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, Sarah.

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

Propellers

In time, bodies trained to travel
Lightly are painted to perform.
Silhouettes make airplanes.
Arms beckon, heads neck,
Maneuving like propellers.

Ceremonious pliés élève and
Launch limbs en plein air.
Hugged into the atmosphere,
Figures take off toward little suns.
Winding down for landing,
Poems of unraveled emotions
Touchdown onto platforms –
Poems in the language of bodies.

Dancers’ final sways
In the fleeting rhythm flutter like our
Tendered hearts. Lights fading, they
Bow in the vastness of ovation and
Dance their separate ways.