The inaugural Lila Dance Festival will take place at the Rochester Common on August 28th, 2021. The festival is a collaborative effort presented by several local dancers.

According to one of the event organizers, the Lila Dance Festival is a summer dance event showcasing local studios, student and professional dancers, and choreographers from around the region. 

“Our goal is to present dance to the community as a wonderful outdoor performance experience,” said Elyssa Bigos, dancer. “As the arts continue to grow in the seacoast and the surrounding areas, Lila brings another dance experience to the Lilac City and promotes local artists and performers.

The mission of Lila is to provide an accessible and collaborative format to foster and showcase the artistic expression of local professionals and choreographers, creating a tangible experience for aspiring students to visualize their future careers and to engage new audiences to experience live dance performances.

The festival will feature a student performance at 4:30pm, an aerial showcase at 6:00pm, and a professional performance at 6:30pm.

Organizers have invited a guest choreographer Hernán Martinez (Buenos Aires, Argentina) to create a special dance piece showcasing local dancers, as part of the professional segment of the performance.

Martinez states that his goal is to work with dancers in a deeper, more meaningful way. 

“I want the relationship between me and my dancers to be mutually beneficial,” said Martinez. “I can learn from them as much as I can teach them. I want to bring my culture to them but also be open to their culture and how it can transmit something new to the way I work.”

To learn more about the Lila Dance Festival, visit www.liladancefestival.com. Rain date August 29th, 2021. 

Photo: Nikki Carrara and Junichi Fukuda