DANCE

The MIT Open Ballroom Dance Competition is one of the nation's premier collegiate dance competitions, attracting over a thousand dancers from across the nation. The event will take place on April 25-26, 2009 and feature a world-class show by Luca and Loraine Baricchi. This legendary couple has awed audiences for over a decade with their unparalleled talent and passion for ballroom dance. While competing, the Baricchi's were World, European, British Open, International and UK Professional Champions. Their performance at the 2009 MIT Open will be be a landmark event in the competition's outstanding history. Spectators are welcome to watch the amateur competitive events to be held from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday for free. Tickets for the professional show to be held Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. may be purchased online in advance or at the door the day of the event. The MIT Open is one of the largest collegiate ballroom dance competitions in the country, last year attracting over 1,000 competitors from over 60 schools and studios. "The MIT Open is the premier venue for collegiate ballroom dancers from across America," said Ben Moss, MITBDT Captain. "This event celebrates some of the most exciting dance in America as well as showcases the best of MIT student life." This year a portion of the proceeds with go to Boston Ballet's Citydance, in a move that recognizes the current challenging economic climate especially for the arts. Established in the fall of 1991, Citydance is a scholarship dance program offered to third-grade students in the Boston Public Schools. Designed to educate and introduce public school children to a variety of dance forms, Citydance offers students from all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds a chance to dance. Because of its broad scope and commitment to excellence, Citydance has become a model dance education program for institutions across the country.

Funded in part by the Council for the Arts at MIT.