In a GroundWorks DanceTheater exCHANGE with John Carroll University, students were invited to attend the GroundWorks Allen Theatre performance and use the experience as inspiration for poetry. Below are video excerpts of the performance that inspired John Carroll University student, Mary.

Excerpts from GroundWorks DanceTheater in performance of  “Always.”

• Choreography: Gina Gibney
• Performance: Allen Theater, Playhouse Square, Ohio
• Date: October 2014
• Dancers: Noelle Cotler, Annika Sheaff, Damien Highfield, Troy Macklin
• Music: Patsy Cline
• Lighting: Dennis Dugan
• Costumes: Russ Borsky
• Set Piece: Russ Borsky

Birds

Dance: the art of bodies.
Toes pointed we stretch and contort
To reach higher.
Bound to the ground we dream of flying;
Dancing is the closest we can get.
Feathers flailing—
Sometimes fall and fail, Icarus.
Fledglings controlled by glossy strings
Pinned on our wings,
But freedom is
Hands nested on hips, lifted to soar.
As we close the distance between
Us, the sky.
Together we become so much more.