Sat 7/29-Sat 8/5
Festivals everywhere and Northeast Ohio is no exception. Festivals for beer, film, comics, and yes, dance. In Akron the brand new Lose Your Marbles dance-centric fringe fest wrapped up in June and by the time you read this the venerable Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival will be in full swing in Akron’s parks.
On Saturday a new and truly major dance festival comes to Cleveland when the American Dance Festival kicks off in Playhouse Square. Great dance companies and classes but also tons of free, fun stuff right in Playhouse Square. We spoke with Pam Young and Sarah Hricko of DanceCleveland to learn more about what ADF in Cleveland is and how it happened.
DanceCleveland: We’ve been thinking about a dance festival for Cleveland for a long time. We started by asking what opportunities a festival format would provide us. It would allow us to access more theaters because the theaters are not as heavily used in the summer. We could bring smaller companies and emerging artists or offer more intimate experiences, maybe a broader range of dance and more challenging work.
We realized that if we partnered with someone like ADF with a huge reputation and national exposure that it may help us to launch in a more successful way, because this is a big, expensive project and we need to be successful right out of the gate. So we’ve been talking with ADF for about two years. Their executive director, Jodee Nimerichter, came to Cleveland and couldn’t get over our beautiful Cleveland theaters. Of course, she was here in the summer when the temperature in Durham, North Carolina — where the ADF is held — is about 110 degrees.
Jodee and I had met looking at dance in Israel. She was very pregnant and a hurricane hit. The wind was so strong I couldn’t get out of the door, but Jodee was like, “I’m going to see more dance” and off she tootled, nonstop and fearless.
ADF is a really strong partner because they can help us work through the details of a summer dance festival.
CoolCleveland: No need for DanceCleveland to reinvent the wheel when ADF has been doing it on a large scale for 40 years.
DC: In addition to strong partners in ADF and Playhouse Square, Cleveland State University will make the educational component happen.
CC: Yes, classes from a professional to a community level are a big part of ADF in Durham. It’s easy to see how ADF would want to branch out. They already have performers and faculty so it’s logical to take the show on the road. Is DanceCleveland their first partner?
DC: ADF has done some presenting outside of — a week at the Joyce Theater in NYC, California, internationally — but they’ve never been in the Midwest so this is huge. But it’s also a big jump off the cliff for us because it all adds up to an unusually large season; we usually present five companies in a season but we’ll be presenting eight companies this season counting Malpaso. We have a safety net in that we have great partnerships. And we have funders who we hope are going to support this. And so far the response of our patrons and subscribers has been encouraging. But will people come to two or three concerts in one week? That’s the question.
First, the free stuff on Sat 7/29, National Dance Day:
11am at CSU Dance Studio, Pilobolus Master Class, Reservation Required
1:30-2:30pm on E. 14th Street, Mega Barre Outdoor Community Ballet / Exercise Barre Class
3:30-5:pm in the Ohio Theatre, Local Dance School Showcase
5:30-6pm on E. 14th Street, rehearsal to learn the SYTYCD routine, open to all ages and abilities. See a video breakdown of the routine and anything else you need to know about ADF in Cleveland at ADFinCLE.org
6:45-7pm on E. 14th Street, community performance of the SYTYCD routine. You could be on TV!
Then at 7:30pm the first of the performances. Remember that a three-pack @ $64-$119 is considerably less expensive than individual tickets.
At 7:30pm Saturday 7/29 at the State Theatre Pilobolus performs Shadowland, a young girl’s adventures in dreamland told with Pilobolus-style movement and special effects including surprisingly three-dimensional and kinetic shadow pictures and an effervescent score by singer / songwriter David Poe. See a YouTube teaser HERE. Tickets $25-$50 at PlayhouseSquare.org.
At 9-11pm after the Pilobolus performance free Silent Disco at US Bank Plaza.
At 7:30pm Wed 8/2 at the Allen Theatre it’s hip-hop conceptualist Raphael Xavier. See why this looks good to us HERE. Tickets $25-$35 at PlayhouseSquare.org.
At 7:30pm Sat 8/5 at the Ohio Theatre, modern dancer Brian Brooks and company perform an evening of mixed repertory to Max Richter’s version of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Cleveland dance audiences may remember Brooks from his collaboration with Wendy Whelan in Restless Creature. Tickets $25-$45 at PlayhouseSquare.org.
And there’s more. Anything else you need to know about American Dance Festival in Cleveland is at adfincle.org/.
[Written by Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas]
Cleveland, OH 44115