The Maggie Allesee Department of Dance at Wayne State University hosts the Great Lakes Region American College Dance Festival March 15-18.

The festival brings together college dancers, professors, guest artists, musicians and visual artists from six states and Ontario, Canada for four daysof master classes, concerts and collaborative experiences.

Participating guests are Gina Gibney of Gina Gibney Dance of New York; Luke Kahlich, professor of dance at Temple University; dancer/actress Carmen de Lavallade; and Bill Evans of Bill Evans Dance Company.

Festival plans include gallery exhibition tours of the Detroit Institute of the Arts and Wayne State galleries, lunch at the Scarab Club and a banquet.

Plans also include a series of adjudicated and informal concerts at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the WSU Community Arts Auditorium.

Some of Detroit's finest jazz artists accompany the master class, Jazz and Blues 'Round Midnight, at 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 15, in Studio A on the third floor in Old Main.

The festival offers three concerts open to the public. With the support of the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, the WSU dance department presents the Michigan Choreographers Concert at 6 p.m. Friday, March 17, in the Detroit Opera House. Tickets are $20.

The concert brings together six of Michigan's finest dance companies-the Bichini Bia Congo Dance Theatre; Peter Sparling, Dancers of Ann Arbor; Onyxx Dance Company; Detroit Dance Collective of Detroit; Wellsprings of Kalamazoo; and the Eisenhower Dance Ensemble of Rochester.

Wayne State's Bonstelle Theatre is the host for the other two concerts. The Faculty Concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 16, focuses on the choreography and performance of attending university faculty. It reflects the varied dance backgrounds, trends and approaches represented by dance faculty across six states. Tickets are $15.

The Gala Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 18, in the tradition of American College Dance Festivals, is the closing event and highlight of the week. Dances chosen from 50 or so works adjudicated over three days aim to show the "best of the best" in the concert. Tickets are $15.

Tickets are available at the theatres and from the dance department. A special ticket package for all three concerts is available for $40 in advance at the dance department.

For more information call the dance department office at (313) 577-4273.