This year’s F.A.B. Winter Dance Showcase on March 1 features a diverse line-up, including a piece that incorporates elements of traditional Franco-American dance.

The ninth annual “F.A.B.” Winter Dance Showcase will take place on Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Franco Center in Lewiston. The event, whose name stands for “Franco-American and Bates,” is produced by the Franco Center in association with Bates College.

F.A.B. aims to bring the mid-Maine dance audience together with artists from around the region. Visually stunning and kinetically mesmerizing, the event energizes Lewiston’s most beautiful auditorium with a kaleidoscope of dance styles.

“This year’s lineup is a testament to the health and diversity of Maine’s contemporary dance community,” says Carol Dilley, an organizer of the event and director of the Bates College dance program.

Performers from as far away as Connecticut and as nearby as Bates will take part in the event. With eight new names on the roster joining six F.A.B. veterans, “it seems that the word is out that F.A.B. is a good place to show work,” Dilley notes. “Many of the new artists found us before we could find them.”

Also new to the program this year is a project near and dear to the mission of the Franco Center: Cindy Larock, well-known in the Twin Cities and beyond as a folk dance advocate, is working with dancer, educator and choreographer Debi Irons of Art Moves in Norway, Maine, to create a piece integrating elements of jazz and Franco-American dance.

“We’re very excited to finally incorporate an homage to the traditional Franco-American dance of this area,” Dilley says. “The piece reaches across boundaries to bring dancers together in a joint endeavor.”

Extending the Franco-American theme, the evening will conclude with a traditional “kitchen party” featuring food, dance and music. All are welcome downstairs after the show for refreshments and dancing to live music by members of the Great Falls Community Folk Orchestra.

Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $5 in cash for students. Tickets are available at the box office Monday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m.; by telephone at 689-2000; or online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/484808.

For more information, including the complete lineup of presenters, see www.francocenter.org.