FRIDAY SCHEDULE | AUGUST 22, 2025

Eastown Swing

Grand Rapids Ballet

Teknique Street Dance

Teknique Street Dance Academy began as 61syx Teknique over 20 years ago. Our mission is to cultivate, encourage, and elevate our students by providing space and guidance that allows for the freedom of self expression through breaking. Teknique Academy’s vision is to instill the following core principles of Hip-Hop culture. Peace, love, unity, respect, and fun

Anishinaabe Dancer with Sharp Feather Drum

Deos Contemporary Ballet

longer form bio if needed : Tess Sinke (Artistic Director) envisioned a professional ballet company named “Deos” in the early 2000’s. After meeting Andrew Hoekstra (Executive Director) in 2016, they formed Deos Contemporary Ballet in 2018.

Deos Ballet began with the first-ever COLLIDE Summer Series, bringing dancers from across the country together for a short-term contract during their summer layoff from year-round commitments. Since 2018, Deos has continued to host dancers for our annual Summer Series. COLLIDE continues to be Deos Ballet’s largest program of the season, bringing together 12 professional dancers, a handful of collegiate interns, and other guest artists for a fast-paced, short-term rehearsal and performance season. Since 2018, Deos has expanded to provide our core dancers (those local to Grand Rapids, or those who have relocated to Grand Rapids) performance opportunities and Dance for Film recording contracts throughout the year, with the goal of curating a full season in Grand Rapids and further cementing our footprint in the Michigan dance scene. This goal was achieved in the fall of 2022 when we announced our first full season of year-round performances: EPILOGUE (fall series), EMBER (winter series), AWAKEN (spring series), and COLLIDE (summer series). During the 2023-2024 performance season, our annual offerings grew to include an instant hit, Cracked Nuts: Not Your Mother’s Nutcracker. The premiere weekend of Cracked Nuts entirely sold out, even when adding an additional performance evening.

Deos Ballet continues to grow and participate in outreach performances in partnerships with the Grand Rapids Art Museum, local and touring orchestras/choirs, churches, and other arts organizations throughout the city.

Arthur Murray Dance Studio

Arthur Murray is a worldwide franchise operating for over 110 years! GR was started originally by Harry and Maggie Spearin in 1989. The tradition is carried on by their daughters Julie and Leslie.

Grand Rapids Ballet

Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers

Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers exists to offer a unique and authentic voice in modern dance which serves to inspire, engage, and educate our community. As we enter our 45th season of modern dance in Southwest Michigan, Artistic Director, Marisa Bianan reflects on her first year leading the company, and remains committed to honoring the legacy of our founder, Cori Terry, while continuing to share her unique artistic vision with the community. The company and its members’ highly respected reputations are evidenced by regular invitations to perform at dance festivals and events around the country. Some of the most recent highlights include critically acclaimed performances and collaborations with Fontana Chamber Arts, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Aurora & Antheia, the Red Sea Pedestrians, Bill Ryan and the GVSU New Music Ensemble, and Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

CPR Dance: Inhale Movement

CPR Dance: Inhale Movement is the premiere professional contemporary dance company of Southwest Michigan founded in 2022. We value bringing community access to professional dance, while sharing collaborative and engaging opportunities to connect, view, and participate in movement. We propose movement as fundamental to existence as breath. Breathing life, moving life, with attendance towards one another. Through realizing interests in collaborative care, we believe it is possible to permeate into performance, choreographic, and teaching artistries. A way to further succinctly identify and communicate the values of wandering through intangible movement, lost and found, with well-being and care as a fulcrum that doesn’t shy away from but presses into reflective evaluative works.

Essence MVMT Collective

Essence MVMT Collective is a dance company based in Grand Rapids, MI. Essence is an open style company with heavy influence drawing from hip-hop and contemporary. One team with two divisions, a training sector and a performance/competition sector offering a space that gives opportunity for both pre-professional dancers and dance hobbyists alike. The company’s primary hope is to leave an everlasting mark in the MidWest dance scene by changing the stigma of what the dance industry often entails and create a community that is healthy from the inside—out.

Grand Valley State University Dance Ensemble

Dance Company is Grand Valley State University’s performing ensemble of dance majors. They present two annual shows featuring faculty and nationally renowned guest artist choreography, showcasing versatility and mastery across a variety of movement styles. Recent guest artists include Zelma Badu-Younge, Devin Baker, Celia Benvenutti, Karena Birk, Qarrianne Blayr, Marlayna Locklear, Deborah Lohse, Renaldo Maurice, Paul Singh, DJ Smart, and Wallie Wolfgruber. Dance Company’s work has traveled to the annual American College Dance Association conference, Oakland Dance Festival, Detroit Dance City Festival, the Michigan Dance Festival Gala Concert, Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, the Society for Freshwater Science conference, Art Prize opening ceremonies, Michigan Five (Berman Center), and the Grand Rapids Ballet’s Summer Festival. Collaborative performances include pieces with the Laker Marching Band, drone pilot Tony Packer, GVSU Music Program faculty, and professional dance companies presented in Grand Valley Fall Arts Celebration concerts.

Grand Rapids Ballet