WINSTON-SALEM -- Approximately 425 students, teachers and directors from 30 dance schools and companies across North Carolina will participate in the "Festival of North Carolina Dance 2008," set for Feb. 22-24 at the North Carolina School of the Arts.

The culmination of the weekend will be a performance of adjudicated works by North Carolina dance companies selected for the performance, at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, at the Stevens Center in downtown Winston-Salem. Admission is free. For more information, call the School of the Arts Box Office at 336-721-1945.

Thirty dance schools or companies from as far away as Southport/Oak Island and Asheville are participating in the festival, which began in 1993.

Dance companies performing include Asheville City Ballet, Cary Ballet Company, Center Stage Performing Company (Skyland, N.C.), Charlotte City Ballet Company, Charlotte School of Ballet Studio Ensemble, City Ballet (North Raleigh), Dance Davidson, (Davidson, N.C.), Infinity Ballet Theatre (Apex, N.C.), Monroe City Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre Student Ensemble (Charlotte), North Carolina Dance Theatre Repertory Ensemble (Charlotte, N.C.), Piedmont Dance Conservatory (Kannapolis), Taylor Academy of Dance (Wake Forest, N.C.), Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, Junior Company (Asheville, N.C.), The 3D Project (Cary, N.C.), The Dance Collective (Greenville, N.C.) and The Triangle Youth Ballet (Chapel Hill, N.C.).

In addition to performing during the festival, the visiting dancers will take classes that will include ballet technique, contemporary technique, pointe/variations, jazz, and character. All sessions will be taught by members of the distinguished NCSA School of Dance faculty.