(upbeat music) - It's time to spring forward once again, this time with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, an organization that believes that dance is for everybody.

Here to talk more about Spring Forward, an immersive benefit party, is Leslie Kraus.

Thank you for being here, Leslie.

- Thank you so much for having me.

I appreciate it.

- So, tell me more about Spring Forward.

- Yeah, spring Forward is our annual benefit party, and we're really leaning into the party aspect of it this year.

We're inviting all guests to wear their best floral creative designs.

We have the incredible and fierce drag artist Sequoia, who's gonna be the emcee and performing that evening.

The second creation that I am making on the company will also perform in the middle of the party, and there will be a huge immersive sculptural floral design by GALOREfloral.

So, we're very excited.

DJ, drinks, food, it'll be amazing.

- And there will be a few other choreographers featured as well, right?

- Yes, so on the performance nights on Friday and Saturday and Saturday matinee will be sort of an audience favorite and a piece that has toured the world with the company.

It's called "The Opposite of Killing", by Tzveta Kassabova.

And we have a very sweet piece about love called "Two Hearted" by Keerati Jinakunwiphat.

And we're very excited about both of those artists in the performance, along with my new creation with the company.

- Wow, so much to experience.

What is it about this benefit that brings people back year after year?

- Well, it's just the community supporting this company.

The company has been around for so long, and I'm so honored to be the new artistic director of such a legacy company.

So, it is just vital that we keep the arts alive, especially right now.

- You told me you've been dancing since you were six years old.

What does it mean to you to be able to provide this for other six-year-olds and other people that wanna get into this art?

- Well, dance is so important.

Dance is one of the healthiest things that humans can do.

Dance is not just for the professionals.

So, I wanna bring in many people in the community to enjoy dance.

And this is why, at the benefit party, we're gonna have a huge dance party at the end.

- All right, can't wait to see it.

Thank you so much for being here and sharing this with us.

If you would like to check out this Spring Forward benefit party, it's April 16th at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.

They're also gonna have another performance called "Vantage Point" on the 17th and 18th.

Just go to: ririewoodbury.com/ events-performances to learn more information.

I'm Liz Adeola.

Thank you so much for watching "Contact".

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