By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – Dance St. Louis is holding a three-day festival this spring that will feature 34 dance companies, including the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, for just $10 a night.
The event, called Spring to Dance, will take place at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center May 22-24.
Dance St. Louis borrowed the idea from New York Center's Fall for Dance Festival.
The center's president and CEO Arlene Shuler says the $10 tickets have brought in a new audience since the festival began in New York in 2004.
"They were open to everything that they saw because they made an investment but not too much of an investment," Shuler said. "As a result they have come back and paid full price for tickets and go see dance elsewhere in New York and have been enthusiastic every year."
Dance St. Louis' executive director Michael Uthoff is hoping the same will happen in St. Louis.
He says bringing in a variety of dance companies allowed him to focus on fundraising, and that allowed a lower ticket price.
Anheuser Busch was the largest donor for the event.
The Kansas City Ballet, the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and Minnesota Dance Theater will be among the more than 30 companies that perform.