H.A.T.CH. Spring Concert

Title: "A 3/5 Proclamation: 8.5.23"
Choreographer: Charles O. Anderson
Music: "Seethe," by Michael Wall
Dancers: (Dayton Contemporary Dance Company) Devin Baker, Qarrianne Blayr, Thaliyah Cools-Lartigue, Nicolay Dorsett, Alexandria Flewellen, Aaron Frisby, Niarra Gooden-Clarke, Da’Rius Malone, Robert Pulido, Elizabeth Ramsey, Quentin ApolloVaughn Sledge, Sadale Warner, Countess V. Winfrey
Lighting Design: Matthew J. Evans
Costume Design: L’Amour Ameer
Notes on the piece: I dedicate this piece to my father, Charles O. Anderson, Sr. (1939 - 2023)

"A 3/5 Proclamation: 8.5.23" is a part of Anderson's current series called "3/5 Proclamations," which are counternarrative movement rituals about Black resistance, resilience and reimagination. "3/5 Proclamations: 8.5.23" takes its inspiration from the events that took place in Montgomery, Alabama on August 5, 2023 (called by some The Montgomery Brawl). The ritual is about imagining equity, justice and freedom by and for those historically and systemically denied equity, justice and freedom.

@daytoncontemporarydancecompany
@knackvideophoto

Promotional reel edited by Lexi Clark-Stilianos

Title: “actually breathing” (World Premiere)  
Director: Sidra Bell
Music Coordination and Engineering: Seth Alexander & Sidra Bell
Music Extracts: "Seamless," by Tanya Tagaq; "Pièce de viole, Suite No. 4 en Sol Mineur: Le carillon de Passy," by Ghalia Benali, Romina Lischka; "In Praise of Blandness," by crys cole; "Heliotrope," by Sarah Davachi
Dancers: Mariana Bais, Lindsey Beatty, Yitong Chen, Abby Doerr, Jack Federinko, Hannah Fenstermacher, Jordyn Hersch, Ava Hunt, Graci Jackson, Valeria Kozak, Isabella Seitz, Arie Vasquez, Anna Verutes, Rachel Waid 
Notes on the piece: Choreographed during a nine-day residency within the department in February

