Newsam Aerial Dance. Photo by Biljana Erdeg.
As families flock to barbecues and beginning-of-summer bashes this Memorial Day weekend, the University of Missouri-St. Louis will play host to an annual gathering of its own: Dance St. Louis’ Emerson SPRING TO DANCE Festival.
The three-day fest, which will close Dance St. Louis’ 56th season, features the work of 18 dance companies from across the country, including local performers and those from as far away as New York and Los Angeles.
All kinds of performances will be on offer, among them contemporary dance, tap, and aerial performances, including one from St. Louis-based Newsam Aerial Dance.
President and co-founder of Newsam Aerial Dance Monica Newsam will perform “Reborn to Change” alongside fellow artists Graciela Newsam, Mysteria Spellazza, and Megan Reed. The performance, originally choreographed by Newsam as a solo, has been expanded for the group to explore the ways in which we have interacted with others and lived in our own space during the pandemic.
“[SPRING TO DANCE] is a great event,” says Newsam. “They promote a diversity of companies, a variety of performers with different approaches to dance. And it’s a great opportunity for us to see all the work but also get to know people who are expressing like we are in different ways…This offers the audience, and the artists also, diversity that’s beneficial to all of us in this art form.”
Pilobolus of Washington Depot, Connecticut.
In addition to Newsam Aerial Dance, attendees will get the chance to see more than 150 performers from DIAVOLO, Philadelphia Ballet, Pilobolus, Aerial Dance Chicago, and many more. Each night, interactive performances will take over Touhill Performing Arts Center’s Terrace Lobby at 6 p.m. before the main stage performances in Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall begin at 7:30 p.m.
“If you enjoy dancings in any way, shape, or form – socially, performing, in the street, any kind of dance – this will be a great event to be part of,” says Newsam. “The variety of what is coming will impact the community and the audience of St. Louis, and I hope that anyone, everyone, even if you don’t like dancing, if you just like music, that you’re able to find some time and squeeze in some hours of your day to come and enjoy SPRING TO DANCE.”
SPRING TO DANCE runs May 27-29 at Touhill Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $10-25, and Nightly 4-Packs are available for $75. For tickets and more information, visit dancestlouis.org.
