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Wellspring Presents the 9th Annual Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – After nearly a decade of bringing dancers together from across the world, the Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers presents the ninth annual Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival or RAD Fest. The Festival will be held at the Epic Center and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts on March 9 through 11. RAD Fest will feature the work of over 40 choreographers and 10 screendance makers from Mexico, Japan, England, New York City, San Francisco and many other U.S. cities. This will include several cities in Michigan, in five different live performances, eight master classes, a screendance film series, discussion panels, informances and networking events.
"This year, we received over 180 choreographic and screendance submissions from all over the world and all over the country. The adjudication panel chose some very innovative works, some of which will be performed in non-theater space as part of our new Alternative Spaces portion of the festival, which will allow for audience interaction." said Festival Curator Rachel Miller. "It's going to be an exciting festival!"
The three-day festival will present 40 live performance works with over 260 dance artists performing in five different concerts at The Wellspring Theater and the Judy Jolliffe Theater in The Epic Center: evening concerts on Friday, March 9, and Saturday, March 10, at 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m., and a family-friendly Sunday matinee featuring young emerging dancers and choreographers on Sun. March 11, at 3:00pm. Each concert will feature seven to 12 original works.
The festival will also run a free-admission screendance series featuring 10 different screendances. The series will run at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) on Sat. March 10 at 4:00 p.m., and will feature this year's selected films.
"Screendance works are the current trend among dance makers," said Miller. "They are films made specifically for the camera. Partnering with the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts gives RAD Fest patrons an opportunity to see these works, most of which have won awards at other film and dance festivals, on a big cinema screen as they were meant to be seen."
Additionally, RAD Fest will offer master classes to the Michigan dance community and RAD dance artists. Visiting artists will teach on Friday, March 9 at 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.; Saturday, March 10 at 9:15 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 1:45 p.m., and youth master classes on Sunday, March 11, at 10:00 a.m. and 11:45 p.m.
"We are excited and very honored to offer diverse instruction from such a distinguished group of artists," said Miller.
In addition to screendance at the KIA, RAD Fest will offer two other free-of-charge community events. Coffee Hour, a mediated discussion group with coffee, tea and breakfast items provided, will cover topics like pedagogy, archiving, and funding on Sunday, March 11 at 10:00 a.m. at Central City Tap House in The Epic Center. Coffee Hour will be open to the community and free of charge. An After-Glow reception following the 9:00 p.m. March 10 performance, which will feature a live DJ, a complementary buffet, a cash bar and a chance to meet and network with RAD Fest's visiting professional dance artists, will also be open to the community and free of charge.
Tickets for the Midwest RAD Fest are $15/performance, $25/evening pass (both of the evening performances on either March 9 or 10), and $45/festival pass (includes all Friday and Saturday performances). Student tickets are $5 per performance. Master classes are $15 per class. All other events are free. Tickets will go on sale February 1, 2018. To order tickets, register for master classes and view the concert line-ups, please visit midwestradfest.org.

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