It’s a well-kept secret, except for ballet aficionados. One of the most beautiful and natural environments in our nation, Lake Tahoe, California, the massive freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada straddling the border between California and Nevada, is home to an engaging dance festival that marked its tenth anniversary last year, and enters its eleventh, immanently, next week. Produced by the Lake Tahoe Dance Collective, the Lake Tahoe Dance Festival 2023 is in a natural pine-tree, fresh-air setting that fits the paradigm of summer dance festivals in outdoorsy places like Jacob’s Pillow in the Berkshires and the Vail Dance Festival in the Rocky Mountains. This year’s mix of local dancers and guests artists of world-class acclaim (auspiciously New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Erick Hawkins Dance Company, the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and more) will appear in choreography by Lar Lubovitch, Natasha Adorlee, Liz Gerritt, Claudia Schreier, Holly Curran, and Marco Pell. Your correspondent from artsmeme is heading that way to experience and cover the festival.
The festival begins on Wednesday, July 26 at 5:30 PM with the 11th Anniversary Gala Opening Night Celebration, where audiences will enjoy a silent auction with food and wine, and a special presentation by Sage Romero founder of the AkaMya Culture Group, in the indigenous hoop dance. The festival’s Main Stage Performances continue on July 27 at 6PM in Tahoe City. Thereafter, the Festival goes on the road. with dates in Incline Village (July 28 at 5:30PM) and West End Beach, Truckee CA (July 29 at 6PM).
“When we founded the festival, we felt strongly about programming performances in a way that would be universally accessible,” explained Christin Hanna, who founded LTDC in 2008 and the Festival in 2013 with longtime friend and collaborator Constantine Baecher. “Showing an evening where each work is dramatically different from the next helps to educate new audiences as well as provide a treat to dance fans.”
To Tahoe, then, for the Festival!
Lake Tahoe Dance Festival | Tahoe City and Truckee, CA | July 26-29