"We've made it a pretty informal, low-priced event so people who aren't familiar with modern dance will feel like they can take that chance," said Clark, a dancer and choreographer with a studio in Shepherdstown. "We make it so people feel like they can come and really get something out of it."
This year's festival will feature an expanded repertoire of offerings. Clark said there will be more talks before performances, extra master classes and a high-energy children's contemporary dance class called "Afrohopatazz" that integrates West African/Afro-Caribbean, American hip-hop and jazz forms.
The festival will showcase the work of contemporary dance choreographers Clark; Christalyn Wright of New York City; Vermont-based Amy Chavasse and her collaborators; Laura Schandelmeier of Washington, D.C.; Cynthia McLaughlin of Shepherdstown; Paul D. Mosely of New York; and Carli Mareneck of West Virginia. Cat Scratch Theatre of Washington, D.C., and PIMA Group of Philadelphia also will perform.
Chavasse, artist-in-residence at Middlebury College in Vermont, will teach a modern dance technique class Saturday, July 10. JiJi Beckett, a Shepherdstown-based yoga therapist trained at the Kripalu Center in Massachusetts, will teach a restorative yoga class Sunday, July 11. Melissa Putz of the PIMA Group will lead a modern dance technique class Saturday, July 17. And members of Cat Scratch Theatre will teach a class called Collaborative Art-Making, Improvisation, and Choreographic Methods on Sunday, July 18.
For more information, call 1-304-725-7621 or go to www.gooseroute.org on the Web.
Fourth annual Goose Route Dance Festival
The Nest Performance Space at War Memorial Building
102 E. German St., Shepherdstown, W.Va.
4 p.m. Fridays, July 9 and 16
Family shows
Admission is on a pay-what-you-wish basis, and adults must be accompanied by a child.
6 p.m. Saturdays, July 10 and 17, and Sundays, July 11 and 18
Dance performances, with discussions prior to Saturday performances at 5 p.m.
Admission costs $12, adults; and $8, students and seniors.
Intermediate and advanced master classes also will be held in modern dance, yoga and collaborative art. Classes start at 10:30 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Each class costs $8 in advance or $10 at the door.
For information, to register or to purchase tickets, call 1-304-725-7621.
