Here is a listing I pull together of monthly dance happenings in the Nashville area, as a volunteer effort to help strengthen connections among local dancers and dance groups. If you would like to be added to this and be able to submit listings, click here to subscribe.
Greetings Dance Community,
I think I’m running on fumes this spring. But I’ve got enough gas to get to Centennial Park on Saturday for the Hands Off Day of Action. And I’m leaning into grassroots art and activism projects which engage people and don’t require funding. Please check out my most recent one, launched with a short dance film, The Human Climate Song. And add your voice if you choose.
Amanda
April Dance Happenings
Belmont’s Department of Theatre and Dance presents Mixed Bill XXI ~ body & soul, featuring the Belmont University Dance Company performing works created by faculty, students, and guest artists. This year’s presentation also features the dance program’s partnership with Nashville’s di Mossa, a professional dance company that promotes reflective exchange through collective movement experiences. Show are Saturday, April 5, 2 pm and 7:30 pm and Sunday, April 6, 2pm, in the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.thefishercenter.com/2024/07/24/mixed-bill-xxi/
In Flight Entertainment Productions, LLC is bringing circus to Plaza Mariachi almost every Saturday! The show is FREE to spectators in the main hall of Plaza Mariachi at 3955 Nolensvillle Pike, Nashville, TN. Catch us April 5th,12th,19th, and 26th at 7pm! We are currently scheduled for every Saturday in April from 7 pm to 7:30 pm! This 30-minute spectacular includes a whole host of variety acts including aerial, acrobatics, dance, music, and everything in between! The shows always have a fun theme and are family friendly, fun for everyone! Find our company info here: IN FLIGHT – We can’t wait to see you there! Special guest performance with Pyroglyphics, LLC and Suspended Gravity
NOT A PHASE 2.0 is at East Side Bowl on April 11th, 2025 (Doors 7 pm, Show 8 pm) and features some of Nashville’s finest circus professionals performing exclusively to emo/punk rock music! Anything that may have you shouting, “IT’S NOT A PHASE MOM!” This is a space for alt music meets circus performances running the gambit from aerial arts, fire, and stunts. Catch performers from Suspended Gravity, Pyroglyphics, and In Flight Entertainment Productions. This show is like Halloween on Christmas, and if you miss it you’ll have us screaming, “Where are you? and I’m so sorry!” you missed out! Find tickets on the Eastside Bowl website or follow this link NOT A PHASE TICKETS HERE
Join Nashville Dance Collective in our Spring fundraiser and show by joining us for a night of dance, community, and reflection in this year’s Spring Split Bill 2025 (follow link for tickets). Joining us this year is Satellite Dance who will present “Syncretism, a Study”, followed by a new performance group premiere from MOVE Inclusive Dance, and wrapping up the show will be NDC’s premiere of “SELF:” – a trio of “almost punk” contemporary concert dance pieces. Let’s dance, rock out, and question things that should be questioned. We can’t wait to see you there! Dates: April 12 | SAT – 7:30pm-9:00pm and April 13 | SUN – 2:00pm-3:30pm
Price: Free – Donations accepted
Location: CenterStage Performing Arts Academy in Gallatin, TN
Kindling Arts presents its signature spring fundraiser The Disco Ball on Sunday, April 13th at Eastside Bowl. Summon your most fabulous self and step into the enchanted world of The Disco Ball: Spellbound, an immersive, magical takeover that transforms the incredible space at Eastside Bowl into an underground disco. This irresistible night includes bewitching performances from the wildly delightful Amm Skellars, choreography by Spencer Grady performed with Emma Morrison, McKay House, and Kristen Carrara, the piercing sounds of IMGRNT, local drag legend Nichole Ellington Dupree and rising star Delta Granta, and more. Plus: lively activations, hidden scenes, and inclusive community make for an unforgettable party more beguiling than any other. Dress to conjure magic, dance in the moonlight, and mix mystery with mayhem. Let loose the wildest version of you. Tickets from $55 at: https://www.kindlingarts.com/the-disco-ball-2025 — all proceeds support artist projects for Kindling Arts Festival 2025.
Donuts & Dancing – Seniors, ages 65+, are invited to join the Nashville Ballet for Rehearsal Viewing on Thursday, April 17, 2025, 10:00?AM – 11:30?AM at The Martin Center for Nashville Ballet (map) Donuts will be offered prior to entering the studio. Food is not permitted in the studio. Space is limited. Registration is required. Note: ADA seating is available.
Community Conversations-As a prelude to Erase the Night, Nashville Ballet will be hosting a series of Community Conversation events, that will serve as an opportunity to create inroads in our community. The event will be held on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, 6:00?PM -7:30?PM, at The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (map) In partnership with state and local addiction and mental health resource organizations, we are offering educational programming and community conversations like these to spread awareness, provide resources, and share a message of hope.
