Traverse City Dance Project starts the summer season of 2024 this weekend

By Craig Manning | July 27, 2024

The Traverse City Dance Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated “to producing and presenting professional dance in Northern Michigan,” kicks off its summer 2024 tour this weekend with performances in Glen Arbor and Kalkaska.

According to the Traverse City Dance Project’s website, “its origins lie on a New York City rooftop in 2012, where professional dancers and choreographers Brent Whitney and Jennifer McQuiston Lott planted the seeds of their vision.” Whitney wanted to “bring top-level dance back to his hometown of Traverse City” and establish a dance company in northern Michigan that would “provide a platform for professional dancers, choreographers, musicians and composers.”

Sarah Wolff, one of the dancers of the Traverse City Dance Project, tells The Ticker that this summer’s programming will feature collaborations with Michigan musician Jordan Hamilton, “who will be performing on stage with his two other trio members.” Hamilton’s website describes his music as “hip-hop influenced, rhythmically layered, melodically robust, avant-garde, folk-soul music.”

The summer tour kicks off tonight with a 7 p.m. performance at The Homestead in Glen Arbor, and continues tomorrow night at Railroad Square in Kalkaska. Other shows in the new 10-date schedule include stops in Frankfort, Charlevoix and Traverse City. The TC performance is at 7 p.m. on Saturday, August 3 at Rotary Square. The tour concludes with a gala fundraiser on August 6 at Historic Barns Park.

More information about each show can be found on the Traverse City Dance Project events page. Some performances require tickets, but others—including the Rotary Square performance in downtown Traverse City—are free and open to the public.