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Bay Area residents will be able to see professional dancers from across the country at the end of August -- and they may even earn a chance to perform with them.

The Lively Foundation, a dance company based in Mountain View, will hold its first International Dance Festival Silicon Valley this summer, beginning with workshops starting on Monday, August 20 and culminating in two performances on Friday, August 24, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, August 26, at 2 p.m. The performances will be held at the Hoover Theater in San Jose, but the workshops will all be held at the Mountain View Masonic Lodge.

One workshop, held from Monday August 20 to Friday August 24, is taught by dancer and State University of New York at Brockport professor Leanne Rinelli to demonstrate contemporary technique, including an opportunity for dancers to learn the choreography to one of Rinelli's dances. At the end of the workshop, Rinelli will select seven or eight dancers to perform her work with her in both weekend performances in San Jose.

On Saturday, August 25, the foundation will hold a "Full Day of Dance" workshop including Pilates classes, Irish step dancing, tap, and contemporary dancing. Dancers and non-dancers of all levels are encouraged to attend any number of the classes.

In the final performances in San Jose, work will be performed by Rinelli and her selected dancers, as well as performances by the tap and Irish teachers -- Audreyanne Delgado and Larry Lynch.

The Lively Foundation's artistic director, Leslie Friedman, says she is organizing the dance festival in order to expose dancers to new types of dance technique and style. She stresses the importance of the community involvement and cooperation involved in her first International Dance Festival.

"I want to make it something that people learn from, so the dancers have a chance to expand their experience," Friedman says. "And the audience, the whole community, has a chance to see the very best dancing in an environment that's festive and exciting and full of the energy created by putting these wonderful people together."

Rinelli's week-long Contemporary Technique & Repertory Workshop costs $200 to attend, and runs from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday, August 20, through Friday, August 24. Each individual class during the Full Day of Dance on Saturday, August 25 costs $25, and participants interested in attending all of the Saturday classes can pay a discounted price of $64 for all four workshops. On-site registration for the Full Day of Dance begins at 9 a.m. the day of the master classes, and the classes run after that from 9:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Tickets to the performances at the Hoover Theater at 1635 Park Avenue in San Jose cost $15.

Those interested in attending the workshops or performances may email Friedman at livelyfoundation@sbcglobal.net, or call her at (650) 969-4110. More information is at livelyfoundation.org.

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