Centenary Stage Company to Host Annual Dance Fest at Lackland Center

Centenary Stage Company celebrates the artistry of dance in the Lackland Center with the ever - popular annual Dance Fest. This year's Dance Fest will feature Moe-tion Dance Theater on Thursday, March 31 at 7:30pm, a double feature with 10 Hairy Legs on Saturday, April 2 at2pm and 8pm and, finally, Nimbus Dance Works on Sunday, April 3 at 5pm. All performances will be held in the Sitnik Theatre of Centenary Stage Company's Lackland Center.

The Dance Festival kicks off with Moe-tion Dance Theater on Thursday, March 31 at 7:30pm. Established in 2007, Moe-tion Dance Theatre, is a contemporary dance company based in New Jersey. Under the artistic direction of Maureen Glennon, the company is dedicated to experimenting and creating new forms of expression. The company, known for their diverse repertory and site-specific work, has performed at numerous festivals, showcases and venues throughout the tri-state area. Moe-tion Dance Theater's mission is to present a wide range of programs that educate, enrich and entertain. It seeks to promote an inclusive vision of the arts through the language of modern dance, painting, sculpture, photography, literature and live music. It strives to include people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. It wishes to create productions that expose the community to multiple art forms in one event.

The Dance Fest continues on Saturday, April 2 with a double feature from 10 Hairy Legs. At 2pm on Saturday, April 2 10 Hairy Legs brings C.S. Lewis' beloved and magical novel, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, to vivid life through dance. For story lovers of all ages, the classic story, set in the fictitious Narnia, features all of your favorite characters - the heroine Lucy and her siblings, The White Witch, Tumnis, Maugrim, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Nymphs, Giants and of course The Lion.

The excitement doesn't stop as 10 Hairy Legs follows up their afternoon family performance with their own original programing on Saturday, April 2 at 8pm. Highlighting the diversity and breadth of their repertory evening works include New Jersey choreographer Cleo Mack's Bath Tub Trio for Three Men, David Parker's hilarious duet Slapstuck, and Doug Elkin's rousing Trouble Will Find Me for five men.

Founded by Randy James in 2012, 10 Hairy Legs, is a dance company - comprised entirely of men - of James' work, as well as, existing and new works by significant choreographers. 10 Hairy Legs does not reflect a specific point of view about the male experience, but rather celebrates and explores the tremendous technical and emotional range of the male dancer. Randy James, at the forefront of this generation's choreographers, educators and arts advocates, is the driving force of 10 Hairy Legs, serving as its Artistic Director.

Finally, Centenary Stage Company wraps up the annual Dance Fest with the return of Nimbus Dance Works on Sunday, April 3 at 5pm. Nimbus Dance Works presents Dance Speaks Out: Lynchtown/Thistown. The program consists of rarely seen iconic American modern dances: Charles Weidman's 1963 masterwork, Lynchtown, and Pearl Primus' renowned 1943 solo, Strange Fruit. These works explore race, violence, and mob mentality and illustrate the socio-political foundation of America's early modern dance movement. The program will also includeWe Acquiesce which is Artistic Director, Samuel Pott's, response to Weidman'sLynchtown as well as an in-depth creative program where students from the community use dance to address and articulate themselves about current social and political issues. These students perform their work, created under the guidance of a Nimbus company member, called Thistown.

Nimbus will also be performing Patch of Turf. By way of a 12 foot square patch of artificial grass, Patch of Turf tells of man/womankind in a diminishing natural environment. Set to a commissioned score by Quasim Naqvi or Dawn of Midi, the work is an intense, 18 minute, tour de force for four virtuosic female performers choreographed by Nimbus Artistic Director, Samuel Pott. Both ironic in its depiction of nature via the artificial grass and poignant in revealing both our estrangement from the natural world and insatiable appetite for its resources, Patch of Turf engages both seasoned dance audiences as well as those less familiar with contemporary dance.

Tickets for the Annual Dance Fest are $17.50 for adults and are $15.00 for children under 12 in advance and per performance. Ticket prices increase $5.00 day of the performance. Centenary Stage Company is also offering a Dance Fest flex pass. The flex pass grants entry to any 3 dance events for $37.50. All ticket sales are final.

For more information or to purchase tickets visit centenarystageco.org or call the Centenary Stage Company box office at (908) 979 - 0900. The box office is open Monday through Friday from 1 - 5pm, and two hours prior to every performance. The CSC box office is located in the Lackland Center; 715 Grand Avenue Hackettstown, NJ. Centenary Stage Company can also be found on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The 2015-16 season of preforming arts events at the Centenary Stage Company is made possible through the generous support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ Sate Council on the Arts, the Shurbert Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the Sandra Kupperman Foundation, and CSC corporate sponsors, including Premier Season Sponsor Heath Village Retirement Community, Silver Sponsors Hackettstown Reginal Medical center, Home Instead Senior Care (Washington), The Holiday Inn in Bud Lake, and Fulton Bank of New Jersey, and Centenary Stage Company members and supporters.

##END##