Interactive Dance Series Showcases Cincinnati Choreographer's Work

Attending the upcoming Synergy Dance Series at Artsville will grant you the opportunity to become part of a choreographer’s creative process.

The inaugural dance series, supported by ArtsWave and the Greater Cincinnati Dance Alliance, was designed to allow choreographers to workshop their creations via on-the-spot audience feedback. Twelve choreographers were selected by a panel of professionals to participate in the series. The individual works represent various styles of dance.

The Synergy Dance Series debuts Sept. 10 at Artsville, where two shows of six performances each will dazzle audiences into participating in choreographer-curated feedback sessions. The shows are at 6 and 8 p.m. Each individual dance will end with a three-minute feedback period, which will function as a choreographer-led conversation, a feedback card for viewers to reply to certain questions or a mix of both.

Co-director of the series, Teresa VanDenend Sorge, says she’s hopeful the crowd will be comprised of all kinds of people.

“We're hoping for – we have a diverse group of choreographers – so we're hoping for a diverse audience of people who normally view dance as a fun activity on the weekends and people who are not necessarily of that world,” she says. “In fact, we even had a Girl Scout troop reach out to us to see if they could bring the girls. We want anybody; we want everybody's experience watching it. Because all of that matters; everybody's perspective matters.”

VanDenend Sorge says that she and her counterpart, Rowan Salem, moved from different cities to Cincinnati in 2020 “starving” for places to show their work. And in order to build community and stay connected, they had to be making work and interacting with others who do the same, she says. So they created the Synergy Dance Series to benefit the dance community in Cincinnati and the soon-to-be graduating students they teach at Northern Kentucky University and Xavier University.

“If you don't make anything, you'll never get any better,” VanDenend Sorge says. “And we need to be making work to stay in the practice of it, and to be connecting with other artists and building community. So we really wanted there to be a series here in Cincinnati. So that was really what we wanted was to sort of find a dance community here and also to kind of understand who's here, who's out there.”

She says the application process yielded a lot of established and experienced choreographers in the area that she is excited to showcase. The performances consist of contemporary styles, ballet, classical Indian, improvisation and more. Choreographers selected their own dancers for the series.

Choreographer and professor at the University of Kentucky Laura Neese will showcase an original creation that has undergone multiple iterations and explores the relationship between musician and dancer.

Another performance created by Rose Sunila, a creative dance educator, is called “Where Now Ends.” The solo dance juxtaposes the aging body and the now.

“First, it explores the aging body. The experience of aging is subjective, yet, at a point, it becomes objective. How do I feel about the change? What happens in my body as it ages? Second, the solo explores the concept of now. Life experiences take place in the present moment. I only have memories of the past, and the future is unknown to me,” the series’ program reads.

VanDenend Sorge was eager to announce that funding was granted by ArtsWave to produce two shows in the calendar year. The second installment of the Synergy Dance Series will be Jan. 20. Applications are currently being accepted through Sept. 24 on Synergy’s website.

Tickets for the Synergy Dance Series at Artsville are on sale now for $12. Learn more here.

The Artsville theater is located at 5021 Whetsel Ave., Madisonville.


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