Project Description
GROUNDWORKS DANCETHEATER’S
ACTION/REACTION
January 13 – 30, 2024
Action/Reaction 2024 is open to Akron-area artists of all levels, whether you’re a seasoned professional or just beginning your artistic journey. Connect with fellow creatives, exchange ideas, and explore new techniques – through movement, observation, and collaboration. The program connects artists and creatives to dance –inviting a “reaction” in response to GroundWorks performers. No experience in contemporary dance is required.
Action/Reaction 2024 is being held in conjunction with ChoreoLab, an annual GroundWorks program in which the company’s dancers explore new work with one another. This year, dance artists will work with jazz pianist Theron Brown and other musicians to collaborate on new dance and music works. These pairings will provide Action/Reaction artists with additional insights into the creative processes of both music and dance.
The workshop series includes movement sessions, observations of GroundWorks DanceTheater in rehearsal and performance, time for artists to work on their own, and additional check-ins for artists to gather and share their progress.
WORKSHOP SESSIONS
Saturday, January 13 | 10:00-11:00 am | Summit Artspace, 140 E Market St Akron, OH 44308
Creative Process/Movement Workshop with GroundWorks DanceTheater’s Director of Education & Community Engagement, Joan Meggitt
Learn more about how the creative process is used in the studio among professional dancers, and experience simple movement improvisations and exercises.
DAY TWO
Tuesday, January 16 | 1:30-2:45 pm | The University of Akron’s Guzzetta Hall (Studio 392/393), 228 E Buchtel Ave, Akron, OH 44325
Observe GroundWorks DanceTheater in rehearsal. Dancer-choreographers include Ahna Bonnette, Emma Janus, Teagan Reed, Victoria Rumzis, and Matthew Saggiomo.
DAY THREE
Tuesday, January 23 | 1:30-2:45 pm | The University of Akron’s Guzzetta Hall (Studio 392/393), 228 E Buchtel Ave, Akron, OH 44325
Continued observation of the dance-making process, including collaboration with pianist Theron Brown and other musicians.
DAY FOUR
Saturday, January 27 | 1:00-2:00 pm | Summit Artspace, 140 E Market St Akron, OH 44308
Creative Process/Movement Workshop with GroundWorks DanceTheater’s Director of Education & Community Engagement, Joan Meggitt
Participants will continue to move, share their “reaction” to the program, and reflect on the process together.
DAY FIVE
Tuesday, January 30 | 1:30-4:00 pm | The University of Akron’s Guzzetta Hall (Studio 392/393), 228 E Buchtel Ave, Akron, OH 44325
Experience a final full rehearsal of the choreographic work, reflecting on what you’ve learned and experienced through movement workshops and rehearsals.
What past participants have said about Action/Reaction:
– “It brings change and awareness to the creative processes. I loved it.”
– “It inspired me to write poetry again – I haven’t written any poems for at least two years.”
– “The facilitator and group were receptive, welcoming, and positively a joy to meet.”
*Tuition is generously subsidized through support from local arts and culture funders.
Photos of 2022 Action/Reaction participants.
ABOUT GROUNDWORKS DANCETHEATER
GroundWorks DanceTheater is a contemporary dance company founded 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.
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.”
Registration is limited to 15 participants
DAVID SHIMOTAKAHARA
Executive Artistic Director David Shimotakahara (he/him) founded 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 15 years, GroundWorks has created and produced over 60 original works. Twenty-one of these have been commissioned from nationally and internationally renowned guest artists. In addition, Shimotakahara has contributed over 30 pieces to the company’s rep. 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.
EMMA JANUS
Company Dancer 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.
JOAN MEGGITT
Director of Education & Community Engagement, Joan Meggitt (she/her) is a Cleveland-based dance artist, educator, and scholar. Her educational work spans four decades, during which time she has provided instruction in a wide array of classes, addressing both theory and practice and working with people of all ages. Meggitt is the lead instructor of the Yes, I Can Move! dance program at InMotion, a regional health, wellness, and resource center for people with Parkinson’s. She has led classes for individuals with a range of disabilities for Verlezza Dance, University Hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic, and Tour de Fox, a program of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Meggitt teaches in the Department of Theater and Dance at Cleveland State University. She is also engaged in a number of projects exploring the history of dance in Cleveland through writing, choreography, and performance. Meggitt was an Associate Professor of dance at Kent State University, where she taught for fifteen years and most recently served as the Dance Division Coordinator. She was the founding director and principal choreographer of Antaeus Dance, a professional modern dance company in Cleveland, OH (2001–2017), and she directed the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive (1999 to 2015). Meggitt has been a guest artist and lecturer in modern dance at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in Europe. Her choreography has been commissioned and performed by professional companies, individual artists, and university ensembles nationally and abroad. Meggitt began studying dance at Allegheny College (BA, Economics) with Jan Hyatt and James Reedy. She earned her MFA in Dance from Case Western Reserve University under the instruction of Kathryn Karipides and Kelly Holt. Meggitt’s work at large has been and continues to be informed by numerous other dance artists, educators, scholars, students, and community members.
TEAGAN REED
Company Dancer Teagan “Tea” Reed (she) 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.
AHNA BONNETTE
Company Dancer 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.
VICTORIA RUMZIS
Company Dancer Victoria “Tori” 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.
MATTHEW SAGGIOMO
Company Dancer 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.