Akron choreographer to adapt children's book about Alzheimer's into meaningful performance

When Dominic Moore-Dunson and his wife, Ashley, read the children's book "The Remember Balloons" at the Northwest Akron library in February, they both bawled their eyes out.

It was by chance that the Akron choreographer and his spouse happened upon the tender book that helps kids make sense of memory loss associated with aging and Alzheimer's.

In this story, all the characters are in gray scale, and their memories are represented by colored balloons. Young James' grandpa has the most balloons because he has so many memories. He and James share a special, silver balloon of the time they went fishing together. Grandpa's balloons start to fly away, and James runs around trying to collect them for him.

"The last balloon grandpa loses is that silver balloon, so he doesn't remember James anymore, and James has to deal with and figure out what it means to be forgotten," said 2008 Firestone grad Moore-Dunson.

James later realizes his own balloons have multiplied because he is now the holder of his grandpa's memories. In the end, he climbs onto grandpa's lap and starts retelling grandpa his own stories.

Reading "The Remember Balloons," written by Jessie Oliveros and illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte, led to some heavy conversations about Alzheimer's between Moore-Dunson and his wife, who remembers the day her own grandmother forgot her.

Now, Moore-Dunson is using those discussions as inspiration for a new stage show adaptation of the book to take on a national tour.

National renown for Akron's Dominic Moore-Dunson

Moore-Dunson is an Akron dancer and choreographer whose career has taken off at the national level since he was named among “25 to Watch” in Dance Magazine for 2023. He gained national attention for "inCOPnegro: Aftermath," which had its world premiere in Akron in June, exploring concepts of safety, police relations and community healing.

Now, he feels like the door has been opened as far as people recognizing his work.

"It created kind of that badge for people, I think, to go, 'Oh, he's legitimate,'" Moore-Dunson said of the Dance Magazine honor. "I feel like I'm not fighting to crack open doors anymore."

Reaching out on 'The Remember Balloons'

He was so touched by "The Remember Balloons" that he reached out to author Oliveros on her website to congratulate her and ask if she would ever consider turning her story into a stage show. Oliveros' agent reached out to Moore-Dunson the next day.

He talked with Oliveros and Wulfekotte as well as their agents about creating a stage adaptation of the book with original music by Akron composer Theron Brown, geared for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. By July, Moore-Dunson had a contract that gave him exclusive rights to turn the book into a stage show until 2026.

On Dec. 7, he started a three-day residency in Akron to begin creating the show with Brown and dancers.

"What does it mean to be a caregiver at such a young age?" Moore-Dunson asked the dancers and composer about the character James. "It almost takes your innocence away."

He plans to create a multimedia dance theater work that includes the words for the book as voiceover and the characters on stage interacting with projections.

"The hope is that we can play with kind of a multimedia angle and like really make you feel like the book is on stage," Moore-Dunson said.

For example, when grandpa shares his memory of dancing under the stars with grandma at their wedding, that scene will be bathed in purple light.

Moore-Dunson's dance creation process

When Moore-Dunson is creating a dance, he starts alone with improvisation and writing words and phrases on a white board. He takes videos of the whole process as well as photos of brainstorming on his white board. He then goes through hours of video to splice moments that feel authentic.

He works the same way with dancers in the room. For this project, he'll also have the composer in the room.

"Theron being in the studio is gonna be a new experience for me because I've never had the composer in the studio with me at the very beginning ... bouncing off one another back and forth, which will be really exciting," Moore-Dunson said.

The tour, which will premiere in the fall, will feature dancers Matt Roberts of Akron, Kevin Park Jr. of the Cleveland area and Anna Baugham, who formerly danced with Moore-Dunson at Inlet Dance Theatre and now lives in Memphis.

Tour dates are being booked by Shaw Entertainment Group in Massachusetts. Moore-Dunson is also one of 18 artists who have been invited to pitch their work to national presenters at the Association for Performing Arts Professionals trade show in January.

The dance artist has been talking to presenters who want to book the show for national touring in the 2024-25 school year, and the show's not even made yet.

Moore-Dunson and his team will also travel to other cities such as New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Chicago to work in residencies where presenters are interested in the show. Connections in other cities were made through his agents representing his work at various trade shows and reading "The Remember Balloons" to presenters.

"People were crying in the middle of these trade shows," said Moore-Dunson, who talked about how Alzheimer's doesn't discriminate. "It impacts so many people, and you often don't talk about it publicly, about how hard it is. This book just takes such a complex conversation and makes it really simple, because the book, at the end of the day, is really about cherishing memories."

Virtual launch party for 'The Remember Balloons'

The choreographer, who hosted a virtual launch party for "The Remember Balloons" on Zoom Nov. 30, had both author Oliveros and illustrator Wulfekotte as guests.

Oliveros said she was excited to see her book come to life through dance, with original music, considering a dance adaptation had never occurred to her.

"Just hearing you talk about your vision for 'The Remember Balloons,' it's almost like seeing it in a whole new way," the author said.

Moore-Dunson said the dance will show the physical burden James goes through taking care of someone with Alzheimer's and taking care of someone's memories. But the dance work goes beyond that.

"My goal through this show is to help families thrive through memory sharing," he said.

To stay up to date on "The Remember Balloons" developments and learn about Moore-Dunson's life as an artist-entrepreneur, join his monthly newsletter, The Block, at dommooredun.com.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Dominic Moore-Dunson to adapt kids book on Alzheimer's into performance