Promotional reel videography and edit by Lexi Clark-Stilianos

Sidra Bell is the founder of Sidra Bell Dance New York and a dancer, choreographer, and educator. She has been an artist in residence at the University of Oklahoma (Brackett Distinguished Visiting Artist Chair), a Visiting Lecturer and Artist in Residence at Harvard University, and an Adjunct Professor at Barnard College. Bell received a BA in History from Yale and an MFA in Choreography from Purchase College. She is the founder of the award-winning MODULE Laboratory. Bell has won awards for her work, notably a First Prize for Choreography at the Solo Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, a National Dance Project Production Award from NEFA and a Creative Capital Wild Futures Award. In 2017 Mayor Thomas Roach named February 3 “Sidra Bell Day” in White Plains, NY. Her work has been seen throughout the United States and in Denmark, France, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey, Slovenia, Sweden, Germany, China, Canada, Aruba, Korea, Brazil, and Greece. Bell has created over 100 works notably for Nevada Ballet Theater, Nashville Ballet, BODYTRAFFIC, Ailey II, The Juilliard School, Whim W'Him, Boston Conservatory at Berklee College, River North Dance Chicago, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Sacramento Ballet, Boulder Ballet, Motto Dans Kolectif Turkey among many others. Solo mainstage presentations and commissions of her dance company include The Met Museum, The Met Breuer, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, The Aronoff Center Cincinnati, Emens Auditorium Indiana, Kungsbacka Teater Sweden, Vara Konserthus Sweden, One Dance Week Bulgaria, Chutzpah! Festival/The Dance Centre Vancouver, Gibney, The Wilson Center North Carolina, Manship Theatre Baton Rouge, Dance Theater Workshop, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, SteelStacks Pennsylvania, SummerStage Jackie Robinson Park NYC, Kelly-Strayhorn Theatre Pittsburgh, 92Y, Tanz Farm at The Goat Farm Arts Center, Bryant Park NYC, and The Egg Performing Arts Center. The company was lauded in the press as No. 1 in Contemporary Dance by the Pittsburgh Examiner in 2014 for "garment;" in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette's 2010 Best in Dance for "ReVUE" and the 2012 Year in Review in ArtsATL's notable performances for "Nudity." The company has been in residence at Alloy Studios Pittsburgh, Kelly Strayhorn Theater Pittsburgh, Point Park University Pittsburgh, LevyDance San Francisco, LINES Ballet School San Francisco, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, Dance Theater Workshop Studio Series, Stella Adler Acting Studios, Gibney, Arts Umbrella Vancouver, Ball State University, CUNY Dance Initiative at Hostos College and Lehman College, Vara Konserthus Sweden, SITE Stockholm, New Jersey Dance Theatre, Tisch Summer Dance Festival, Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, University of the Arts Philadelphia, Derida Dance Center Bulgaria, and PearlArts Pittsburgh. Bell was commissioned as the choreographer for the feature film "Test" set in San Francisco during the height of the AIDS crisis in 1985. Written and directed by Chris Mason Johnson (Frankfurt Ballet/White Oak Project), "Test" was awarded two grand jury prizes from Outfest. The film had many screenings at festivals worldwide, including The Seattle Film Festival, Frameline37 (San Francisco), Outfest (L.A.), Berlinale, and New York City Lincoln Center's NewFest. The movie enjoyed a theatrical release and was a New York Times Critics Pick. It is currently available on VOD, iTunes, and Netflix. Bell was the first Black female commissioned to create work for the New York City Ballet where she created works for film and the Lincoln Center stage (Fall Fashion Gala 2021). Her work was performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC for New York City Ballet’s engagement in May 2022. She was nominated for a Bessie New York Dance & Performance Dance (Outstanding Choreographer) for SUSPENDED ANIMATION for New York City Ballet. She was Bessie nominated once again as Outstanding Choreographer for the Gibney presented show IN | REP: Introspection. Recent features of her historical work at New York City Ballet include Essence Magazine, NY1, News12, Playbill, and Amsterdam News. She has also been featured in press outlets Town & Country, Cero Magazine, Meet the Dance Company Theater Development Fund, Good Company Cleveland WKYC, Dance Magazine, DancePulp, Home4Dance, BiT TV Bulgaria, Turkish TV, and CityLights Vancouver. She has been a featured guest speaker on numerous podcasts and at institutions for dance and theater. She was highlighted in an aired feature on TODAY (NBC) “How choreographer Sidra Bell is blazing a trail for next generation" in June 2023.

Title: "las cosas que enter(r)amos” (“the things we bury”)
Choreographers & Perfomers: Alfonso Abraham Cervera and Irvin Manuel Gonzalez
Music: First section: designed and mixed by Alfonso Cervera, second section: "Con el diablo en el cuerpo," by La Lupe
Text: “my name is manuel,” by Irvin Manuel Gonzalez; “We Regret to Inform,” by Un Mundo Sin Fronteras
Notes on piece: “las cosas que enter(r)amos” (“the things we bury”) is a duet that explores queer bodies and queer clubs as ofrendas (altars) for queerness. Engaging Latin American social dance technologies of storytelling, grooving and altar-making, the work situates queer dancefloors and nightlife as a space to archive queer ways of being, honoring’s, migrations and remembrances. In doing so, we consider how our bodies serve as a space to honor queerness past and present to continuously practice queer futures. We thank the H.A.T.C.H Residency program at The Ohio State University for providing us with the opportunity to premiere this work during summer of 2023.

