An inclusive dance festival is back in Onondaga County this week for its second year.
MERGE, a joint venture between Breadcrumbs Productions and Deviant Dance Productions, is a week-long festival with classes for dancers of all backgrounds and styles. There are classes for belly dancing, vogue, hula hooping, hip hop and more.
Lisa Price is the owner of Deviant Dance Productions.
"This is an event we've created to basically show adult dance community," Price said. "We have some professional dancers. We have some recreational dancers. Adult dance opportunities in Syracuse are coming together at the Everson to do an amazing performance."
Tanner Efinger, artistic director of Breadcrumbs Productions, said they strived for inclusivity of all dance styles in the festival.
"We're working with different organizations who do cultural dancing like Indian dancing and African dancing," Efinger said. "I just am so excited to have these different perspectives on dance, because dance is a universal language and particularly in a city which has so much diversity which you know English is not always everyone's first language to say that this is a a really excellent opportunity for us all to get together."
The festival culminates with a pay-as-you-will performance at the Everson Museum of Art on May 18 at 7:30 p.m. More than 50 dancers from 15 studios across central New York will be participating.
Festival organizers hope MERGE gives community members who want to get back into dance the chance to connect with local arts organizations.
To view the schedule of classes, click here.
