Project Description
FALL PERFORMANCE SERIES 2023 PLAYBILL
GROUNDWORKS DANCETHEATER
David Shimotakahara, Founding Artistic Director
Artists
Ahna Bonnette
Emma Janus
Teagan Reed
Victoria Rumzis
Matthew Saggiomo
Artist in Residence
Antonio Brown
Administrative Staff
Craig Branch, Operations Manager
Joan Meggitt, Director of Education & Community Engagement
Steve Sucato, Marketing & Communications Manager
Morgan Ashley, Teaching Artist
Caitlin Ross, Graphic Designer
Kathy Knight, Bookkeeper
Ahna Bonnette, Social Media Assistant
GroundWorks DanceTheater Board of Directors
Cynthia Dunn, President
Brian Marita, Vice President
Donna Pacchioni, Treasurer
Jonathan Wehner, Secretary
Marie Calabrese
Joanne Clark
Amanda Cole
Suzanna Hamilton
David Shimotakahara
Donna Skurzak
Mary Lou Stricklin
Max Thomas
Kathryn Karipides, Emeritus Board Director
GroundWorks DanceTheater Advisory Committee
Jack Bialosky, Jr., Jeff Epstein, Dan Moulthrop, Felton Thomas, Jr., Howard Parr, Ann Zoller
Production Team
Lighting Designer: Kix
Costume Design: Janet Bolick
Photography: Dale Dong & Mark Horning
Videography: Cory Sheldon & Brian Brennfleck
ABOUT GROUNDWORKS
GroundWorks DanceTheater is a contemporary dance company formed in 1998 by Founding Artistic Director, David Shimotakahara. Now in its 25th Anniversary Year, GroundWorks is nationally recognized for its contribution to the art form and the enrichment of human experiences in collaboration with some of the most innovative voices in dance today. Work that is created, produced, and supported in Northeast Ohio. GroundWorks’ collaborative philosophy informs its work, in the studio, on stage, and in community. It expands the ways dance is shared and engages with and enlivens the communities we serve. Fundamental to GroundWorks is the fostering of new choreography and challenging preconceptions about dance. This group of outstanding artists has introduced dance lovers and neophytes alike to an experience that is unconventional, yet deeply human and resonating. The desire to push boundaries is evident in Shimotakahara’s bold initiative: To constantly seek collaboration and input from ground-breaking choreographers of the highest caliber and to make certain that the repertoire of the company is constantly evolving. The company performs new works by Shimotakahara, as well as commissioned work by nationally and internationally acclaimed choreographers including GroundWorks Artist in Residence Antonio Brown, Rena Butler, Sidra Bell, Peter Chu, Dianne McIntyre, Robyn Mineko Williams, Adam Barruch, Gina Gibney, David Parker, Brian Brooks, James Gregg, and many others. Now in its third decade, GroundWorks looks toward its future, having earned solid support and a growing audience base as more and more people discover what the Cleveland Plain Dealer has described as the “smoldering brilliance” of one of “Cleveland’s cultural gems.”
PROGRAM ORDER
WHO DONE IT?! [World Premiere]
Choreography: Antonio Brown in collaboration with the dancers
Music: DJ Tonymonkey,
Text and Story: Antonio Brown
Lighting: Kix
Costumes: Janet Bolick
Performed by: Ahna Bonnette (Red Clue), Emma Janus (Green Clue), Teagan Reed (Purple Clue), Victoria Rumzis (Blue Clue), Matthew Saggiomo (Yellow Clue)
WHO DONE IT?! is inspired by the classic board game Clue. The premise is simple; find out who committed the crime from the players characters and see if you can solve the case by the end. It is an interactive experience so please keep your ears and eyes open. Your participation is encouraged! — Antonio Brown
– PAUSE –
Sweet (2007)
Choreography: David Shimotakahara
Music: “Sweet in the Morning” by Bobby McFerrin
Lighting: Kix after Dennis Dugan original
Costumes: Janet Bolick
Performed by: Victoria Rumzis, Matthew Saggiomo
The Infectious rhythm and melody of Bobby McFerrin’s “Sweet in the Morning” elicits a tangible momentum and pull. In response, I wanted to explore the continuous and interdependent physical qualities of connectedness. Sweet was choreographed in 2007 with two of GroundWorks’ original company members, Felice Bagley and Damien Highfield. It has been a joy to revisit the closely-knit partnering of the intimate and dynamic duet they helped to create and pass it on to a new generation of GroundWorks dancers. — David Shimotakahara
– INTERMISSION –
lasts a lifetime [World Premiere]
Choreography: FLOCK: Alice Klock and Florian Lochner
Music: “iPretty Sing” by Michael Wall; “Rinaldo, HWV 7, Act 2: ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’ (Almirena) by George Frideric Handel, Joyce DiDonato; “Solo? Repeat!” by Anne Müller, “Cendre” by Fennesz, Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Plaisir d’amour” from Band of Brothers Soundtrack by London Metropolitan Orchestra, Michael Kamen
Lighting: Kix
Costumes: Janet Bolick
Performed by: Ahna Bonnette, Emma Janus, Teagan Reed, Victoria Rumzis, Matthew Saggiomo
lasts a lifetime explores the lifelong relationship we all have with our demons and our angels. In this new work, FLOCK plays with how these roles shift and change over time and draws upon the dancers’ own stories to build a personal world around these dynamics. — FLOCK
October 13 & 14, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.
