Chi Tau Epsilon Honor Society for Dance hopes to raise money and awareness for the AIDS Outreach Center of Tarrant County at its AOC Benefit Concert Saturday, Julie Kostelancik, senior director of the concert, said.

Kostelancik said the concert would be different than last year because professional dance companies from the Dallas-Fort Worth area would perform instead of Fort Worth high school students.

“Why not go big, why not go bold?” Kotselancik said.

The five dance companies that were asked to perform were Big Rig Dance Collective, Bruce Wood Dance Project, Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth, DanceTCU and Epiphany DanceArts, she said.

Members of XTE have worked on the concert since May, Alexa Culclasure, junior director of the concert, said.

The participants were happy to be able to use dance and Erma Lowe Hall to bring the community together and support AOC of Tarrant County, Anna Bridge, president of XTE, said.

The concert event would more formal, Culclasure said. Kostelancik and Culclasure wanted the concert to be at a professional level, she said.

Before this year, the ACO concerts had focused their audience on the TCU community, Culclasure said.

“We thought that reaching out to companies in the DFW metroplex would allow us to reach further out into the community,” she said.

The 2011 concert gave about $2,000 to AOC of Tarrant County, Kostelancik said. This year the members have already raised about $2,500.

Bridge said money was raised through donations, ticket sales, discount cards at Barnes & Noble Café and other local businesses that gave a percentage of their profits to AOC. One hundred percent of the donations would go to AOC of Tarrant County, she said.

The organization has received a $750 grant through the SGA Activities Funding Board, to advertise the AOC name.

“This vision we’ve had for an entire year is coming to life,” Culclasure said. ”It’s seeing all of these companies from Dallas-Fort Worth coming together for this cause.” 

The AOC Benefit Concert
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Erma Lowe Hall Studio Theatre
Ticket Prices: $10-$20