Families: Dancing School

Deep in the woodsy heart of Maine, summer brings to the old mill town of Lewiston an ecstatic burst of...contemporary dance! Indeed, it was Bates College and its cultural offerings--the dance festival foremost among them--that lured elementary school counselor Susan Weiss and her physician husband to move to Lewiston from Boston 16 years ago. "The enthusiasm and spirit of the dancers really enriches our community," says Weiss. The annual festival, which this year runs from July 21 to Aug. 19, offers professional training programs for dancers and a program for local schoolchildren as well as a public performance series. Visitors to the campus are welcome to watch any of the 27 classes in session every day. Tickets to the 13 professional concerts cost $5 to $20 each. Among the highlights of the 2001 season: In Praise of the Human Spirit, a work of movement, song and stories by the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange; and Herbin (Tamango) Van Cayseele and his Urban Tap in Caravane, which fuses tap, jazz, funk, hip-hop, DJ, Brazilian capoeira and African stilt dancing.

Visitors to Bates may also want to check out Bowdoin in Brunswick and Colby in Waterville.

--Reported by Adrianne Navon