The South Dallas Cultural Center (SDCC) and ARGA NOVA DANCE will present Leeward, the 14th annual South Dallas Dance Festival. The festival aims to educate and showcase the wealth of talented dance artists in the area to a broader community of performance art lovers.

The festival kicks off with a roundtable discussion with award-winning choreographer Michelle Gibson. The discussion will cover issues facing the dance industry, Michelle’s "Takin’ it to the Roots" creation fund project, her experience in Haiti and at the Dunham Certification Institute.

The festivities will continue on Friday, November 7 with a multitude of dance performances, followed by the official SDDF reception. The 2014 SDDF Scholarship recipient, William Sheriff Jr., will perform at 8 pm. William, an 18-year-old senior at Flower Mound High School, will dance the Bluebird solo (from the pas de deux with Princess Florine) from Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Illyich Tschaikovsky.

On Saturday, November 8, the SDDF will feature the Youth Dance Showcase at 3 pm, and a Master Class at 6 pm with SDDF 2014 Guest Artist and choreographer, Jamie Thompson, from Belize. William Sheriff Jr., along with the featured festival soloists and dance companies, will perform at 8 pm.

On Sunday, November 9, The Art of Praise Dance will perform at 3 pm. The SDDF will wrap with a film screening highlighting the late, great choreographer, actor and legendary 7-Up voiceover king, Geoffrey Holder, at 5 pm.