Three Central Florida dance companies are converging on a single stage this weekend for “The Shift,” a choreographers' showcase running Saturday and Sunday at the Marshall Ellis Theatre in Orlando. The event brings together dance artists from Emotions Dance, Edgez Dance and N.A.D.ance, with original works from choreographers including Ellexis Hatch, Ryan Page, Corinne Hidar, Christopher Ryan, Nataniel Alvira and Dante Lewis Fernandez.
Performances take place Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. at the theater located at 1300 La Quinta Drive, according to Orlando Weekly. Presale tickets run $25, while tickets purchased at the door cost $35, per Eventbrite listings for the event.
A Non-Profit Mission Behind the Movement
The showcase is organized by Emotions Dance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit contemporary dance organization founded in 2007 by Artistic Director Larissa Humiston. The company is dedicated to raising social and environmental awareness through dance and education, and it produces original stage works alongside community outreach programs across Central Florida, according to its organizational profile.
Humiston's approach to choreography is shaped by more than an artistic background. She earned a Master of Social Work from Syracuse University in 2006 and works as a licensed clinical social worker and therapist in addition to leading the dance company. That clinical training informs Emotions Dance's emotionally driven work, and Humiston frequently integrates themes of mental health and movement into both her choreography and her community workshops.
The Venue's Own Decade of Dance History
The Marshall Ellis Theatre itself has a history intertwined with Central Florida's independent dance scene. Founder Marshall Ellis, a former Orlando Ballet dancer, established ME Dance, Inc. as a non-profit in 2011 before opening the Marshall Ellis Dance School and ME Theatre in 2014, according to the school's own history. The organization was created to provide performance opportunities and technical training for local dancers who might not otherwise have access to a dedicated stage.
That mission has made the theater a flexible home for a range of independent performing arts groups over the years, including the burlesque troupe Big Bang BOOM! Cabaret, which has staged shows there as part of its own season lineup. The venue sits in an industrial corridor off Orange Blossom Trail, a setting that has quietly become something of a hub for smaller performing arts groups that need an intimate space without the overhead of a major performing arts center.
Meet the Choreographers Sharing the Bill
Among the featured choreographers, Nataniel Alvira is premiering original work with N.A.D.ance at the showcase. Alvira previously presented multi-dancer jazz choreography at National Dance Day Orlando in September 2025, work that centered on dynamic storytelling and narrative movement, according to a Facebook post detailing the lineup.
Another featured troupe, Edgez Dance, operates a studio at 4602 E. Michigan St. in Orlando offering multi-genre classes for students ranging from age 2 through adult. The company has been registered as an active Florida LLC since 2015, giving it a long-running local footprint even as it takes part in a shared showcase alongside newer choreographic voices.
Building on Recent Work and Regional Growth
“The Shift” follows on the heels of Emotions Dance's most recent full production, “Element Earth,” which the company staged at ME Theatre in March 2026. That contemporary ballet examined humanity's connection to natural forces through four movement segments exploring themes of environmental responsibility, according to a press release from the City of Winter Park.
Emotions Dance also receives institutional funding support through grants from the Florida Department of State Division of Arts and Culture and United Arts of Central Florida, funding that local non-profits rely on to keep tickets accessible and to pay working dancers. It remains an open question how rising facility costs and venue availability across Orlando will affect independent dance groups that depend on regional grant dollars to sustain that kind of affordable programming.
The showcase also arrives amid a broader wave of growth in Orange County's dance sector. The Orlando Dance Conservatory opened an expanded studio facility in nearby Winter Garden this month after outgrowing its original space, reflecting growing local participation that has driven studio expansions across the metro area.
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