The North Carolina Dance Festival (NCDF) is back in the Queen City on January 24th at 7:30 p.m. in the Anne R. Belk Theater of Robinson Hall. This performance will feature five touring choreographers selected by Dance Project, as well as two local artists. Dance Project, a non-profit organization under the direction of Jan Van Dyke, began the festival in 1991 in order to build the North Carolina dance community by training dancers, building audiences and setting standards for professionalism. Tickets are $14 for general admission, $9 for seniors and $6 for students.

Charlotte is the last stop for the 2014-2015 NCDF; other performance locales included Boone, Greensboro and Raleigh. The January 24th performance will include works from Diego Carrasco Schoch, a UNC School of Arts professor and former North Carolina Dance Theatre member; dance ensemble Gaspard & Dancers; Fayetteville-based choreographer Kristen Jeppsen Groves in collaboration with Defero Dance Collective; Elon University professor Sara Ruth Tourek; and Durham-based choreographer Leah Wilks of Vector. The works are sure to be diverse in nature, albeit within the contemporary and modern dance form.

The North Carolina Dance Festival comes to Charlotte on January 24th.

The local artists joining NCDF include Davidson College professor Alison Bory and UNC Charlotte professor Kim Jones. Bory will present “just beneath the surface of my skin,” a piece that investigates notions of femininity since Betty Friedan’s identification of “the mystique.” Jones’s work, “Shedding,” is an interdisciplinary collaboration exploring loss, memory and renewal rooted in the techniques of Martha Graham and José Limón. It will feature two dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company and a dancer from the José Limón Company. “Shedding” will be danced to a live performance of Handel’s “Cara sposa” by countertenor Reginald Mobley.