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Doubling Up On Your Dance Card: VIBE Jetés Into Missoula

The Vienna International Ballet and Contemporary Dance Competition comes to Missoula, January 12-16, 2016 - but according to Charlene Campbell Carey, Artistic Director of Missoula's Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre, the moniker for the event is "VIBE," or The Vienna International Ballet Experience. That's because the dance challenge is part of a broader, multidisciplinary series of community events, nearly all of them free, all asking the question, "What is the role of the arts in communication, health, and diplomacy?"

Directed by Gregor Hatala and Evelyn Teri and hosted by the RMBT and Destination Missoula, the 8th International Ballet and Contemporary Dance Competition features a prestigious panel and a pool of elite professional and student dancers from around the world, representing many disciplines, from ballet and contemporary dance to hip-hop and traditional dance from South Africa, Brazil, Montana and beyond. The dance challenge takes place in the Dennison Theater at the University of Montana-Missoula.

Flowing out of the competition, VIBE has been expanded into a full-blown festival of free dance-related films, talks, master classes, panel discussions and workshops, taking place at venues around Missoula Tuesday through Saturday. A complete schedule can be found here.

A few highlights:

On Thursday, January 14, Teresa Taylor, founder of the Global Dance Initiative, presents a talk at the Silver Theater (formerly The World Theater) at 2023 South Higgins Avenue in Missoula from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. The GDI spotlights projects that use dance to heal, connect or inspire.

On Friday, January 15, a conference called "The Art of Diplomacy: How The Arts and Cultural Engagement Shape Foreign Affairs, Politics and Society" takes place at the Mansfield Center at the University of Montana. Among the speakers are Hip Hop choreographer and dancer Aidan Carberry, and musician Mia DePrince and dancer Michaela DePrince, orphans from Sierra Leone who were adopted into the same family in the U.S.

The winners of each category in the competition will perform in the final gala on Saturday, January 16 at 1:00 p.m. in the Wilma Theater. Winners will be invited to compete or perform in the prestigious Vienna International Ballet Experience in spring 2016 at the Vienna Volkstheater.

For more information, email vibeusa@rmbt.org or call (406) 549-5155.

Michael Marsolek is the program director of Montana Public Radio. He also hosts Tuesday Freeforms and Thursday Morning Classics.
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