Playhouse Square’s Allen Theatre
1407 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44115
Presented by CSU Department of Theatre and Dance
November 3 & 4, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.
The Knight Stage at Akron Civic Theatre
182 S Main St, Akron, OH 44308
HOLD THE DATE
IT TAKES TWO!
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART
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ABOUT FLOCK
FLOCK (Choreographers) – Alice Klock and Florian Lochner met while serving as dancers and Choreographic Fellows at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. In 2017 they created FLOCK through which they perform their own work internationally and co-create new choreography for film and stage. As a team they have choreographed for multiple dance companies, universities, and cultural institutions including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Whim W’Him, Ballet Idaho, Orsolina 28, Seattle Dance Collective, Ballet Arkansas, Kultur O.H.G, the Goethe Institut, Adaptations Dance Theater, University of Iowa, Booker T Washington School for the Performing Arts, the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA, and the 92nd Street Y. Most recently they have been touring and performing their full length shows “Familiar” and “Somewhere Between”. In all of their work they strive to bring artists and audiences together in environments that are open, dynamic, and based on joy.
Photo by Lindsay Thomas
ABOUT ANTONIO BROWN
Antonio Brown (Choreographer) – is GroundWorks DanceTheater’s Artist in Residence and the artistic force behind AntonioBrownDance, a native Cleveland, Ohio, where he began his dance training at the Cleveland School of the Arts and received his BFA from The Juilliard School. While there, he had the opportunity to perform works by Jose Limon, Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Eliot Feld, Aszure Barton, Jessica Lang, Susan Marshall, Larry Keigwin, among others. Mr. Brown has also worked with Camille A. Brown & Dancers, The Dash Ensemble, Sidra Bell Dance New York and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company for 11 years. Antonio has choreographed works for Verb Ballets, The Juilliard Dance Ensemble, MOVE(NYC), August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble, Jacksonville University, Cleveland State University, Hunter College, Perry Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp, The Arden Theater Company’s production of “The Bluest Eye”, Drama League DirectorFest, Earl Mosley’s Dancing Beyond and is currently the movement director for The Public Theater’s Shakespeare Initiative and Associate Choreographer for upcoming Broadway musical “Black No More”.
ABOUT DAVID SHIMOTAKAHARA
David Shimotakahara (Choreographer) – Founding Artistic Director David Shimotakahara formed GroundWorks in 1998, determined to challenge the preconceptions about dance. This desire to push boundaries is evident in Shimotakahara’s bold initiative: To seek collaboration and input from guest choreographers of the highest caliber and to constantly evolve the repertoire of the company.
Over the past 25 years, GroundWorks has created and produced over 110 original works. Sixty of these have been commissioned from nationally and internationally renowned guest artists. In addition, Shimotakahara has contributed over 50 pieces to the company’s repertory. His work is about here and now. He is interested in framing issues surrounding individuality, privacy, place, and connectivity through movement that speaks through its musicality and physicality.
Shimotakahara’s performance history includes: member of the Atlanta Ballet, Boston Repertory Ballet, Kathryn Posin Dance Company, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. He performed with Ohio Ballet under the direction of Heinz Poll from 1983-1999. He also served as Rehearsal Assistant for Ohio Ballet from 1989-1999. From 1989-97, Mr. Shimotakahara founded and was Director of New Steps. This acclaimed dance project offered a variety of programs that stimulated the creation and growth of new choreography in Northeast Ohio. Mr. Shimotakahara has choreographed for opera and theater with the Cleveland Opera, Great Lakes Theater Festival and the Dallas Theater Center. He served on the Carlisle Project advisory panel in 1996, and dance panels for the Ohio Arts Council, Illinois Arts Council, the Mid Atlantic Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has received 7 Individual Artist Fellowships for Choreography from the Ohio Arts Council from 1996 to 2012. In 1998, he received a McKnight Foundation Fellowship from the Minnesota Dance Alliance to create new work in the Minneapolis, St. Paul communities. Mr. Shimotakahara was awarded the 2000 Cleveland Arts Prize for Dance. In 2002 his work with GroundWorks DanceTheater was voted “One of 25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine. In 2007, he received the OhioDance award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of the Dance Artform. Mr. Shimotakahara was a 2008 recipient of the first COSE Arts and Business Innovation awards as the founder of GroundWorks DanceTheater. In 2010 Shimotakahara received a Creative Workforce Fellowship, a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, funded by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.
