KEYSER, WV – For more than 30 years, the West Virginia Dance Company (WVDC) has been enriching lives through dance.

This year marks the first appearance of the WVDC in Keyser as members perform a thorough blend of educational, entertaining and thought-provoking modern works that generate enthusiasm in audiences of all ages.

The West Virginia Dance Company will perform at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 28, at Keyser High School as Highland Arts Unlimited continues its 2012 season.

The WVDC is composed of highly trained, professional dancers who have been influenced by West Virginia’s rich cultural heritage and various cultures from across the globe.

The company has performed extensively in West Virginia and 14 other states, as well as in Brazil.
The Appalachian Dance and Music Ensemble (ADME) was commissioned by the West Virginia Arts and Humanities Council to interpret the poetry of the State Laureate, Dr. Louise McNeil Pease. Music and dance were especially composed focusing on the strong rhythms, and bold, lean images of her poetry.
In 1986, the dance component of ADME joined with Theatre West Virginia and became the Theatre West Virginia Dance Company.

The TWVDC was selected by the West Virginia Department of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts to participate in the project, Arts in the Classroom. Since 1991 several different groups of dancers created works and performed in special projects under the name of the “West Virginia Dance Company.”

Approximately 50,000 students are reached through the art of dance each year.
Since 2006, the WVDC has completed three, extremely successful two-year multicultural, educational touring programs entitled, Where in the World Is…?, Around the World and Back Again, and Exploring Global Treasures.

This year, the company will begin their new educational tour, Passport to a World Adventure.
Admission is free to HAU members. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Children under 12 are admitted free with a paying adult.

This year’s programs are funded in part by membership contributions, grants from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, and financial assistance from Potomac State College, the Mineral County Board of Education, and corporate sponsors.