CELEBRATING ST. LOUIS’ VIBRANT DANCE COMMUNITY
St. Louis Dance HQ’s Blog is a compilation of writings and performance reviews from a variety of St. Louis based dance writers. If you’re interested in sharing your writing on our blog, please email stlouisdancehq@gmail.com.
HQ Review: Saint Louis Dance Theatre’s Winter Series features masterpieces by Inger and Kylián
Opening the second half of Saint Louis Dance Theatre’s (STLDT) Love Languages Season was their Winter Series, featuring two programs, each with vastly different styles, themes, and choreography to showcase the versatility of their incredible dancers. For this review, we will focus on the program performed on Saturday, February 28th, featuring: Jamar Roberts' Good Grief, Kirven Douthit-Boyd's Facing Shores, Johan Inger's Walking Mad, and Jiří Kylián's Sechs Tanze.
HQ Review: MADCO and Jennifer Kayle present PULSE/imPULSE
At a time when the world feels like it’s burning down, we reach for a remedy; a quick pick-me-up, an escape, or the great salve of self introspection. MADCO’s PULSE/imPULSE concert Feb 20 at COCA’s Staenberg Performance Lab explored each approach with collaborator Jennifer Kayle, head of the University of Iowa’s department of dance. The evening highlighted the active artistic exchange between Iowa City and St. Louis.
HQ Review: Saint Louis Dance Theatre Trainee Winter Concert
Under the beautiful lights of the Grandel Theatre, Saint Louis Dance Theatre presented their annual Winter Trainee Concert as part of their Language of Art season - an evening that blended fresh voices with powerful returning works. The show opened by acknowledging the trainees’ main stage and community outreach performances this season. that all of the music was set to post-World War II tunes for one particular reason. The trainees perform for over thirty different senior living centers throughout the season, presenting works set to post-World War II tunes to keep their audiences engaged. For their Winter Concert, these hardworking individuals performed world premieres by acclaimed guest artists Ashley Tate and Carly Vanderheyden, returning audience favorites by Adam Parson, Mady Buerck, and Brandon Fink, as well as new works by current trainees Ellie Barry, Julia Dawson, and Meghan Lensmeyer.
HQ Review: Saint Louis Ballet presents Call It Love featuring the St. Louis Blues
On February 14th and 15th at Touhill Performing Arts Center, St. Louis Ballet performed Call It Love, featuring St. Louis Blues. Call It Love is one of those evenings at the ballet where movement, music, and emotion align so seamlessly that you leave the theater feeling both exhilarated and quietly reflective. Saint Louis Ballet’s program brings together intimacy, theatricality, and American musical traditions, creating an exploration of connection and romance.
HQ Review: Resilience Dance Company and Continuum Vocal Ensemble present Speak Easy Move Loud
Under the lavish chandelier of the Mahler Ballroom, Resilience Dance Company and Continuum Vocal Ensemble came together with a similar extravagance for “Speak Easy Move Loud” February 6 and 7. The two young companies combined their hunger for interdisciplinary collaboration with a cross-era program, aiming to bring the political and creative upheaval of the 1920s into conversation with America’s current climate.
HQ Review: STAGED presented by Karlovsky and Company Dance
On November 21-22, 2025, Karlovsky and Company Dance showcased 5 pieces, each created by a different choreographer: Corpus Missa, Last Train Home, Catching, How Come We Never Talked About It, and Seeing You, Seeing Me. With the collaboration of nine company artists, twelve guest artists, three musicians, and one set designer each piece was filled with a unique voice and powerful emotional resonance.
HQ Review: Washington University Dance Theatre presents “Something is Happening”
On November 14, 15, and 16th, WashU’s WUDT performed their annual concert, this one entitled Something Is Happening, at Edison Theater. The talented students had the amazing opportunity to work with choreographers Elinor Harrison, Liz Lloyd, David Marchant, Ron K. Brown, and Xi Zhao. The dancers performed in works of many different genres including classical/neoclassical ballet, contemporary, West African and modern dance influences.
HQ Review: Saint Louis Dance Theatre’s Love Languages Fall Series
On Saturday, November 15, 2025, Saint Louis Dance Theater (STLDT) celebrated its 15th season by hosting its “Movers and Shakers Ball: Cristal Anniversary” gala. Many donors, dancers, and patrons came adorned in glittery themed formal wear. The night began with champagne toasts, a buffet, and a cocktail hour. The audience was already buzzing with excitement for what STLDT has to offer when the performance began for the first installment of their Love Language season, aptly titled Fall Series.
HQ Review: SIUE presents Timeless Reflections Fall Dance Concert
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville presented their fall dance concert, Timeless Reflections at Dunham Theatre in Edwardsville, IL, featuring choreography by Carly Vanderheyden, Maria Majors, Kristin Best-Kinscherff, Geoff Alexander, Omar Olivas, Lindsay Hawkins, Snack Break Movement Arts, and Brenda Serrata Tally.
