The pandemic took a toll on the entire local arts scene but, with the loss of the Dogtown Dance Theatre building last year, Richmond’s dance world was particularly shaken. The building provided a foundational nexus point for a broad array of dancers and dance programs.

In the wake of that loss, producer Starr Foster thought the time was right to highlight the diversity of local dance companies with this year’s Mid-Atlantic Choreographers Showcase.

“Everybody’s started to perform again,” explains Foster, whose own company will be one of five performing in the showcase. “It just felt like the right time to bring everybody in town together. The whole point is to increase awareness in Richmond as a community about what’s going on in the dance world.”

Since its inception, the showcase has featured the work of more than 125 choreographers from more than 60 cities. In past years, a panel of adjudicators considered applications submitted from around the country and ended up inviting dancers from companies working in a wide ranging variety of markets including San Diego, New York, and Miami.

This year, Foster exclusively extended invitations to local companies with four ultimately accepting: The Latin Ballet of Virginia, Stavna Ballet, Dogwood Dance Project and Radar Dance. Each company will have a 12-minute block during the program to perform one or more pieces either previously choreographed or developed specifically for the showcase.

Know your dance groups

For at least a couple of the participants, the showcase will provide an opportunity to clear up certain confusions dance patrons might have. Even though it has been performing professionally as a company for 11 seasons, Dogwood Dance Project has been easy to mistake for Dogtown Dance Theatre. “Yeah, that’s a common thing that happens in Richmond,” says Hailey Clevenger, a company dancer and spokesperson for the organization.

Started by four graduates from James Madison University, Dogwood has grown into a professional troupe of 20 dancers. The company supports the development of young dancers through its Youth Ensemble where high school students get to work together with professionals.

In the showcase, six of Dogwood’s members will present a piece called “Into the Middle of Things,” choreographed by company dancer Ilana Puglia.

“I think some of us smaller professional dance companies have felt a loss of community with the closing of Dogtown,” Clevenger says. “So the showcase provides a great opportunity, first, just to perform in a theater which has been hard to find for a lot of us. And then a chance to perform alongside people we used to share space with.”

For Stavna Ballet, the event will draw attention to the fact that there is more than one place to experience ballet in town.

“Richmond Ballet is amazing and does wonderful, beautiful things,” says Shannon Hunter McConville, artistic director and founder of Stavna Ballet. “But when I moved here I was thinking, there has to be another ballet company here, right?”

McConville worked as a principal dancer for the San Diego Ballet before coming to Richmond in 2010. Shortly thereafter, she founded Stavna, opened the Stavna Academy to teach students in 2013 and then formed a professional company just 4 years ago.

Stavna works to create a fusion between contemporary movement and classical ballet techniques. The piece the company will perform features a solo male dancer, choreographed by McConville, that she says “hones in on a kind of sharp finesse, the juxtaposition of a strong male dancer finding beauty and grace.”

“Part of my mission is to bridge this gap between recreational studios, which are great and provide their own thing, and an actual professional company,” she explains. For her efforts, McConville was recognized as one of Style Weekly’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2013.

“I don’t think a lot of people realize that there is a lot of dance happening in Richmond that’s really exciting,” says Dogwood’s Clevenger. “I was a Youth Ensemble member, went to study dance in college and then ended up back here. Now I’m dancing with the company professionally and choreographing for the Youth Ensemble.

“Richmond is a place where you can have those full circle moments.”

The 19th Annual Mid-Atlantic Choreographers Showcase will have three performances, July 1st and 2nd, at Grace Street Theatre, 934 West Grace Street. Tickets are available at https://www.starrfosterdance.org/.