Submitted by The Washington Center for the Performing Arts
The Washington Center for the Performing Arts and Ballet Northwest have teamed up once again to present the 2018 Olympia Dance Festival on Sunday, March 3, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. Top dance groups from the area will perform ballet, jazz, modern, tap, ballroom, hip-hop, Chinese dance, Irish dance, Middle Eastern dance, and more. “In 9 years, the size and quality of the festival continues to grow,” says Ballet Northwest Artistic Director Ken Johnson. “This year we’re excited to showcase the diversity represented in the 14 local dance companies, plus our amazing guest artist from Los Angeles, Melinda Sullivan, an incredibly charismatic performer.”
Participating Dance Groups:
- Ballet Northwest
- Ballet Theatre of Washington
- Capital City Belly Dance Collective
- Debbi’s Dance Etc.
- Fang Fei Chinese Dance
- Harbor Dance
- High Impact Dance
- Johansen Olympia Dance Center
- Mas Uda Dancers
- Olympic Ballroom Dance
- Slieveloughane Irish Dancers
- South Sound Dance
- Southwest Washington Dance Ensemble
- Studio West Dance Theatre
Guest Artist Melinda Sullivan
Melinda Sullivan is a tap dancer and choreographer based in Los Angeles, who mentors include the Jazz Tap Ensemble, Jason Samuels Smith, and the late Harold Cromer. Best known from FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance, Sullivan has a diverse career in dance, television, and theatre. After being the first tap dancer to make Top 10, Melinda went on appear as the first tap All-Star in Season 10, as well as featured in Chloe Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies in Season 11.
Stage credits include Disney’s High School Musical franchise, the 25th Anniversary Tour of Cats, and touring with Jason Samuels Smith’s tap dance company Anybody Can Get It (ACGI). Sullivan is the recipient of the 2012 Capezio Award for Choreographic Excellence, and she was named among the “25 to Watch” in Dance Magazine.
TV/ Film credits include Glee, As the World Turns, 90210, How To Rock, The Goldbergs, Dancing with the Stars, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and the upcoming movie musical LaLa Land. Melinda has also won the World Dance Award for Best Choreography of Television Episodic. Melinda continues to teach, perform, and choreograph worldwide at tap festivals, universities, and dance schools across the country. She is on faculty at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, as well as New York City Dance Alliance.
