Break the Floor Productions, longtime producer of the Capezio A.C.E. Awards, in partnership with The Montalbán, brings MOVES at The Montalbán, a three-day festival celebrating emerging talent in dance, to Los Angeles, Friday, March 15 – Sunday, March 17, 2019.
The dance festival offers audiences the chance to see new talent in the world of choreography and dance. The inaugural festival’s three-day engagement inside the historic theatre will host engaging, world-premiere live dance performances inside the historic theatre.
After each performance, audiences can gain access to an exclusive Rooftop After Party featuring talent from the show and more live dancing.
The festival will feature all styles of dance, with pre and post-show entertainment, during the entire weekend.
According to a statement, MOVES at The Montalbán will feature a line-up to include “winners of the coveted Capezio A.C.E Award for outstanding choreography”–awards presented each year to the top choreographers of the future.” The festival with include performances by recent Capezio A.C.E Award winners Entity Contemporary Dance Company, co-directed by Marissa Osato and Will Johnston, tap company Rhythmatic, directed by Nick Young, and contemporary choreographer Lukas McFarlane. The festival will also feature veteran choreographers of various backgrounds providing attendees a body of work and teachings from a variety of disciplines.
Will Johnston by Mike Esperanza.
“We wanted to create a dance festival here, in Los Angeles, for years and we’re thrilled that the recent winners of the Capezio A.C.E. Awards will be able to show off their talents to all of the dance fans in LA,” said Nikole Vallins, a producer with Break the Floor Productions in a statement. “Presenting this festival at the iconic Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood just adds to the amazing opportunity for these outstanding choreographers and dancers.”Led by owner Gil Stroming, Break the Floor Production is a dance entertainment company with a reach of over 500,000 dancers annually. The company has produced tours of Travis Wall’s Shaping Sound shows “Dance Reimagined” and “After the Curtain,” and this summer Al Blackstone’s “Freddie Falls in Love” will be performed for New York audiences at the Joyce Theater.
Founded by Nick Young, Rhythmatic recently appeared on the NBC hit competition show “World of Dance.” Since then, Young and his dancers have performed in Bermuda, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
Los Angeles-based Entity Contemporary Dance, founded in 2009 by choreographers Will Johnston, Marissa Osato, and Elm Pizarro, “interweaves modern, jazz, and hip-hop dance techniques” with a desire to “forge connections between the Southern California hip-hop and contemporary dance communities.” The Company has produced two full-length works, “Braxon vs. Oregon” (2014/2015) and “PEEL” (2016/2017), which ran in Los Angeles, and toured San Francisco, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Locally, they hold open company class every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at EDGE Performing Arts Center in Hollywood.
25-year-old Creative/Choreographer Lukas McFarlane, from Canada, was crowned the UK and Ireland’s best dance act, winning Sky1’s hit TV show, “Got to Dance” in 2013 at just 19. Now assistant creative director to Brian Friedman on “The X Factor,” he is also a choreographer on the show. He’s choreographed for the BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing,” ITV’s “The Voice UK” and “Change Your Tune.,” and has worked on “So You Think You Can Dance” in four countries, including here in the U.S. and is a teacher and Creative Director of his London-based dance company UnTitled Dance Company.
Located just south of the world-famous Hollywood & Vine intersection, The Montalbán is Hollywood’s classic theatre reborn for a new era of performing arts, and screened entertainment. In 1999, Emmy Award-winning actor Ricardo Montalbán and his Foundation bought the building in 1999, with a goal to provide “inspiration and employment for young Latinos as well as other underrepresented people throughout the community,” in Hollywood. Since 1927, the classic Beaux Arts building was the first “legitimate live Broadway-style theater in Hollywood” and is one of the few remaining mid-sized and fully equipped proscenium theaters in Los Angeles, featuring orchestra, mezzanine, loge, and balcony seating. The rooftop space, with a bar, concession stand, and full kitchen, hosts contemporary and classic films screened throughout the year. Once owned by Howard Hughes, CBS Radio, A&P grocery chain heir Huntington Hartford, and the Greek Theater’s James Doolittle, The Montalbán is now under the direction of Montalbán’s son-in-law Gilbert Smith.
