Luminario Ballet. Photo by Nguyen Nguyen
The dancers of Luminario Ballet hang from aerial silk as they wrap their bodies around each other. Watson Dance troupe spills out into the aisles and interacts with the audience. LA Follies kick line taps to ’40s tunes. CONTRA-TIEMPO mixes salsa, Afro-Cuban, urban and contemporary styles.
These are just four of the 13 dance companies performing at the second annual Dance Bistro, a two-day festival coming to Carpenter Performing Arts Center at California State Long Beach this weekend.
Now in its second year, Dance Bistro has grown tremendously. Last year, it featured only six companies. This year, it accepted submissions online, received 60 and picked 13 participants. Two high schools, L.A.’s Renaissance Arts Academy and Cortines High School Dance Company, have been included, one performing each night. And Thursday and Friday at the Carpenter Center–as part of the festival’s Education Outreach program–1,800 students and teachers will be bused in to watch dress rehearsals, which will also be live streaming for free from 11AM to 1PM on dancebistro.com. Jackie Lopez, co-founder of Versa-Style Dance Company, will be the emcee and moderate the Q&A sessions with the artists after each run-through.
The two defining features of Dance Bistro 2013 are that it’s multigenre and accessible. …
Read full article at Long Beach Post
Jessica Koslow 