CINCINNATI, OHIO — Cincinnati’s Modern Dance company MamLuft&Co. Dance announces an exciting and packed 10th Anniversary Season. ML&Co.’s 2016-2017 season includes two home performances reprising works from the past ten years, residencies at area universities, as well as numerous educational programs for the public.
MamLuft&Co. Dance has been a consistent and positive presence in the community since its founding in 2007.
The non-profit arts organization has worked to bring more arts experiences to Cincinnati (and beyond), focusing primarily on a form of lesser-known form of dance called Modern Dance. MamLuft&Co. Dance has served over 380 different zip codes (including 50 of Cincinnati’s 71), provided some form of aid to make dance education more affordable to roughly 67% of its students, created 14 new evening-length works and performed 33 different short works, created 2 dance films as well as 6 multi-media live works, and won 3 awards along the way from three different entities.
In its 10th anniversary season, 2016-2017, MamLuft&Co. Dance continues to serve the area through a number of programs throughout the year.
The Modern Dance company will offer two full evenings of repertory from its past ten years: first, November 9-12, 2016 in 5 of 10 at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center, and second, in Homecoming at the Aronoff Center for the Arts on May 5 and 6, 2017.
The company’s professional artists will also be seen in the Northern Kentucky University Dance ‘17 concert from March 31 – April 2, 2017, which will also feature NKU students dancing an ML&Co. work in conclusion of a year-long residency. (MamLuft&Co. Dance has also already conducted a residency at Kent State, whose students will be performing an ML&Co. work throughout the year.)
MamLuft&Co. Dance also offers a slew of programs for adults, teens, and children through its education and outreach program.
Classes include not only the company’s specialty, Modern Dance, but also Jazz Dance, Ballet, Musical Theatre, Tap Dance, and Kids Bop.
A full calendar of all these events and classes, including its highly popular summer programs, can be found at MLCo.org.
Coming up most quickly is MamLuft&Co. Dance’s 5 of 10 concert, which will take place Wednesday through Saturday, November 9-12 at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center.
The evening features five of the company’s favorites from 2007-2017 and will be performed in an intimate space that will feature a split-audience facing each other in halves. Audiences will see dance differently in this stimulating concert filled with a variety of powerful Modern Dance.
5 of 10 features the work of five area choreographers from across the country (from California to Massachusetts). The dance pieces are full of variety, excitement, and a range of captivating moments, from luscious to aggressive. The concert venue is so intriguing and unique as an intimate experience that in January 2016, when MamLuft&Co. Dance first converted the Clifton Cultural Arts Center into a dance performance space, that performance was sold out. The two co-producers, ML&Co. and CCAC, expect this concert to sell-out again.
In addition to its content and unusual set-up, 5 of 10 has three other special features.
First, the audience will be voting on an “audience pick” to be seen again in MamLuft&Co. Dance’s performance at the Aronoff Center in May.
Second, audiences are invited to attend a free post-show reception with drinks and light bites after Thursday evening’s concert. Third, audiences of Friday night’s performance are invited to a free question-and-answer talk-back session with ML&Co.’s talented dancers.
5 of 10 includes a carefully curated selection of pieces from the company’s past.
“Yesterday’s Wedding” (pictured above), which first premiered in 2008 (the company’s first season), has been reconfigured by Jeanne Mam-Luft (founder and director). “Yesterday’s Wedding” is a sometimes-overlapping collection of portraits of six women who are reflecting on their relationships, the results of which turn out to include unexpected feelings such as unshakeable loneliness and sometimes mania.
“Intermittent Restraint” by Amy Querin of Fresno Dance Collective in California will make a reappearance since its premiere on ML&Co. in 2011: in this hard-hitting quartet, each performer’s “flight” is bound by being physically restrained to another with bungee cords. The effect and the dancers’ athleticism are fascinating.
From Betsy Miller of Salem, Massachusetts, dancer and Assistant Company Director, Susan Honer will perform a beautifully articulate solo entitled “Night Passage,” a journey that propels, drops, pulls, and floats through the night.
Honer herself also has a work in the show: “overthROW,” a section from the company’s evening-length work entitled Pieces (2012), which depicts a rumble within a fractured group.
Lastly, the company will reprise a company and audience favorite, “Under” by Sarah Gamblin of Denton, Texas: “Under” is a trio of short works, each a different expression of passion told through agile bodies and powerful vocals in the music.
Tickets to 5 of 10 are expected to sell-out, as did the concert’s equivalent from the previous year; the public is encouraged to book tickets early.
Audiences can take advantage of cheaper tickets for Wednesday and Thursday (November 9 and 10), in addition to 15% off all tickets purchased before November 1.
Tickets are available online at MLCo.org, by phone at (513) 497-2860, or in person at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center (3711 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45220).
MamLuft&Co. Dance’s 10th Anniversary Season is made possible in part by small gifts from individual donors, the generosity of more than 40,000 contributors to the ArtsWave Community Campaign, and the Ohio Arts Council, who helps to fund this organization with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. The Summerfair Foundation and individual donations provided funding for the purchase of the dance flooring to be used in 5 of 10.
More information about MamLuft&Co. Dance’s 10th Anniversary Season is available at MLCo.org.
(CINCINNATI) =DEAD CAN DANCE, Exhale Dance Tribe’s popular annual Halloween-themed show, returns to haunt the 2016-17 season with brand-new choreography by Founding Artistic Directors Missy Lay Zimmer and Andrew Hubbard. Performances will take place at the Aronoff Center for the Arts’ Jarson-Kaplan Theater on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
The Kentucky Theatre Association (KTA) is initiating a new procedure for their State High School Theatre Festival. This year the 5 Regions throughout the State will each hold its own Qualifying Regional Festival, to identify those theatres who will compete at the Annual State Theatre Conference. A record number of high schools have registered to participate in the festival this year, fulfilling one of KTA’s initial goals – growth in participation statewide.
Northern Kentucky University School of the Arts and Holly Hill Children’s Services are proud to present An Evening with Livingston Taylor. Taylor will perform in Greaves Concert Hall in the NKU Fine Arts Center on Thursday, September 22 at 7:30pm. All proceeds benefit NKU SOTA and Holly Hill Children’s Services.
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 