Bates Dance Festival

Bates Dance Festival

Programmes:
• Young Dancers Workshop (ages 14-18) June 25- July 16
• Professional Training Program (ages 18 and up) July 17-August 8
• Youth Arts Program (ages 6-17) July 19-August 7
• Performance &; Events Season July 5-August 7

For twenty-seven years, the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine, has welcomed dancers from across the country and around the world to “Study with the best!” Its founders knew from the outset that inviting the field’s most outstanding dance artists to come and teach would be a key to the program’s success.

The Bates Dance Festival brings together an international community of choreographers, performers, educators and students in a cooperative community to study, perform and create new work. The Festival offers a supportive atmosphere for creative exchange of ideas, encouraging exploration of new ground and providing opportunities to experience a wide spectrum of dance. Artists, students and audiences share their knowledge and inspiration through workshops,  discussions and performances.

The Bates Dance Festival is comprised of four interwoven programs: two professional training programs including the Young Dancers Workshop (YDW), the Professional Training Program (PTP); a main-stage performances series featuring dance artists from around the world: and community activities including the Youth Arts Program with dance and music training, and the Community Dance Project that invites local residents to participate in an intensive creative collaboration with a choreographer and Festival dancers. Commissioning and residency projects support new works by established companies, emerging choreographers and international artists.