(Cincinnati, OH) Pones will partner with Exhale Dance Tribe, Yarroway Productions, Revolution Dance Theatre, Heroes Rise Street Dance Academy, and Q-Kidz Dance Team to reimagine Graphic, originally produced by Pones in 2016, as an interactive dance experience that includes a walking tour of our city’s iconic downtown murals.
Dance pieces will be performed in front of the murals, extending these backdrops off their walls, telling stories inspired by the visuals and related to issues and subjects vital to each company and our community. The presentation will be featured as an add-on experience in the Cincinnati Ballet’s 2022 Bold Moves Festival.
“I am most excited about the enthusiasm of so many local companies in coming together and showcasing the wide range of dance diversity our city has to offer. It’s not something that has happened in the past decade, and we all agree it has potential to be the start of an annual coming together of the Cincinnati dance community,” said Kim Popa of Pones.
Carolyn Guido Clifford of the Cincinnati Ballet shared her reason for including this revival in Bold Moves: “In 2016, Graphic was one of my first introductions to the Cincinnati arts scene – not only to the fabulous performances and beautiful murals, but the incredible conversations our community was having at the time and continues to have today. I hope remounting it as part of the Festival, with so many members of the Cincinnati dance community, will provide a similar introduction to Cincinnati Ballet’s subscribers and patrons. As Cincinnati Ballet moves into a season of growth and discovery, what better way than by celebrating and promoting the diversity of the dance scene that already exists in our city!”
Murals and Performance Pieces:
- At Visionary Reality Threshold by Saya Woolfalk (1005 Walnut St), Exhale Dance Tribe will perform “#thisisOTR,” choreographed by Missy Lay Zimmer & Andrew Hubbard and featuring music by Ian Forsgren, Ian Gullet, and Jai Washington
- At Homecoming (Blue Birds) by Charley Harper (119 E Court St), Yarroway Productions will perform “Where Creation Has Been Drawn,” choreographed by Katie Chal and featuring music by Rob Keenan
- At Self-Portrait, Elizabeth Nourse by Elizabeth Nourse and Still Life by Tom Wesselmann (811 Main St), Pones will perform “Her,” choreographed by Glenda Figueiredo and featuring music by Preston Bell Charles III
- At Black Box by Michael A. Coppage (Walnut St at Gano St), Revolution Dance Theatre will perform “Say Their Names,” choreographed by David Choate and Kim Popa and featuring music by Galen Tipton
- At Vibrant Minds, Colorful Lines by KiiK Create and Jenny Ustick, Heroes Rise Street Dance Academy will perform “Antiviral Still,” choreographed by Julius Eclypse Jenkins and featuring music by Flying Lotus, Abiyah, and Nathan Singer
- At The Genius of Water by Ferdinand Von Miller (Tyler Davidson Fountain at Fountain Square, Vine St at Fifth St), Q-Kidz Dance Team will perform “Just Boom!” choreographed by Mariah Jones, Chariah Jones, and Marquicia Jones-Woods featuring music by Cary Davenport
About the Partners:
- Exhale Dance Tribe, named among the 2008 “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine, is rooted in rhythmic storytelling existing to leave an emotional imprint on our audiences, uniting our community through the universal language of dance and creating a hypnotic human experience. org
- Yarroway Productions comprises a trio of local artists: a dancer, a painter, and a musician. Katie Chal, formerly of Nashville Ballet and DeLa Dance Company, now works as a Cincinnati Waldorf School teacher and independent dance artist. Patricia Chal studied painting at NKU and DAAP, but her most rigorous schooling has been from her three young children. She teaches an art class for adults that aims to reignite the inner child. Rob Keenan, a guitarist and singer-songwriter, studied music at Berklee College of Music and played guitar and synthesizers for beloved local duo Dawg Yawp. He is currently working as a farmer at Rose Hill Farm and pursuing his solo music project.
- Pones provides artistic opportunities for community growth by creating engaging new ways for audiences to experience dance. The company creates site-specific performances through a fusion of movement and dance with other art forms. Pones performers use their bodies to speak their minds. The collective uses its signature pedestrian-inspired movement to spark collaboration, connection, and community. Pones believes that art creates powerful change. org
- Revolution Dance Theatre, Cincinnati’s ONLY African American Dance company in residence at the prestigious Aronoff Center for the Arts, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building cultural diversity in the world of dance. Intent on inclusion in ballet, RDT is committed to work that raises the level of access, visibility, and representation of American Americans in dance. com
- Heroes Rise Street Dance Academy teaches a comprehensive curriculum of fundamental street dance movement along with history and culture, striving to set a new standard for what is expected of street style dance and street style dance teachers and to share the beauty of the street dance arts. Heroes Rise Always. com
- Q-kidz Dance Team improves the lives of Cincinnati youth through dance instruction and educational programs that build strong character, confidence, teamwork, and a mindset for success. The organization plays an essential role in the community by offering youth a safe and supportive platform for creative expression, communication, and accountability. Q-kidz.org
Performance Schedule:
Performances will take place Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15, 2022, with tours beginning at the Fifth Third Bank Theater at the Aronoff Center for the Arts (corner of Seventh and Main Streets). Start times are 11:15, 11:30, and 11:45 am both days. Each tour will last approximately 70 minutes, and the total distance walked will be 1 mile. For reservations, visit https://bit.ly/Graphic2022.
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Overview:
Pones dancers use our bodies to speak our minds. Right now, people are gathering in Cincinnati and around the world to protest for justice and change. But there’s more than one way to put your body on the front lines. We believe dance can be a powerful tool to amplify and explore this collective outcry — therefore, we are creating a platform for Performances & Collaborations, titled MOVE. This program will harness Pones’ 12-year history of creating art for social justice to facilitate and fund the work that independent artists need to share, now.
PLACE/SETTING
CINCINNATI, OH– Pones is known for using unconventional methods to tackle difficult social themes. You may recall the company’s 2014 award-winning Fringe Festival production Traffick which addressed the topic of human trafficking by stripping the audience of traditional theatre etiquette and delivering highly-evocative creative pieces in a dark church. For its tenth Fringe Festival production, Pones addresses the current political climate by sharing stories of fellow Cincinnatians to help build understanding and bridge divides in PLACE/SETTING.
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 