The Washington Center and Ballet Northwest are thrilled to announce the return of Olympia Dance Festival on March 1 at 7:00pm. The 2025 Olympia Dance Festival features 16 dance companies from throughout Western Washington. This year the Festival will feature guest artists Eran Bugge from Paul Taylor Dance Company and Aaron Loux from Mark Morris Dance Group.
Eran Bugge is from Oviedo, Florida where she began her dance training at the Orlando Ballet School. She went on to study at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford under the direction of Peggy Lyman, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a B.F.A. in ballet pedagogy. She joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 2005 and danced there for 19 years. She had the experience of creating 25 new dances with Mr. Taylor and performed over 100 roles in 79 of his works. She has danced feature roles in many of his masterpieces including Piazzolla Caldera, Company B, the White Duet from Roses and the role originated by Kate Johnson in Sunset. She has toured the world to perform and teach with highlights including China, Italy, Turkey, Norway and Israel as well as performing for the Queen of Thailand in Bangkok, and in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus at the Acropolis in Athens. During her tenure at Taylor, Ms. Bugge was also featured in new work by Pam Tanowitz, Kyle Abraham, Larry Keigwin, Doug Varone among others. Before joining the Taylor Company, she was a member of Full Force Dance Theatre and the Adam Miller Dance Project. She was proud to receive the 2012 Hartt School Alumni award.
Aaron Loux is a dance artist, choreographer, educator, and writer based in New York City. He encountered modern dance as a child at the Creative Dance Center in Seattle, Washington and later earned his B.F.A. from Juilliard. For twelve years, Aaron was a celebrated member of the Mark Morris Dance Group, appearing in the New York Times’ “Top Male Dance Performances of 2014.” He has also performed with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Merce Cunningham Trust, Cornfield Dance, Christopher Williams, Billy Smith Dance, and Charlotte Bydwell. His own choreography has been presented at the Juilliard School, Marymount Manhattan College, the Works & Process Artists Virtual Commissions series at the Guggenheim, and the Vision of Sound (NY), Men in Dance (WA), and Small Plates Choreography (NY) festivals. Aaron teaches dance to adults of diverse backgrounds, including beginners, professionals, and dancers living with Parkinson’s disease through the Dance for PD® program. He also leads company classes for MMDG, Gibney Dance, the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and the Paul Taylor and Limón dance companies. Aaron’s writing appears in the September 2023 and January 2024 issues of PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, published by MIT Press. Aaron is currently pursuing a B.A. in American Studies at Columbia University and is an adjunct instructor in ballet technique at Marymount Manhattan College.
This year’s Olympia Dance Festival’s program will include ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, tap, jazz, Irish dance, Chinese dance, ballroom, musical theatre and more! This event typically sells out, so get your tickets before it’s too late!
Tickets to the Olympia Dance Festival: https://www.washingtoncenter.org/event/olympia-dance-festival-2025-03-01
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