OZ Arts presents Faye Driscoll’s stunning performance art work Weathering, April 24-26. Ten performers cling to a revolving platform, surrounded on all sides by a rapt audience witnessing the careening and awe-inspiring kinetic sculpture of vulnerable human bodies. At times, they are perfectly (almost eerily) still, and at other moments they engage in high-velocity movement that makes them seem perilously close to being flung into space. Choreographer and director Faye Driscoll describes her latest work, Weathering, as a “multi-sensory flesh sculpture,” and a “morphing tableau vivant on a mobile raft-like stage surging through the Anthropocene.” Sounds and scents add to the experience, as performers create a sonic score of voices and breaths that crescendos and resonates as we see bodies morph through physical and emotional displays of primordial fear and joy. A singular experience that is sure to be one of the most legendary and memorable performance works of our time, Weathering created an international buzz that quickly reverberated around the world after its 2023 New York premiere. Included in the cast is former New Dialect member James Barrett. Tickets from $30 at: https://www.ozartsnashville.org/faye-driscoll
Ongoing
di Mossa classes continue through March and April! Tuesday and Thursday 12:30 -2:00 Contemporary class with form, conditioning and some phrase work for a fun challenge. Join us for movement and community to stay resilient in a chaotic time. drop-ins welcome $12 or 6 classes for $60
School of Nashville Ballet offers exemplary dance instruction to ages 2-102 of every experience level. Students can stretch their imaginations, learn self-expression, nurture their skill and artistry, and reach their fitness goals through our varied programs. School of Nashville Ballet faculty members have more than 50 years of combined experience and infuse their diverse professional dance backgrounds into the classroom. Faculty members teach a challenging, engaging curriculum designed to inspire and transform students—inside and out. https://www.nashvilleballet.com/programsandclasses
NEW DIALECT COMMUNITY CLASSES Continue Folks of all skill levels and backgrounds, ages 16+, are invited to join us for a 10-week series of contemporary movement sessions. Each fall and spring, we curate a stellar line up of Nashville-based dance artists to share their practice and process with the local dancing community. Methods include contemporary forms, phrase work, guided improvisation, contact improvisation, contemporary partnering, Graham, Gyrokinesis®, and more. Come connect and collaborate with other dance lovers in a warm and welcoming environment! March 3 – May 31, Mondays & Wednesdays, 10 – 11:30 AM, Centennial Performing Arts Studios Studio A. $10 drop in / $80 10-class card; BIPOC + seniors – $4 drop in / $30 10-class card. Faculty schedule: https://www.newdialect.org/community-classes
Ecstatic Dance Nashville is the first and third Sunday of each month, 10:30 am at Millennium Dance Complex. Click here for details.
Amanda Cantrell Roche offers Monday Morning Somatic Grounding, FREE and ONLINE, 8-8:20 am Monday, April 7 and 21. Register at bit.ly/MondayMorningGrounding
May Save the Date
ATTITUDE-Step into the transformative world of contemporary ballet with Nashville Ballet’s annual Attitude series on May 2-4, 2025, returning to the Polk Theater at TPAC. This thrilling programming brings bold storytelling to life through movement and will feature the visionary works of renowned choreographers Jennifer Archibald and Penny Saunders, alongside the highly anticipated world premiere of Erase the Night by Artistic Director and CEO Nick Mullikin. The performance schedule is Friday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 3, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 4, at 2 p.m. Tickets for Attitude start at just $47 and are on sale now at Nashvilleballet.com/attitude or by calling 615-297-2966 ext. 710.
“Celebration of Dance” -We are thrilled to announce our Inaugural End-of-Year Performances, at the beautiful Ingram Hall at Vanderbilt University. This “Celebration of Dance” is a three-day celebration that showcases the talent and hard work of ALL divisions of the School of Nashville Ballet. This exciting event offers students the invaluable opportunity to grow artistically, perform on stage, and share their progress with those who have supported them throughout their dance journey. The dates are Friday, May 16, 2025 at 7:00?PM and Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 5:00?PM at Ingram Hall (map)
Save the Dates May 22-23 at 7pm for Enactor Productions’ US Premiere of The Sacral Series: Initial Dissent (more info here) at Darkhorse Theater.
Save the Date May 24 at 12pm for Enactor Productions’ Repertory Workshop exploring the movement of Initial Dissent (more info here) at Darkhorse Theater.
This is a gathering of events I am aware of, submitted by those on the email list, and by no means represents all that is going on in the Middle TN area. I provide it as a volunteer service to the local dance community as part of an effort to help us stay connected and support each other by raising awareness of local dance performances, workshops and events, and rely on those on the list serve to submit the listings.