovative performers and inventive performances,” said Kelly Weber, Director of Events, Theatres and Marketing at Grand Center.
Keeping the festival fresh and creative, new groups featured as this year’s headliners are:
• Coming from Chicago and a strong gymnastics and ballet background, the husband and wife team Duo Adamo will showcase their unique aerial strap act combining strength, beauty and athleticism. This amazing show will be performed all while suspended in the air in Strauss Park.
• “Crutch Master” Bill Shannon uses his dependence on crutches to create awe-inspiring dance routines. He will perform throughout the day and amongst the crowd with high-energy hip-hop dances that include popular break dancing and skateboarding moves all on crutches.
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• Dance instructions will be offered throughout the festival, including the exciting Bollywood dance to the Oscar-winning Hindi song “Jai Ho” made popular in the closing scene of Slumdog Millionaire.
• Acro Yoga Fusion will be demonstrated on the grassy corner of Olive and Grand - this unique form of yoga unites acrobatic concepts with a yogic consciousness. Incorporating aesthetics from various dance forms (break and street dance, modern, jazz, ballet, improvisation and mask-work) gave birth to this combination of Acro Yoga and dance aesthetics.
“When immersed among dance performances, whether through the act of dancing itself or as spectators, people make a stronger connection with the magic of dance,” said Weber. “Therefore, we like the idea of bringing our ‘special event’ performances off the stages and in and among the streetscape and the people. After all, we are ‘Dancing in the Street.’”
Throughout the day, there will be four stages of varied and ongoing dance that appeals to all ages:
• The Fox Tap Stage located on Olive between Grand and Spring will feature 15 local troupes with approximately 300 dancers and is being produced by Pat Vogelsang and directed by Gerri Stretz and Yvonne Meyer of The Professional Dance Center.
• The Grand Stage located at Grand and Lindell will offer dance instruction, salsa, zumba and the fabulous choreography from Hannah Montana presented by Radio Disney’s Dance Team.
• Two additional stages, on Grandel Square and on Washington Avenue, will showcase the talents of another 30 amazing dance companies, including Aalim’s Arabian Silk, aTrek Dance Company, Grupo Azucar, Viva Flamenco!, MADCO, Missouri River Cloggers and St. Louis Ballet Youth Ensemble. Several dance companies are presenting original works that will be premiered at the dance festival including The Slaughter Project, Alexandra Ballet, Ashleyliane Dance Co., the COCA Hip Hop Crew and Webster University Dance Program.
• Always popular with the crowds who love to show off their own dance moves, the Washington and Grand Stages will offer live music of all kinds beginning at
6:30 and 7:00 p.m. respectively.

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“Grand Center is a true destination hub for the arts in St. Louis. Besides kicking off the fall arts season, we have two major goals to achieve with ‘Dancing in the Street,’” said Rachel Beatty,
Project Manager, Events and Marketing at Grand Center. “One is to provide a platform for local and regional artists and performers to showcase the beauty and athleticism inherent in all forms of dance. And the other is to bring the unusual, the unanticipated and the expectation that if Grand Center does it, it will be innovative and imaginative.”
Grand Center’s galleries and museums will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. and the 3600 block of Grandel Square will showcase 21 expert workshops and 65 exhibits offering sustainable ideas, products and services during the Earthways Green Homes Festival from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Powell Symphony Hall will host an Open House (Time TBA). In celebration of Homecoming Weekend, St. Louis University will host a fireworks celebration at 8:15 p.m. The “Midtown Alley Street Fest” on Olive between Compton and Garrison will be held from 4 to 11 p.m. This event will feature a juried show of industrial art, live bands, food and beverages.
Other September 26 events in Grand Center include:
• 3 p.m. - Kranzberg Arts Center Black Box: HotCity Theatre, “Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom” (second show at 8 p.m.)
• 8 p.m. - Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra: Orchestral Series opening weekend conducted by David Robertson with Daniel Lee on cello
• 8:30 p.m. - Jazz at the Bistro: Mulgrew Miller Trio

Food and beverages will be sold by District restaurants and street vendors, including Gelato Di Riso, Pappy’s Smokehouse and Schafly Beer. Grand Boulevard from Lindell to Delmar will be closed for the festival. All District lots and garages are accessible with plenty of parking available. For more information on Grand Center’s “Dancing in the Street” festival call 314.289.1517 or visit www.grandcenter.org.

Local and Regional Dance Companies include:

Aalim's Arabian Silk St. Louis
Afriky Lolo & Yele Normandy
Alexandra Ballet Chesterfield
AnnonyArts St. Louis
Ashleyliane Dance Co. St. Louis
Atrek Dance Collective St. Louis
Belly Dance Mirage Tower Grove
BG Spirit, Bulgarian Dancing Group St. Louis
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Blackthorn Morris St. Louis
Bollywood Shuffle St. Louis
City in Motion Dance Theater Kansas City
COCA Ballet Eclectica University City
COCAdance University City
COCA Hip Hop Crew University City
Collective Motion St. Louis
Dance of India St. Louis
Dimensions Dance Company St. Louis
Flavor Dancers St. Louis
Grupo Azucar St. Louis
Harris-Stowe State University Honeycombs St. Louis
Lindenwood University Dance Ensemble St. Louis
MADCO Kirkwood
Mayer School of Irish Dance St. Louis
Metro Dance Company St. Louis
Midwest Dance Theater Creve Coeur
Missouri River Cloggers Creve Coeur
Mound City Slickers Kirkwood
The Slaughter Project Kirkwood
Southeast Missouri State University Department of Cape Girardeau
Theatre and Dance
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East Saint Louis East Saint Louis
Center for Performing Arts
St. Louis Ballet Company St. Louis
Tribe Ayaka St. Louis
Turn of Change Dance Collective St. Louis
Viva Flamenco! Shrewsbury
Webster University Dance Program Webster Groves
You Are Here Dance St. Louis

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About Grand Center
Grand Center is the arts and entertainment district located in Midtown St. Louis. It is home to more than 30 arts organizations that demonstrate the depth and diversity of the city’s cultural life. The District hosts more than 1,500 cultural events and welcomes over 1.7 million visitors annually. Grand Center’s artistic renaissance began with the restoration of Powell Symphony Hall and the Fabulous Fox Theatre and continues today with the growing vitality of commercial and residential development, the addition of more cultural institutions, galleries and dining establishments as well as serving as the home for two of the area’s premiere large scale cultural events, the annual “Dancing in the Street” festival and “First Night”®. For more information, visit www.grandcenter.org.

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