Dance returns to Akron parks with Poll festival, starting July 28: Here's what to know
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Akron's Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival, a proud tradition that celebrates dance today, the legacy of Ohio Ballet founder Poll, the people of Akron and the city parks where the performances happen, will kick off July 28 and 29 with Verb, "Ohio Contemporary Ballet" at Forest Lodge Park.
The free festival, which runs for three weeks at three Akron parks, draws hundreds each year to its outdoor weekend performances. The city of Akron has run the festival since 2007, continuing a tradition that the late Poll and the former Ohio Ballet of Akron began in 1974 with free outdoor summer performances in the Akron area.
On July 28 and 29, Akron audiences will be treated to the world premiere of "Bacchanale," which original Cleveland Ballet dancer Robert Gardner began choreographing with Verb's mix of new and old dancers at the company's Shaker Heights studio July 10. They'll also see the first company other than the Joffrey Ballet to ever perform Gerald Arpino's iconic dance "Celebration."
Verb, based in Shaker Heights, is participating in the nationwide centennial celebration of the birth of Arpino, who was co-founder and artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet, which is in Chicago.
Verb Producing Artistic Director Maggi Carlson said the opportunity to perform "Celebration" came about when the company was working for eight weeks with choreographer Joshua Peugh on "Romeo and Juliet."
"He reached out to them (Joffrey Ballet) and said, 'I think you need to take a look at this company (Verb), because I'm working with them and they would be great. This is right up their alley; they're a contemporary ballet company,' which is what Joffrey is.
"I was really taken by the piece called 'Celebration,' " said Carlson, who sent Joffrey Ballet reels of Verb performing similar works, which included dances by Poll.
Verb got the rights to "Celebration," which features five sets of dance partners. Cameron Basden of the Gerald Arpino Foundation, who originated the principal role in "Celebration" in 1980, set the dance on Verb in Northeast Ohio.
Verb also will perform "Celebration" on Sept. 23 for a weekend culmination of the Arpino Centennial Celebration at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago.
"We are very honored," said Carlson, whose company performed "Celebration" in Cleveland earlier this year, in February. It features Shostakovich's Concertino for Two Pianos, arranged for Arpino's dance by Elliot Kaplan.
The Joffrey Ballet connection circles back to the history of the Ohio Ballet, with Joffrey co-founders Arpino and Joffrey being close friends with Ohio Ballet co-founders Poll and Thomas Skelton. Famed lighting designer Skelton, in fact, was the original lighting designer for "Celebration."
Other Verb dances on Akron bill
Verb's world premiere "Bacchanale" performance is a new conception of the "Bacchanale" work originally choreographed by Anna Pavlova for Ballets Russes. Verb also will perform Artistic Associate Director Richard Dickinson's "Four Last Songs," set to music by Richard Strauss and exploring the theme of loss through emotionally charged movement and storytelling.
"It's about death; the person who's dying coming to terms with it and for the person who is being left behind," Carlson said.
Akron audiences also will see performances by Verb's newest dancers: the recently arrived Mathis Joubert from Paris and Tailys Poncione from Toulouse, France; Katherine Chang, originally from Canada; and Joel Hathaway, originally from Oregon.
Trainees Adrienne Chan of Cleveland and Ladislas Etzol of Lace Placid, New York, also will dance with the company.
Carlson said Verb looks forward every year to performing in Akron's dance festival.
"Akron audiences are so great. We always get a large turnout, and it shows you there's a dance following in Akron. Akron is very special," Carlson said.
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GroundWorks DanceTheater Aug. 4-5
The second weekend of the Akron festival will feature GroundWorks DanceTheater at 8:45 p.m. Aug. 4 and 5 at Firestone Park, 1480 Girard St.
The company will perform a world premiere, yet-to-be-titled work by Nederlands Dans Theater dancer Spenser Theberge in his first commission for GroundWorks. For the 20-minute contemporary dance, set to music by Beethoven and Bach, GroundWorks' five dancers have been asked to relate to the piece "as if it is still alive and changeable," Theberge said.
The company, based in Cleveland, also will perform the world premiere of Artistic Director David Shimotakahara's 52nd work for GroundWorks, "Abide." In this dance, Shimotakahara asks, in this world of constant information, "What does it mean to leave space for ambiguity, for being less certain, for not knowing the answer?"
Finally, returning by popular demand will be Antonio Brown's "Floating Walls." In this work, artist in residence Brown explores the physical and psychological space one encounters when feeling surrounded by walls, both literally and in the imagination.
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Dayton Contemporary Dance Company
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) will return to Akron to close the festival at 8:45 p.m. Aug. 11 and 12 at Goodyear Heights Metro Park, 2077 Newton St. Akron will be the first stop in the 55th season for the company, which is rooted in the African American tradition.
The troupe will perform Shonna Hickman-Matlock's "Moments of Indecision," a duet exploring the tumultuous emotions and constant give-and-take of a couple whose relationship is changing. DCDC also will perform Elizabeth Ramsey's "Deep/End," which delves into themes of isolation and fear.
Also on the program is fan favorite William B. McClellan Jr.'s "The Story Unfolds," a tribute to women's love that's set to music by Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan. Finally, Artistic Director Debbie Blunden-Diggs' "Traffic" will be reprised, emphasizing people's everyday encounters in the world's chaos and order.
Inlet at Akron Art Museum, Jewish Community Center
The Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival offerings and venues continue to expand in the Akron community.
New this year, Inlet Dance Theatre, participating in its third year with the festival, will offer free community performances at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 3 at the Akron Art Museum, 1 S. High St., and at 2 p.m. Aug. 9 at the Shaw Jewish Community Center, 750 White Pond Drive.
The company, continuing its educational outreach for the festival, will also offer two educational performances Aug. 1, at 10:30 a.m. at Patterson Park Community Center at 800 Patterson Ave. and 1:30 p.m. at Joy Park Community Center, 825 James Ingram Way.
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Inlet's narrated performances will feature selections of Inlet’s repertory, including a new dance centered on Keith Haring’s work exhibited at the Akron Art Museum; an all-male work created in collaboration with Ghanaian dancers and choreographers; and traditional Polynesian dances by Pacific Paradise Entertainment.
In other educational outreach efforts, the Dance Institute at the University of Akron will offer an interactive pre-show for children on stage at 7:30 each night before the Verb, GroundWorks and DCDC performances.
Each company also will offer a master class for advanced dancers at the University of Akron every Saturday morning during the festival. See the accompanying box for details.
Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival
Opening weekend: Verb, "Ohio Contemporary Ballet"
When: 8:45 p.m. July 28-29
Where: Forest Lodge Park, 260 Greenwood Ave., Akron
Pre-show interactive program: onstage for children at 7:45 p.m.
Cost: Free
Master class with Verb: 11 a.m. July 29 for advanced dance students at the Albrecht Studio at University of Akron's Guzzetta Hall, 139 E. Buchtel Ave. Registration required at akrondancefestival.org. $10.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Dance festival in Akron parks kicks off July 28-29 with ballet by Verb
