- Lois Greenfield
- Dancers from the Vanaver Caravan Dance Institute
The Vanaver Caravan Dance Institute, a Hudson Valley based touring dance and music company, hosts the 21st Annual DanceFest! on Saturday, February 2 at 3:30pm and 7:30pm at SUNY New Paltz's McKenna Theatre. DanceFest! is a collaborative project to help the local community connect with different dance styles, including world dance, modern, and classic jazz, among others.
The themes of the dances range from Viking and pagan culture to childhood innocence to the Holocaust and oppression. Some performances blend dance styles like New York Academy of Ballet's "Immortal ConFusion," which juxtaposes three different types of dance, and others blur genres, such as "La Nuit," Rhinebeck Dance Centre's ballet/theater dance premiere.
Eleven Hudson Valley dance schools are participating in the event including the Vanaver Caravan Dance Institute, Barefoot Dance Center, Dance Beacon/Ballet Art Studio, Figures in Flight, Gina Marie'z Academy of Performing Arts, Madeline's Dance Center, New Paltz School of Ballet, New York Academy of Ballet, Rhinebeck Dance Centre, and Saugerties Ballet Center. First-time DanceFest! participant the D'amby Project has an attached school based in Red Hook.
Presale tickets are available through the individual dance schools and will be sold at the door. Proceeds from DanceFest! will benefit the Vanaver Caravan's Art Education programs in Ulster County and the surrounding areas.
