Lake Tahoe Dance Collective Announces Annual Festival

The Lake Tahoe Dance Collective (LTDC) presents its fifth annual Lake Tahoe Dance Festival featuring works by James Graham Dance Theater, SFDanceWorks, and choreographers Constantine Baecher, Justin Peck, Christin Hanna, and Kristina Berger. This year's Festival features two premieres: Mountainscape by choreographer Constantine Baecher and Departures by Lake Tahoe Dance Collective Artistic Director Christin Hanna.

LTDC Artistic Director Christin Hanna, notes: "This year's Festival is a mix of classical, modern and contemporary works in the beautiful outdoors. Since founding the Lake Tahoe Dance Collective nine years ago, I have worked to create opportunities for professional dancers to teach and perform in nature, and present first-rate dance to both residents and visitors of the Lake Tahoe area."

The 2017 Program Lineup Includes:

James Graham Theater's Mouse Marrow, a work that plays with sameness, childhood, and the mystery of memory. Mouse Marrow is a duet that is part of a larger work Alpha Mousepremiering September 28-30 at ODC Theater, San Francisco. This piece originally premiered in Dance Lovers 6, February 2017.

SFDanceWorks' Never Was (Choreographer: Alejandro Cerrudo), "a gorgeous duet that uses the music of Handel and Purcell and almost extreme physicality to conjure an experience...of pure holiness," (Chicago Theater Beat). Created for and performed by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago II in 2012.

Choreographer Constantine Baecher's Mountainscape (world premiere) is a dance tribute to French artist Victoria Colombet's collection of drawings 'Les Brumes, (or the Mists)'. This new pas-de-deux will be performed by Mr. Baecher and long time collaborator Traci Finch. Created specially for the Lake Tahoe Dance Festival, Mountainscape, is a duet inspired by the unparalleled beauty of performing outdoors on the shore of beautiful Lake Tahoe surrounded by the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Choreographer Justin Peck's second work for New York City Ballet, Year of the Rabbit,is a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens and is set to Stevens' Enjoy Your Rabbit, an electronica album and song cycle based on the Chinese zodiac. The ballet features a new orchestration of the score by Michael Atkinson that was created specifically for the ballet. Year of the Rabbit is an elaboration of Peck's Tales of a Chinese Zodiac, which was created in 2010 for the New York Choreographic Institute. The excerpted pas de deux will be performed by Dustin True of Dortmund Ballet and Bianca Bulle of Los Angeles Ballet.

LTDC Artistic Director Christin Hanna's Departures (world premiere) explores the challenges that face a relationship when confronted with fear of the unknown while not compromising an unwavering love and companionship.

Choreographer Kristina Berger's Threshold (2017, Boston), a work about the space and time between journeys. A liminal moment: the second part of a three-part ritual, where your previous self has been stripped but you have not yet taken on the new self.

The dancers who participate in the Festival's Young Dancers Workshop will also present an excerpt from Coppelia and an improvisational work created with Festival artists Constantine Baecher, Traci Finch and Christin Hanna.

About the Lake Tahoe Dance Collective

The Lake Tahoe Dance Collective's mission is to promote classical, modern and contemporary dance of the finest quality in the Lake Tahoe area through performance, education and outreach, enriching the community as a whole and as a cultural destination.

About Artistic Director Christin Hanna

Christin Hanna trained with Margaret Banks at Nevada Festival Ballet and performed in the company's productions throughout her young life, continuing her studies at the Joffrey Ballet School and American Ballet Theater summer sessions in New York City.

Ms. Hanna enjoyed a busy freelance career, performing with Oakland Ballet, Ballet NY, and Cincinnati Ballet, and was a founding member of New Chamber Ballet. During her time there, she initiated a performance and summer workshop with area students in her hometown of Tahoe City in 2006.

Since her return to Tahoe in 2008, Hanna has produced over fifteen performances featuring over 50 works with more than 20 guest artists. She has staged works created on her at NCB as well as classics like Giselle, in addition to choreographing and serving as rehearsal assistant to visiting guest choreographers. She and longtime friend Constantine Baecher started the Lake Tahoe Dance Festival in 2013 and continue to collaborate on programming and artistic vision for Lake Tahoe Dance Collective.

Lake Tahoe Dance Festival is made possible in part through support from Tahoe Weekly and North Lake Tahoe. Additional support from North Lake Tahoe Historical Society, Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, Queen of Hearts Women's Fund, Tahoe Art Haus & Cinema, Alpenglow Sports, Plumas Bank, Tahoe City Downtown Association, Trunk Show and Wolfdale's Cuisine Unique.

www.laketahoedancecollective.org