DanceFest returns Saturday

COEUR d'ALENE - Pick a style, any style.

Jazz, bell, tap, ballroom, Scottish, or hip hop - if you want to learn how to move your feet to it, Saturday's your day.

The Inland Northwest Dance Association, a group of regional dance professionals and enthusiasts, is bringing its annual DanceFest to Coeur d'Alene for the second year in a row.

Highlighted by a Jazz on Tap concert in the evening, the all-day event dedicated to dancing will give anyone interested in busting a move a tutorial on shaking a leg - in any style imaginable.

"It's a heck of a lot of fun," said Lorna Hamilton, advisor for the North Idaho College Dance team, the team of 9 dancers who will be instructing the hip-hop session on Saturday.

That session is sure to please the younger crowd.

"Right now the kids really like hip hop, but belly dancing looks like a lot of fun too," she said.

The free family dance festival is the annual celebration kicking off National Dance Week and National Jazz Month. Around 350 performers from all ages and abilities from Montana, Washington, Canada, and Idaho will be on hand.

In 2010, the Spokane-based group brought the event to Kroc Community Center in Coeur d'Alene for the first time, a show that entertained and educated more than 4,500 visitors. On Saturday, it returns to the same venue.

"We just liked the location, we liked working with all the people, and it has a nice theater," said Isabelle Cook, INDA treasurer and event planner, on the group that meets in Spokane Valley. "It's perfect for us."

While the dance lessons are from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., an evening "Jazz on Tap" dance and music performance will go from 7 to 9 p.m.

The concert features Katherine Kramer, Carson Murphy teamed with saxophonist Virginia Mayhew who have performed from Seattle to New York City, to create a show with Latin flow. Mayhew leads the jazz trio of pianist Randy Halbertstadt and bassist Clipper Anderson.

Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 children 11 and under. Day performances and lessons are free.

Info: Isabelle Cook at (509) 927-0972