3rd Law Dance/Theater brings the power, joy, and experience of dance and artistic excellence to people of all ages and abilities through the creation and presentation of innovative performances and education.

HISTORY

3rd Law Dance/Theater is an award-winning contemporary dance company that has been creating original theatrical and site-specific work for over two decades. 3rd Law began with a collaboration between choreographers Susan Alkaitis and Katie Elliott. In 2000 3rd Law transitioned to the artistic direction of Katie Elliott and dance ethnologist, Jim LaVita. Partners in life and art, Elliott and LaVita incorporated 3rd Law on 01/01/01, the first day of the new millennium. With a passionate belief in the power of live, in-the-moment performance and the collaborative environment, 3rd Law has become a premiere dance company in our region. When Jim LaVita died in 2017, the community supported the company through a time of transition that honored the artistic vision and helped realize what 3rd Law currently offers. Now under the Artistic Direction of Katie Elliott, 3rd Law has a long-time working relationship with composer Paul Fowler and lighting designer Craig Bushman to bring a rich expression of artistic excellence around issues of importance to the community and to this time. 3rd Law is honored to be working along-side numerous artistic collaborators. These collaborations make it possible for 3rd Law to push the boundaries in media, visual art, digital construction, theater and bridge the gaps among art forms to bring contemporary dance to new audiences.

OUR PASSION

The Company professes a creative vision that merges a powerful, energetic bodily idiom with a thoughtful and personal spirit where the voice of every artist is honored in the process. We desire to create a challenging magical space for artist, collaborator, community and audience. A space where a range of emotion emerges from a place of motion in the body. Live production, different at every performance, responding to an interaction between performers and audience makes dance a unique language. We believe live dance performance is a visceral and bodily experience that moves the audience in ways that cannot be accomplished by other means.

WHY THE NAME 3RD LAW

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion is the philosophical and physical backbone to the collaborative environment that 3rd Law creates. New ideas are generated through the push and pull in movement, emotion, and idea to create dynamic working relationships.