Looking for something to enliven your spirit, delight and inspire you?  Something the whole family will enjoy? Then be there when the Tennessee Children’s Dance Ensemble opens its 2017 touring season at Knoxville’s Civic Auditorium on February 24 & 25.  “Soaring” is an eclectic array of dances showcasing the varied work of ten different choreographers.  TCDE encourages you to soar along with them in a mood that ranges from light and joyful, to dramatic and intense.

In addition to choreography from TCDE’s own directors Irena Linn and Amy Wilson, the evening includes a remake of founding director Dorothy Floyd’s popular Moon Festival.  Zeeva Cohen’s work, “Sharing of the Water,” offers the timely theme of peace among Nations.  New this year and highly acclaimed for her work with the Alvin Ailey School and San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Harper Addison’s “Falling Together” evidences the contagious group dynamic that has captivated Ensemble audiences world-wide.  Popular dances from alumnae Courtney Massey, Bonny Farr, and Karen Nunley Duran will also be featured.

Dr. Lenette Perra’s clever trilogy “Sunspot 1,2,3and 4” knits the dances of the evening together.  Popular Chicago choreographer Randy Duncan’s hauntingly beautiful work “Stand by me” will be featured and the evening climaxes with the Knoxville premier of his latest work,  “Fly Again.”

A special treat comes Saturday night only when Ensemble Alumna, Karlie Budge, now working with the Martha Graham company in NYC returns for a solo cameo performance.