The Starr Foster Dance Project presents their 15th Annual Richmond Choreographers Showcase this weekend

RICHMOND, VA -- For those who devote their lives to the arts, the path toward a steady career is a notoriously difficult one.

On top of the money strain that comes with funding any artistic practice, the popularity of different art forms naturally changes over time, and so the difficulty of finding a space to present even the most innovative works can be tough for both new and established artists.

With the national government’s history of minimal funding for the arts, creating artistic opportunities is a task that often falls to private sponsors in local communities. In Richmond, Virginia, Artistic Director Starrene Foster strove to make a space for dance works to flourish, and this weekend the Starr Foster Dance Project will be holding their Annual Richmond Choreographers Showcase for the 15th year.

Each year, artists who apply to the showcase send in proposals of their work to a panel of blind adjudicators, who make their selections from a stack of anonymous proposals. From there, the final picks are sent to Foster, and the production process, all completely funded by the Starr Foster Dance Project, begins.

“What we do allows opportunities for choreographers both emerging and established,” said Foster. “We’re the only showcase on the East Coast that supports new work. If an artist has an idea, they can submit that idea and based on their proposal, the panel will decide.”

This year’s showcase will run at the Grace Street Theater from April 1 through April 2 with three full performances, featuring award winning and internationally recognized dance artists from New York, Atlanta, Baltimore, Richmond and more. The 34 dancers and seven choreographers involved offer accomplishment and innovation in their work, from the collaborative choreography of Maeve Talbot & Emma Stewart –created entirely over Skype and Facetime—to the works of the ColemanCollective choreographed by Cain Coleman, a current dancer of the highly-respected Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and former Gallim Dance member Matthew Perez.

In continuing a Showcase tradition, the Starr Foster Dance Project will also present a work this weekend, giving the Richmond debut of a performance centered on anxiety dreams.

As an established and acclaimed dance artist herself, Foster holds the continuation of the Annual Richmond Choreographers Showcase as a testament to the Richmond community’s desire to support the arts, and a key component the development of fellow dance artists.

“It’s frustrating to be able to show your work, and there’s not many outlets to show new work…funding of the arts is a serious issue, it has been, and I don’t know if it’s going to get any better” said Foster. “In order to bring dancers in town, we also have to find them a place to stay, so…[the dancers] have host families. The way we make the arts strong in Richmond is to get the community involved, and people like to be involved. That’s what makes our art community substantial.”

Tickets for the 15th Annual Richmond Choreographers Showcase are $10 and are available at the box office at 934 West Grace Street or online, with performances at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. April 1, and 2 p.m. April 2. For more information on the Showcase or the Starr Foster Dance Project, click here.

Images provided by Starr Foster Dance Project. In order of appearance: Charisma Glasper by Jullianne Harris; Samantha Nelson and Maja J. Morgahn by Mariah Eastman; Lateisha Melvin, Shanice Mason, and Tyesha Nance by Marketa Ebert.