(Winston-Salem) More than 500 young dancers from across the state will converge on the campus of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) Feb. 22-24 for the annual “Festival of North Carolina Dance.”  

The weekend culminates in a showcase of adjudicated works selected for performance at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, at the Stevens Center in downtown Winston-Salem. Admission is free. For more information, call the UNCSA Box Office at 336-721-1945 or visit www.uncsaevents.com.

“I look forward to meeting the teachers and students from 33 companies,” said Susan Jaffe, who will experience her first festival after taking over as Dean of UNCSA’s School of Dance in August 2012. “It is exciting that we have companies coming from the mountains to the coast. I know it will be invigorating and inspiring for our students and faculty to see the talent that North Carolina has to offer to the world of dance.”

Over the course of the weekend, dancers will take classes that will include ballet technique, contemporary technique, pointe/variations, jazz and character. All sessions will be taught by members of the distinguished UNCSA School of Dance faculty and guest artists.

Dance companies participating include Arendell Parrott Academy (Kinston), Burlington Dance Center, Cary Ballet School, Carolina Dance Center—CDC Performance (Raleigh), Center Stage Dance Studio (Asheville), Centre of Performing Arts (Graham), Charlotte City Ballet, Charlotte School of Ballet, Choreographic Institute of North Carolina (Southern Pines), City Ballet (Raleigh), City Ballet of Wilmington, Dance Davidson, Elements in Dance (Dallas), Foxtroupe (Wilmington), Gaston Dance (Gastonia), Greensboro Ballet and Greensboro Ballet Youth Ensemble, Infinity Ballet (Apex), Inspirations Dance Centre (Southport), Monroe City Ballet, North Carolina Conservatory of Performing Arts (Wake Forest), Raleigh Dance Theatre, Sheets Dance Academy (Lexington), SoDance Southside Dance Studio (Fletcher), Sonya’s Dance Academy (Hickory), Southeast Dance Academy (Wilmington), Studio 1 Dance Conservatory (Wilmington), Taylor Academy of Dance (Wake Forest), The Dance Cooperative (Wilmington), The Greenville Civic Ballet—The Dance Collective, The Turning Point (Mebane), Triangle Youth Ballet (Chapel Hill), Walkerdance (Elon), and Wilmington School of Ballet.

As America’s first state-supported arts school, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is a unique stand-alone public university of arts conservatories. With a high school component, UNCSA is a degree-granting institution that trains young people of talent in music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and design and production. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

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