westFEST Intensive & New Works Festival
PERFORMANCE Cohorts
August 10-16 | 2025
LOCATION: WESTSIDE THEATER
MISSOULA, MT
Train in the AM.
Rehearse in the PM.
Perform on the weekend.
It’s a week of inspiring training, collaborating and performing!
Performance Cohort Information
Calling all dancers!
Train, collaborate, rehearse and perform at this year’s westFEST!
Train in the morning with Missoula artists, followed by a Contemporary Modern technique class from Francesca Romo and Michael Ellingson of Contemporary Dance Wyoming (Jackson Hole, WY).
Collaborate with professional dancers and choreographers in the afternoon and evening to create a piece to be performed in the westFEST New Works Performance Festival on August 15 and 16.
Not interested in performing?
Check our westFEST Intensive Training Track
to learn more about how to join us for Intensive Classes.
SIGN UP for the Intensive:
HOW IS THE WEEK ORGANIZED?
There are two tracks of movers: Community Track & Professional Track
On the first day of the Intensive, the master-teachers/choreographers will organize participants into the appropriate track during the Audition Placement class. Throughout the week, both tracks dance together for rotating warm-up classes with local Missoula teachers, challenging technique classes with visiting CDW artists, and then split for rehearsals to collaborate with Intensive choreographers on a new work to be performed at the end of the week.
community Track
The Community Track is designed for dedicated dancers who are ready to refine their technical skills and develop their artistic voice. Participants will work closely with BBD choreographer Rachel Oliver Young to deepen their creative practice and explore improvisation, choreography, and collaborative processes.
Open to all ages of dancers (14 and up), this intensive track is ideal for those looking to grow as artists and expand their movement vocabulary.
Community Track intensive is built for a more “intermediate” level dancer who has extensive studio training but is not at a place to pursue dance professionally.
community Track Choreographer: Rachel Oliver-Young
Meet the Community Track Choreographer
RACHEL OLIVER YOUNG is delighted to return to her Montana roots and join Bare Bait Dance | Westside Theater. A dance artist who loves to explore intriguing gestures, task-oriented investigation, and full-bodied, lush virtuosity, Rachel has performed across the country and crafted work for women’s prisons, outside spaces, multi-media performance spaces, and traditional theaters.
For six years, Rachel served as the Education Director of Dance at Denver School of the Arts, where she had the privilege of guiding and choreographing on a generation of remarkably gifted young artists. Rachel’s choreographic work has travelled nationally and internationally, commissioned by Bare Bait Dance Company, Davis Contemporary Dance Company, and West Virginia Dance Company, and sponsored by the Atlas Black Box Experimental Studio in Boulder, CO. Her choreography has been selected for performance at WestFest Dance in New York, Performática in Mexico, in the Gala Performance at the National High School Dance Festival, and presented at WV Wesleyan University, the Philly Live Arts & Fringe (PA), Dixon Place (NY) and Triskelion Arts (NY).
Rachel holds an MFA in Dance, as an Arts and Sciences Fellow at CU-Boulder, where she was awarded the Beverly Sears Graduate Student Award and the Graduate Part-Time Instructor Teaching Excellence Award by The Graduate School at CU-Boulder. She was an artist-in-residence with Open AIR, based in Western Montana, collaborating with Joy French, director of Bare Bait Dance.
Professional Track
The Professional Track is designed for dancers who are either currently working in the field or actively seeking professional opportunities, and who are looking to further their artistic and creative development. Participants will work in collaboration with fellow professionals, including company members from Bare Bait Dance and Contemporary Dance Wyoming. Together, they will create a new piece under the direction of CDW Associate Artistic Director Francesca Romo and CDW Dancer Michaela Ellingson, which will premiere at the festival.
This intensive track is ideal for those pursuing a professional dance career or already engaged in professional work.
Professional Track Choreographer: Fran romo
Meet the Professional Track Choreographer
FRANCESCA ROMO was born in London and knew she wanted to dance early in life. After graduating from the Royal Ballet School and London Contemporary Dance School, she danced for The Richard Alston Dance Company from 2003-2006. While on tour, she fell in love with the U.S., and moved to New York to dance with the Sean Curran Dance company from 2006-2007.
She then went on to Co-found the Gallim Dance Company in 2007 where she was Associate Director until 2014. She has toured and created work with Andrea Miller having been involved with dance commissions including English National Ballet, Bern Ballet, Noord Nederland Dans 2, Nederlands Dans Theatre 2 and the Juilliard School.
Gallim works have been presented by leading institutions and festivals around the world including , City Center, The Joyce, Jacob’s Pillow, BAM, Théâtre National de Chaillot, Teatre Grec of Barcelona, Teatro Nacional de Panamá, DanceHouse Vancouver, Spoleto Festival, and others. Francesca has had the fortune of touring and working both internationally and nationally, and now resides at Dancers’ Workshop in Jackson Hole where she dances, teaches, and mentors.
Fran is an integral part of wellness programming, teaching Gyrotonic and Craniosacral work with both adults and infants.
She was the recipient of the Wyoming Arts Council Grant in 2022.
Did you know….?!
You can perform with the westFEST Performance Cohorts AND also submit your own creative work?
Click Here to learn more about submitting your choreographer for Okay…GO!
Questions? First, check our FAQ page. If you need further clarification or help, feel free to reach out to Rachel at rachel@thewestsidetheater.com with questions.