(upbeat music) - Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company is celebrating its 60th anniversary season.

Executive Director Thom Dancy is here to tell us what's in store for the company and to talk about an upcoming performance.

Hi Thom.

- Hi Laura.

It's a pleasure to be here.

- Yeah, so you're new to Ririe-Woodbury, but Ririe-Woodbury is not new to Utah, 60 years.

- It's pretty incredible, right, and it has this incredible name beyond the state of Utah as well.

The founders, Joan Woodbury and Shirley Ririe had such an impact on the national and international dance community that really 60 years is this celebration for modern dance in the country and not just for Ririe-Woodbury.

- Wow, that's so great.

- It's very exciting.

- I wanna focus on this performance you have coming up called Traverse.

What makes this special and different?

- Yeah, so in our 60th season, artistic director, Daniel Sharon, decided to take a couple of creative leaps and Traverse is one of them.

When you walk into the theater to see these incredible pieces of choreography, you will actually be escorted backstage and you'll be sitting sort of in the round, if you will, on the stage itself.

So dancers will come in from the wings.

You'll be sitting down with a drink on the stage of the Jena Wagner itself, enjoying the performance in this immersive 360 degree space.

- Wow, so it is breaking down the fourth wall?

- It is, it is.

To use theater lingo, absolutely.

- So if I come, I won't be asked to dance, will I?

- Well, we'll see.

- Okay.

- No, I'm kidding.

You won't be asked to dance.

But you know, there's a fun to participating coming a little beforehand.

We're doing kind of a happy hour.

You can have a drink, you can play games, so it's very informal.

- Very fun.

- Yeah.

- Very fun.

- Just a fun Friday or Saturday night with friends.

- All right, so what else is in store for the 60th anniversary season?

- Oh my gosh, so much.

We have an alumni weekend coming up, where we're really excited to celebrate with the 60 years of dance alumni that have gone through the show or gone through all of our performances.

We have incredible shows lined up and a gala in two months, so we hope that you can make it to that as well.

- Awesome, well, thank you so much for being here to tell us about it and we're happy to celebrate with you.

- Oh, thank you so much, my pleasure.

- If you'd like to learn more about Ririe-Woodbury's 60th anniversary season and the upcoming performance, Traverse, it's February 1st through the third at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.

Learn more at RirieWoodbury.com.

That's RirieWoodbury.com.

I'm Laura Durham, thanks for watching "Contact."

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