Thu 2/23-Sat 2/25 @ 7PM
This week, Cleveland Public Theatre kicks off its long-running DanceWorks series which features a different area dance company each weekend for several weeks.
It opens this weekend with MadJax Dance Company, founded by New York native Madi D. Jackson in June 2020. After earning her BFA in dance performance and choreography at Kent State, she studied and performed in California, Canada and Mexico, worked and danced in Baltimore for years, and became a licensed counselor. She’s currently a counselor at St. Martin de Porres High School in the St. Clair-superior neighborhood, and teaches contemporary and jazz dance at the Beck Center for the Arts.
MadJax is an inclusive company that features dancers of all ages and skill levels and has a focus on social activism. The program it will present at CPT, called Release, is a group of pieces addressing the contrast of vulnerability and power across age, race and sexuality.
Created by Madi Jackson, Jailyn Harris and guest choreographer Kim Karpanty, the program “invites the audience to explore their own emotions through a visual smorgasbord ranging from fun, quirky, lighthearted shenanigans to deep sorrows that happen along life’s journey filled with choices, connections, and memories. Each choreographic work will span from the profoundly simple example of noticing the humanity in whoever crosses paths to the more complex issues surrounding ongoing social injustices and this country’s rampant mistreatment of the human race, specifically people of color. Release further explores the roles of women carrying the weight of societal expectations while maintaining a sense of self-awareness, inner strength, and independence.”
Performances are all pay-what-you-choose. Get tickets here. Next week’s program will feature a well-known local ensemble, Inlet Dance Theatre (March 2-4). The concluding week (March 9-11) will be presented by a new company, Reflections Dance Theater.