Expect a year of graceful movement from Nickerson-Rossi Dance in 2023. In addition to its 10th anniversary performance Jan. 21, showcasing original repertoire by founder and artistic director Michael Nickerson-Rossi, the company hosts its seventh annual Palm Springs International Dance Festival from March 23 to April 2.
The event includes “Our Bodies,” an evening performance featuring new works inspired by dance therapy sessions with breast cancer patients at Eisenhower Health’s Luci Curci Cancer Center in Rancho Mirage. “It’s a visceral response to loss, love, and triumph,” explains Chad Allen Ortiz, Nickerson-Rossi’s executive director and principal dancer. The festival also includes several youth and community programs as well as a three-day educational series connecting high school students and college directors.
Finally, the Gala Performance, Ortiz adds, “brings together multiple dance companies representing the classical, commercial, Broadway, cultural, and new age ways of dance as it exists today.”