Dance St. Louis

History

Dance St. Louis has been bringing the great dance of the world to St. Louis audiences for 48 years. In 1966, a small group of dance enthusiasts headed by Washington University professor of dance Annelise Mertz began meeting in each other’s living rooms to figure out how to enable St. Louisans to enjoy more modern dance performances. From these informal gatherings and an operating budget of just $11,000, Dance St. Louis has burgeoned into one of the cultural treasures of St. Louis.

Dance St. Louis is committed to bringing audiences the full spectrum of dance, from classical ballet, contemporary ballet, and modern dance to ethnic, ballroom, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and cutting-edge artists of every sort. Major companies are presented at the Fox Theatre, the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center and in collaboration with Washington University’s Edison Theatre OVATIONS! series. Over the years, Dance St. Louis has raised the curtain on stars such as the Kirov Ballet, STOMP, American Ballet Theatre, Tango X 2, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Joffrey Ballet, Riverdance, Martha Graham Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Tap Dogs, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Stuttgart Ballet, Pilobolus, Bill T. Jones, Sydney Dance Company, David Dorfman Dance Company, and Compañía Nacional de Danza.

Dance St. Louis also conducts a broad range of education programs for the St. Louis community. FreeSpeaking of Dance talks hosted by Artistic & Executive Director Michael Uthoff precedes all performances, with artistic directors, ballet masters, dancers and choreographers talking informally with audience members about their work. Many visiting dance companies conduct master classes for area dancers. Each year, the Education Outreach Program introduces thousands of schoolchildren to the magic of dance through in-school workshops and mainstage performances.