By Steve Sucato

GroundWorks DanceTheater in conjunction with Akron’s Summit Artspace presented the latest round of GroundWorks’ Action/Reaction this summer. The four-part program designed to connect with participants with little or no experience of contemporary dance, but who are interested in or involved with creative practices in other art disciplines. Akron area artists Joe Locala, Bob Wright and Stephanie Stewart, all painters, along with paper maker Kyla Decatur took part in the program that began on Thursday, July 7 at the University of Akron’s Guzzettta Hall with a 2-hour creative process class and rehearsal observation session.

This initial one-hour creative process class was led by GroundWorks outgoing Education Director Rebecca Burcher in which the participants were introduced to the creative processes used by GroundWorks DanceTheater. In this case, the Action/Reaction participants were shown art photographs that were used to inspire GroundWorks Executive Artistic Director David Shimotakahara’s dance work Aperture. They were then asked to come up with words that came to mind when seeing individual images and then use their bodies to communicate those words in various ways.

Next, the participants observed a rehearsal of Aperture led by Shimotakahara and saw how he responded in choreography to those photographs as well as saw how he and the company’s dancers work. The participants were asked to bring a notebook, journal or sketchbook to record their inspirations from the rehearsal. 

The second part of the program had the participants attend a GroundWorks DanceTheater performance at the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival on either August 5 or 6 where they got to see Aperture in its entirety along with Rena Butler’s Sheep’s Gothic, and Nicole Hennington’s As I Am. Once again they were afforded the opportunity to record their inspirations and reactions to be used in part three of the program..  

Part three was an individual creative period from August 6 – August 25 in which the participants created in their own medium, responses or reactions to their experiences with the company thus far. It was followed by the program’s final section, a culminating and sharing session on August 26 at Summit Artspace. Led by GroundWorks new Education Director Joan Meggitt and assisted by Teaching Artist Morgan Ashley, the participants witnessed, responded to and discussed each other’s art and their shared experiences to the Action/Reaction program itself.

Meggitt says each of the artists had their own unique relationship to the Action/Reaction material. Some came to it with a more literal and layered interpretation of movement, while others took an abstract approach. “Just that alone is part of what Action/Reaction is about,” says Meggitt. “It’s about starting conversations about how we access material, how creativity is sparked and the different processes by which we create the thing that we do, whether we make dances, paintings or paper.”

For Stephanie Stewart, the program helped her to learn how to incorporate a physical aspect into her creative process. A sentiment echoed by fellow participant Bob Wright. “I really liked the introduction in the first session, making the participants move like dancers. It gave me insight into the differences in how people interpret a feeling or a thought.”

Going into the final Action/Reaction session, Stewart says she was excited about sharing her reaction creation with her creative colleagues. “I thoroughly enjoyed how we all instantly connected with one another on the sole basis of art.” 

A part of the participants’ reflection process during that session was to also reflect on what they thought would improve on the Action/Reaction program for future participants. 

Says Wright, “I loved the entire program. I only wished we had additional time to sit in the dance rehearsals — 30 minutes wasn’t enough.”

Wright also felt having a session where the dancers and choreographers could have given feedback on the participant’s artworks could have been beneficial. 

Other suggestions included having an additional meeting of participants after the GroundWorks performance and before the final share session, to have a group reflection to that point in the program that would include the participants engaging in a joint project like a poem or a large canvas painting. 

All-in-all Action/Reaction proved once again a  valuable experience for both its participants and GroundWorks dancers and staff. Says Stewart, “I cannot wait for the next one!” 

Special thanks to Heather Meeker, Natalie Grieshammer Patrick, Grace Carter and everyone at Summit Artspace, as well as all the participants and everyone else who helped make Action/Reaction a success.

Photo Credits – Photos by Rebecca Burcher, Heather Meeker and Morgan Ashley.
(Top-Bottom):
1) Action/Reaction participants and staff (l-r) Morgan Ashley, Joan Meggitt, Joe Locala, Stephanie Stewart, Kyla Decatur, Bob Wright
2) David Shimotakahara leads GroundWorks rehearsal as Action/Reaction participants and staff look on
3) Kyla Decatur showing her artwork
4) Bob Wright showing off his artwork
5) Joe Locala showing one of his reaction paintings
6) Paintings by Joe Locala
7) paintings by Bob Wright
8) Morgan Ashley reacts in dance to Joe Locala’s paintings