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The UH-Hilo Performing Arts Center will host a Dance Extravanganza featuring more than 80 dancers who will share their carefully honed dance talents with each other and an audience who are in for a potpourri of dance styles, moods and movement storytelling.

The performance starts at 5 p.m. Saturday.

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As the main showcase of the Big Island Dance Council’s 50th anniversary celebratory year, this event will take audience members through joy, sadness, laughter, wonder and inspiration.

One of BIDC’s major contributions to the dance culture of the Big Island is the creation of an event called the Dance Extravaganza in 1976, a year after the founding of the organization. It featured multi-genre performances — jazz, ballet, modern, bellydance, tap and more from dancers around the island.

It became a much-anticipated annual dance event for 14 years. Then, it evolved into the Spring Fling sponsored by Volcano Art Center for 10 years, from 1991 to 2001. With a hiatus of 24 years, the event has been resurrected in this 50th anniversary year of BIDC by Trina Nahm-Mijo, event coordinator, one of the founding members of BIDC and professor emerita of Hawaii Community College.

Dance Extravaganza 2.0 will feature eight dance studios from around the island: Kona Dance and Performing Arts Center; Lava Roots from Kohala; Prince Dance Institute from Waimea; Big Wave Dance Academy from Puna; and Island Dance Academy, N2 Dance, and the Dance programs from Hawai’i Community College and UH-Hilo. Halau Hula Kauluola will open the show.

There also will be two invited guest choreographers. Peter Rockford-Espiritu and his Tau Dance Theater from Oahu will grace the stage with a traditional Samoan dance called “Kava” and an original Hawaiian-influenced ballet danced to Amy Hanaiali‘i Gilliom’s “Palehua.”

And Kea Kapahua, instructor at UH-Hilo, will present her piece “Hali‘a Aloha No Kaimu,” a tribute to her ‘ohana’s roots which was recently selected to be showcased in Washington, D.C., at the 2025 American College Dance Association Festival.

The concert will also honor the memory of Earnest Morgan, founder of the Big Island Dance Council and most of the contemporary dance programs on the Big Island.

Two of his signature pieces will be performed: “For All We Know” by Meera DeCourt and “Ku‘u Home O Kahalu‘u” by Kapahua.

As a precursor to the performance, there is a historical exhibit in the UH-Hilo Mo‘okini Library‘s Kaho‘olawe Gallery of selected BIDC’s Extravaganzas starting in 1976 and going until 1991. The exhibit will be on display until the concert date Saturday.

In addition, Rockford-Espiritu will be giving a workshop entitled “Moving Stories” on Sunday, OCt. 26, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the UH-Hilo Old Gym on Kapi‘olani St. He will be giving a talk story about his journey toward Pohuli, a unique movement modality which reflects the impact of Hawaii and Pacific island cultures on contemporary dance and the role of Morgan in creating this dance style.

Adult tickets are $25 or $20 for BIDC members. Tickets for children 12 and under are $20 or $15 for BIDC members.

For more information, contact Nahm-Mijo at: nahmmijo@hawaii.edu.