HQ Review: Webster’s New Works Concert
On November 6th through the 7th, Webster University's dance department performed original choreography at their annual New Works Concert. The talented BFA students learned challenging choreography from both alumni and faculty, with styles such as jazz, contemporary, and modern being highlights of the show.
HQ Review: Resilience Dance Company opens its season with ENTRY POINTS
Resilience Dance Company’s fifth annual concert, Entry Points, was performed at the Center of Creative Arts’ Catherine B. Berges Theatre on October 30th and November 1st, 2025. The evening featured two new works as well as one reprised from 2023 and an expanded piece from 2024.
HQ Review: Ballet 314’s Fall Fête Angels and Demons
On October 18, Ballet 314 presented Fall Fete: Angels & Demons at UMSL’s Touhill Performing Arts Center Lee Theater. Ballet 314 delighted their audience with an intimate matinee performance as well as a luxe evening performance and fundraiser. This review is for the 3:00pm matinee performance.
HQ Review: Chew+Spit presents WHATEVERFEST!
Since its inaugural performance in January 2025, chew & spit – a dance residency created by Marlee Doniff and sponsored by Space Station Dance Residency – has sought to actively lower the stakes of performance by creating a space that prioritizes process over product. That essence of low-stakes performance billowed through every aspect of chew & spit’s first annual fundraiser event, Whateverfest, presented on Saturday, October 18, at Webster University’s Department of Dance. A myriad of mismatched living-room lamps framed the makeshift performance space and offered a soft, homey glow that, along with the steady patter of rain on the roof, wrapped the afternoon in a sense of warmth and community.
HQ Review: MADCO kicks off its 50th Anniversary Season with SET: The Legacy Concert
MADCO kicked off its 50th anniversary season with SET: The Legacy Concert at COCA’s Catherine B. Berges Theatre on October 11-12, 2025.
HQ Review: Saint Louis Ballet presents Take Five…More or Less
Red, orange, blue, and purple leap out onto stage as Henri Matisse-inspired costumes paint their way into live performance danced by Saint Louis Ballet. On October 11th and 12th, Saint Louis Ballet debuted Take Five…More or Less, a captivating show featuring three unique works by both guest artists and faculty.
HQ Review: Webster BFA Concert
80s rock and roll, a disappearing moon, a thunderstorm, a trickle of laughter, a prop gun, and the indecisiveness of being a libra. All disparate elements that collectively contribute to the daring artistry of Webster University’s BFA concert “The Paradox.” Featuring three works by BFA candidate Ally Lamkie, as well as four works by recent Webster alumni, “The Paradox” is a fitting title to illustrate how these imaginative works existed beside each other. At times dramatic absurdity took hold as comedic expressions were undercut by tensions of seriousness. Elsewhere, the ecstasy of dance reigned supreme as the electricity of movement bounced from one dancer to the next. Though containing a hodgepodge of dance theatricalities, this concert’s contradictory features depicted the reality of existing in an illogically serious world.
HQ Review: Saint Louis Dance Theatre presents Norbert De La Cruz III’s world premiere “THE NORTH STAR”
There is a gnawing tension that aches within the body of Norbert De La Cruz III’s newest work “The North Star.” De La Cruz’s previous work for Saint Louis Dance Theatre, “Cloud 9,” found the dancers of this company in an ethereal world, emulating utopia amongst the clouds of COCA’s Catherine B. Berges Theatre. While their gaze still reaches towards the heavens, in “The North Star” the dancers have fallen from the clouds, finding themselves among the debris of this earth. The sun is dimmer, the stakes are higher, yet this community of dancers continues to resonate amongst the residue of this newly inhabited world.
HQ Reveiw: Ballet 314 presents THE ACCUSED
For their final production to wrap up their 6th season, Ballet 314 presented The Accused at the Skip Viragh Center of the Arts. The night was a triple bill with The Lark Ascending, Envy of Angels, and the headliner, The Accused. The three pieces presented did not have a general theme that created a tether between each piece. But that did not matter as they were strong as standalone pieces, highlighting different strengths of the dancers.
HQ Review: Dancers Making Moves inaugural event “Living Gallery”
Dancers Making Moves, a project conceived and spearheaded by Carly Vanderheyden, describes itself online as “a multimedia series capturing the essence of a dancer through photography, videography, movement, and storytelling.” The project began after Vanderheyden received an artist grant from the Regional Arts Commission and used the funds to create a platform and support system for a selected group of performing artists. It culminated in an evening-length experience of dance viewing, wherein the twenty-four artists involved were spotlighted as valuable members of our vibrant dance community.
HQ Review: STLDT’s Trainees present their (Em)Power Spring Concert
Spearheaded by STLDT’s Director of Education Brandon Fink, Saint Louis Dance Theatre’s Spring Trainee Concert was performed at Nerinx Hall in collaboration with the Nerinx Hall High School Dance Department. The evening’s performance consisted of seven pieces by six different choreographers. Though each piece offered unique insight into this particular group of dancers, the standout works of the evening were Murmuration by Brandon Fink, Meld by Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson, and IAN/IVE by Hui Cha Poos and the dancers.