POV: A Dance Exploration of Poverty, Homelessness, and Over-the-Rhine

Embark on a journey with Pones Inc. as we explore our city with a new perspective.

Pones logoOn the heels of its sold-out Fringe production, Shelter, Pones Inc. brings a new piece to Cincinnati audiences which investigates the dynamics of poverty in the Queen City. POV (previously titled ConverseNation) was presented at the CrisisArt Festival held in Arezzo, Italy in 2014, and premiered in Cincinnati in October 2014 as a demonstration of the powerful effect art can have on social change. The work was incredibly well-received on both international and local platforms, with audience members sharing how they “now question their own ideas of privilege,” and calling the work “A beautiful crescendo that invited me to play” and “Powerful, meaningful, sensual, poetic. Very good use of space, the best show I have seen in a long time.”

Through technology and careful listening, Pones company members interviewed a range of people, recording as many interviews as possible and creating POV as a dance piece with a documentary video component. The work is site-specific, taking the audience on a tour of Over-the-Rhine’s lesser-seen corners, using both natural and constructed spaces. “[The show] is visually striking and wonderfully innovative – taking the audience on an evening walk through the neighborhood that is the focus of the show, historic and diverse Over-the-Rhine.” Audiences begin at Washington Park and journey throughout OTR, seeing multiple dance vignettes and stopping off in various indoor spaces, such as NAST Community UMC, to view documentary video. The production involves collaborators such as the Young Professionals Choral Collective, local musician Preston Charles Bell III, Chicago’s hottest spoken word artist J. Evelyn, and local flash mob theatre collective Queen City Flash. Embark with us on this conversation about the economic inequality of our city, as we explore its manifestations with a new perspective.

Performances will take place September 11, 12, and 13 from 8:00-10:00 p.m.

Reservations can be made online, https://ponesinc.wordpress.com/productions/pov/ and tickets will be $15 per person, payable at the beginning of the performance via cash, check, or credit card.

Pones Inc. provides artistic opportunities for community growth by creating engaging new ways for audiences to experience dance.

Founded in 2008, Pones Inc. has collaborated with over 200 artists and 100 art and service organizations. The company creates site-specific performances through a fusion of movement and dance with other art forms. Pones Inc. performers use their bodies to speak their minds and uses its signature pedestrian-inspired movement to spark collaboration, connection, and community. Pones Inc. believes that art creates powerful change.

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