ABOUT THE DANCERS
Ahna Bonnette (she/her) grew up in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona where she trained, taught and set solo competition dances at Dance Connection Scottsdale. At 18, she was accepted into SUNY Purchase to pursue a BFA in dance. After a year there she left to explore concert dance firsthand. In 2021, she traveled with choreographer Peter Chu, répétiteur Roger Van der Poel and Jenni Gordon to aid in setting repertoire and host dance intensives at competition dance studios in Texas, Florida, and California. She then spent 5 weeks assisting Chu and Van der Poel in Germany as they set a work on Augsburg Ballet. In addition to performing, Bonnette over her career, has also developed a deep passion for creating with, and teaching young dancers. Ahna is in her second season with Groundworks DanceTheater.
Victoria Rumzis (she/her) is a Chicago native and began dancing at age 14 at Dancenter North. She continued her studies at Point Park University where she received her BFA in dance, graduating magna cum laude. Additionally, Tori received training at Axis Connect, Movement Invention Project, ODC and Salt Contemporary Dance. She has also had the privilege of performing as a company member with Aerial Dance Chicago, Ensemble180, Dance in the Parks, Hedwig Dances and New Dances (under the direction of Melissa Thodos and Julie Nakagawa). Along with performing, Tori has enjoyed working as a dance teacher, choreographer, and certified yoga instructor. She is thrilled to be in her third season with GroundWorks DanceTheater.
Emma Janus (she/her) received her early dance training in Lexington, South Carolina at the Columbia City Jazz Conservatory under the direction of Dale Lam. In 2022, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in dance from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College. During her time there, Emma performed works by choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Annie Rigney, Peter Chu, Lea Ved, and Hannah Garner. Additionally, she has attended training programs with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Doug Varone, and Tanztheater Wuppertal. Emma began her professional career freelancing in New York City where she danced for Dance Lab NYC’s Spring Lab and performed works by and collaborated with Talia Abdiel, Dava Huesca, and Akira Uchida. She is thrilled to enter her first season with GroundWorks DanceTheater.
Matthew Saggiomo (he/they) grew up in the small town of Sayre, Pennsylvania where he began his dance training of all styles, starting at the age of 6. At 18, he continued his dance training at Elite Danceworx in Ontario, Canada under the tutelage of Dawn Rappitt. It was there that Matthew was able to explore his personal truth, passion, and heart. Matthew then attended Point Park University where he earned a BFA in Dance in 2022. Additionally, Matthew has attended dance training programs at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Utah’s SALT Contemporary Dance. He has also worked as a company member with The Pillow Projects, a post-modern-jazz dance company based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, under the direction of Pearlann Porter. He has performed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Open Air dance series, and at the Pittsburgh Opera Fashion Show. Matthew’s favorite style of dance is improvisation. He enjoys letting various environments affect the direction that movement takes him. This is Matthew’s second season with GroundWorks DanceTheater.
Teagan Reed (they/them) is a St. Petersburg, Florida native and started training and competing in Scottish Highland dance at age 12. Tea then trained in ballet at the Patricia Ann Dance Studio, attended the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and The Hubbard Street Professional Program in Chicago. Tea has been a freelance dance artist with Fukudance, Adam Weinert & Company, the A.R.T. at Harvard University, Dance in the Parks Chicago, and Aerial Dance Chicago. In 2021, Tea founded the inaugural pro.noun dance festival to help queer dance artists gather and create. Tea has also been a guest artist at Ballet22 and Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and a guest teacher at Mass Motion Dance, New England Youth Dance Exchange, HAVEN Sanctuary for Dance, and Chicago Movement Collective. For more about Tea, visit teaganreed.com. This is Tea’s third season moving and grooving with GroundWorks DanceTheater.
THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SUPPORTERS
YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS MAKE ALL WE DO POSSIBLE
