Thursday
Main Beach Cobblestone, Laguna Canyon Road/Beach Street at Laguna Beach
FREE and Open to the Public
Versa-Style Street Dance Company, founded in 2005 by Los Angeles natives Jackie Lopez and Leigh Foaad. Versa-Style was created to promote and celebrate the artistry of hip-hop and street dance culture. Named LA Weekly's "Best Dance Troupe for Hip Hop Empowerment" and Red Bull Magazine's "Heroes of the Year" in 2019, the company brings together highly skilled street dance artists reflecting the beauty and diversity of Los Angeles.
Stay after their performance for a FREE interactive dance workshop where you'll be invited to learn some moves & groove as a community on the beach!
Thursday
Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
FREE and Open to the Public
The evening continues at the Laguna Art Museum with a special performance by the Pan America Chinese Dance Alliance (PACDA).
For the August 6 presentation at Laguna Art Museum, the Pan America Chinese Dance Alliance (PACDA), in collaboration with Laguna Dance, brings Chinese dance into dialogue with Andy Moses’s Into the Light.
Moses’s work, inspired by the shifting qualities of light and the natural landscape, explores the space between the visible and the intangible. Similarly, Chinese folk and ethnic dance traditions are deeply rooted in nature—shaped by generations of human response to mountains, water, wind, and sky. These dances embody not only movement, but a cultural reverence for the natural world.
In this shared language, the vibrant colors of the dancers’ costumes echo the luminous palettes of Moses’s paintings, while the choreography reflects the same sense of flow, transformation, and connection. Color, in Chinese dance, carries meaning beyond aesthetics—it expresses emotion, symbolism, and cultural memory.
“Both the paintings and the dances are, at their core, expressions of humanity’s reverence for nature,” says Dr. Cheer Pan, Executive Director of PACDA. “In that shared origin, we begin to see that ‘we the people’ are connected not by sameness, but by a common search for meaning, beauty, and belonging.”
Pan America Chinese Dance Alliance (PACDA) was founded in 2015 with a mission to promote Chinese dance education, cultural exchange, and community engagement. Based in Orange County, PACDA supports Chinese dance artists, educators, and students through performances, educational programs, competitions, and community partnerships, while sharing Chinese cultural traditions and the evolving experiences of Chinese Americans through dance.
Saturday
Laguna Beach High School Dance Studio, 625 Park Ave, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
$25
Join us for a high-energy masterclass with our inaugural Summer Stage featured company, Rennie Harris Puremovement American Dance Theater!
Rooted in the foundations of hip-hop culture, this class invites dancers to explore rhythm, groove, musicality, and the cultural lineage of street dance through an embodied, dynamic experience. Participants will move, learn, and connect with the history and spirit of hip-hop as a powerful concert dance form.
Friday, Saturday
Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
$78 General, $25 Student
First time seen in Laguna Beach! Founded in 1992 by Philadelphia native Lorenzo "Rennie" Harris, Rennie Harris Puremovement is widely credited with pioneering the genre of Street Dance Theater, bringing hip-hop from the street corner to the concert stage. A Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of three Bessie Awards, the Herb Alpert Award, and the Doris Duke Artist Award, Harris has been hailed by the London Times as "the Basquiat of the U.S. contemporary dance scene," an artist whose work honors the African and African American roots of hip-hop while speaking to the full breadth of human experience.
Running time, 1 hour with no intermission
Sunday
Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
$78 General, $25 Student
Step into the world of contemporary dance at its finest. A world premiere by acclaimed choreographer Peter Chu, whose work is celebrated for its physicality and emotional depth, alongside a newly imagined work by Jodie Gates, one of the few female contemporary ballet choreographers working today who brings classical form into bold contemporary context. The evening includes stunning excerpts by Academy Award-nominated film director Greg MacGillivray and Gates’ work is made possible by an Innovation Grant from the City of Laguna Beach, which served as the catalyst for the Summer Stage series WE The People. More than 150 dancers auditioned for the opportunity to join this inaugural summer series and have created the works in Laguna Beach. We are honored to present over 30 performers ranging in age in a program of contemporary dance inspired by the nation’s 250th Anniversary.
Running time, 1 hour 15 minutes with one intermission