About the Event

Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and The Movement Source Dance Company present Arizona Trolley Dances. This series of special performances originates at the Center, where patrons hop on a trolley for a tour of five short dance works in various locations around Old Town Scottsdale. 

Joining The Movement Source will be performers from San Diego Dance Theater, which originated the Trolley Dances idea. Additionally, performers from Grupo Axé Capoeira (martial arts) and Jukebox Family (hip hop style) will also take part in the progressive event. 

Mary Anne Fernandez-Herding, co-director of The Movement Source Dance Company, began to explore bringing Trolley Dances to Arizona after seeing the San Diego version in La Jolla in 2015. She reached out to choreographer Jean Isaacs—the former artistic director of San Diego Dance Theater, who created Trolley Dances two decades ago—and he invited The Movement Source to perform in the San Diego Trolley Dances in 2021. 

Now The Movement Source is using that experience for an Arizona version of the outdoor dance event. Susan Pine-Harris, co-director of The Movement Source, choreographed one of the performances. And live musicians will accompany the dancers at two of the five stops as attendees enjoy the spring weather, energetic dancers, and a sight-seeing trolley ride. 

The Movement Source Dance Company 

Founded in 1988, The Movement Source is a nonprofit, multimedia modern dance company whose mission is to expand the audience for dance in Arizona by creating exciting, accessible dance works, education programs, and events. New works are generated each season to keep audiences and artists motivated, challenged, and interested. Many major performances are interpreted for the deaf community. 

Company members represent a broad spectrum of diverse talents and backgrounds that are continually enhanced each season through collaborations with artists from various media (visual artists, musicians, writers, videographers, and actors) to create exciting new works that integrate their art forms with dance. The company is creative in its approach to choreography, community-based education, and performances in theaters and nontraditional sites. 

Movement Source Dance Company is a recipient of a Community Arts Grant from the city of Scottsdale.