Videography: Brittni VanDine
Edited by: Brianna Rosato

Title: "Sawubona 2.0"
Choreographer: Ryan Johnson
Music: Section One: The Human Body by Ryan Johnson performed by company.
Section Two: Warrior by Themba Mkhatshwas
Section Three: Thief by Rancido
Lighting Design: Ryan K Johnson and Jonathon Hunter
Dancers: Evelyn Couch, Kennedy Gordon, Sydney Jones-Rumph, Valeria Kozak, Grace Morrell, Emma Morrow, Isabella Seitz, Destiny Thomas, Ashton Wise, Ava Wishnow and Ryan K. Johnson
Notes on the piece: "Sawubona" is a Zulu greeting meaning “I see you,” and the response “Yebo,” meaning “I see you seeing me.” In a world where many feel invisible, "Sawubona" is a highly energetic performance exploration of music and movement rooted in ancestral memory, embodied storytelling and African Diasporic Percussive Dance celebrating community and individual expression to allow our authentic selves to thrive. This piece is a celebration of black dance, culture and physical practices that have historically been Othered by academia. Through percussive dance, the dancing body becomes a source of liberation, shedding and releasing the many masks we all wear. I dedicate this work to anyone suffering in silence, those who feel invisible, and my uncle Art, who transitioned to the spiritual realm on March 19, 2024.

To the dancers, Sawubona!

Videography and edit by Brianna Rosato

Title: “Five Pillars”
Choreographer: Nyama McCarthy-Brown 
Music: Orchestra of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Antranik Askarian and Khatchador Khatchatu, and Hanno Herbst
Dramaturgs: Fatima Moallim and Latifat Sulaimon
Dancers: (Community Members) Halima Alqadri, Khadija Alqadri (Ohio State Dance Students) Meghan Bhanoo, Malaika Burke, Hattie Plinke, Larissa Rojas, Latifat Sulaimon, Eryn Toppin 
Notes on the piece: This piece was developed in community and collaboration with a number of Muslims in the area that are connected to members of the cast or the choreographer. The work seeks to come into knowledge or deepen one’s understanding of the foundational five pillars of the Islamic faith, and express an inspiration of what was learned. It is not an imitation, recreation, representation or performance of Islam. It is an expression of appreciation for the inspirations that were gained through this engaged making process. Additional community participants of this process included Nama Khalil, Ayah Said, Mariam Salem and the Sulaimon family. This work was also advanced by the members of the Masjid An-Nabawi of the Nigerian Muslim Community Center, who generously welcomed and shared with the cast. The work toured this spring semester with Artist Laureate Dr. Nyama McCarthy-Brown’s new production “Dancing Stories: Comings, Goings, and Finding Home” to Ohio State’s regional campuses in Lima and Mansfield, Ohio as well as special engagements at Miami University and The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Title: “American Mixtape (42)”
Choreographer: Crystal Michelle Perkins
Music: Florence Price, Rebecca Reid, Indian Bottom Association, Fannie Lou Hammer, sound design – Seth Alexander
Dancers: Mariana Bais, Siera Dance, Jordyn Hersch, Mercedes Hicks, Ava Hunt, Graci Jackson, Sean Johnson, Sydney Ligon, Yasmine Morris, Barry Nickell, Kelsey Plath, Terrian Stevens, Brittni Van Dine, Arie Vasquez
Notes on the Piece: American Mixtape (42) continues the exploration of a vast continuum of Black embodied dialects rooted in the vibrancy of memory, kinship, and experience. Ultimately after the histories we are all tethered to, the piece explores this kind of being through the body and its blood memories as a score for becoming.

Videography: Lexi Clark-Stilianos
Edited by: Brianna Rosato

Title: "Churning the Ocean"
Choreographer: Abby Zbikowski, with contributions by Benjamin Roach and dancers
Music: “Demeures aquatiques” by Beatriz Ferreyra, “Song to the Siren” by the Chemical Brothers remixed by Rapahel Xavier
Dancers: Lindsey Beatty, Isabel Bowser, Gabriela Brito, Abby Doerr, Gaetan O'Brien, Tess Scearbo, Liv Sexton, Eryn Toppin, Anna Verutes, Rachel Waid
Notes on the piece: This work is a tributary in a stream of ongoing experiments testing physical effort, human will, perceived boundaries, and the construction of our experienced realities in contemporary living, particularly in dance. My work is heavily influenced by my training in African and Afro-diasporic forms, playing sports, and performing requisite manual labor. It disrupts space. It moves into new terrain with its own emergent logic and system, like a sports event where the rules are encoded in a rapidly shifting puzzle. Each dancer has brought boundless information, experience, and energy to this work, for which I am extremely grateful. LET’S GO MOONFISH!!!

Videography and edit by Lexi Clark-Stilianos