ignite 2026

aug 14 & 15 | 2026

Ignite 2026 is presented as part of Westside Theater’s 4th Annual westFEST New Works Festival.


about the show

Undercurrent (Seattle, WA) makes their Montana debut with Surface Tension, a high-velocity kinesthetic rollercoaster for five dancers, two lights, and a DJ, illuminating a meditation on risk and community care. In darkness, held close through directed lighting and tension between what is seen and unseen, movement slices and slips through restricted space, underpinned by an original soundscore.

The show also includes a new work choreographed by Undercurrent’s Hilary Grumman and Alethea Alexander featuring Bare Bait Dance Company with westFEST Intensive participants from Colorado, Utah, and more!

SHOW DATES|TIMES

  • Aug 14 @ 7:30pm

  • Aug 15 @ 5:30pm


ABOUT THE Guest COMPANY

Undercurrent is a Seattle-based dance organization dedicated to creating and experimenting with floorwork technique, injury-preventative movement practices, experiential design, immersive performances, and care-centered community building since 2017.

COMPANY WEBSITE

guest Choreographers bios

Hilary Grumman (Director and Co-Founder of Undercurrent)

Hilary is an artist, educator, and community organizer. Drawing on her persistent floorwork research since 2011, she is the Director and Co-Founder of undercurrent, through which she hosts floorwork classes, international workshops, research labs, social gatherings, and collaborative performance projects. She is on faculty at Cornish College and an Artist in Residence at the University of Washington and Abbey Arts. Her work has been supported by Velocity Dance Center, Actualize, westFEST, Mosswood Hollow, 4Culture, Artist Trust, Alia Swersky, Douglas Pearce, the Undercurrent community, and her unwavering respect for and commitment to service as a holistic way to gather and care for others.

Aletha Alexander (Artistic Co-Director with Undercurrent)

Aletha is a Seattle-based dance artist and educator, and is the Artistic Co-Director with Undercurrent. Community, sensuality, care, effort, and collaboration are central tenets of her work with dance partners human, objects and sonic. She performs her own improvised, choreographed, and installation-based works in collaboration with multidisciplinary artists in Seattle and nationally. Her recent works have been supported by 4Culture, City of Seattle, the Kreielsheimer Foundation, Bellingham Repertory Dance, Cornish College of the Arts, and Sam Houston State University. Alethea is Co-Founder and Teaching Artist for Ballet Rituals, a Seattle-based community practice initiative.