Dogtown Dance Theatre to Present 3rd Annual Richmond Dance Festival, 4/22-5/7

Dogtown Dance Theatre presents the 3rd annual Richmond Dance Festival, April 22 through May 7, 2016. This three-weekend festival will feature both local and national dance artists in the heart of the historic district of Manchester in Richmond, VA. The festival will consist of live performances featuring both dancers and musicians, as well as film screenings. From modern and Afro-Caribbean dance to aerial arts and acrobatics, Richmond Dance Festival creates a common ground for diverse audiences to come together and enjoy dance art.

Richmond Dance Festival will feature works by familiar local dance artists including Afro-Caribbean inspired Claves Unidos led by Kevin Lamarr Jones and Alicia Diaz/Agua Dulce Dance Company, whose choreography features contemporary dance set to traditional Puerto Rican rhythms, as well as nationally acclaimed artists. Jane Franklin, native to the Washington DC/Northern Virginia region, will bring a cross discipline of dance and visual art to Dogtown's stage. No stranger to the Richmond community, Jane Franklin Dance Company has toured for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Paul Mellon Arts in Education Program and is the recipient of Virginia's Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. Richmond Dance Festival will also house Ramya Sundaresan Kapadia, who is trained in classical Indian dance Bharatanatyam. Kapadia, hailing from North Carolina, is the founder of Natyarpana School of Dance and Music in Durham, NC and trains students both in Carnatic voice and Bharatanatyam. She is the recipient of the 2015 Choreographic Fellowship from the North Carolina Dance Alliance.

The festival will also feature five emerging choreographers - Breena Cocco, a BFA Dance student at the University of Florida; Jennifer Seye, who uses dance to spark critical social commentary; Andrea Ward, a BFA Dance student and performer for Isodoc Dance Group in New York City; and Chelsea Jones and Rachel Reinhardt, both Virginia Commonwealth University BFA Dance alumni. Six different dance films will also be featured throughout the festival and adjudicated by Richmond filmmaker, Torian Ugworji.

Richmond Dance Festival exists as an initiative of Dogtown Dance Theatre to support artists who are established or rising, and seeking to present new or repertory works to an audience. This initiative is an opportunity for artists to avoid obstacles of performance such as production and marketing costs, and still offers them the same privileges of performing in front of a diverse audience, made up of members throughout the entire Richmond community. Richmond Dance Festival is also proud to feature Kelly Hamlin, recipient of Dogtown Dance Theatre's Space Microgrant, whose work was developed and choreographed under Dogtown's roof.

Donation based community dance workshops will be offered by some of the festival artists and all proceeds will help support Dogtown's mission to enlighten the Richmond community through creative expression and education across diverse populations. Each weekend will feature a variety of diverse talented dance artists whose artistic zest brings life to Dogtown's theater and reaffirms RVA as the creative hub of Central Virginia.

For more information about Richmond Dance Festival, please visit http://www.dogtowndancetheatre.com.

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