West Virginia Dance Company plans free show in Smithers

The Fayette Tribune, Oak Hill, W.Va.
·2 min read

Apr. 13—SMITHERS — Stories about the people of West Virginia are the focus of a state dance troupe's performance next month in Smithers.

The free public show is planned for Sunday, May 7 at 3 p.m. in the Gateway Center. The center houses city hall and other community services at #2 Greyhound Lane in Smithers.

Toneta Akers-Toler, artistic director of the West Virginia Dance Company of Beckley, said her interest in the subject of coal miner women led her to create the sequence of dances she titled "Suite WV in Six Chapters."

Dancers quote songs by West Virginia-born bluegrass singer Hazel Dickens during the multi-media performance. The choreographer, music composers, musicians, storyteller and 80 percent of the dancers are all native-born West Virginians, Akers-Toler noted.

"Many youths feel they still have to leave to have opportunities," she said. "Part of this movement and music story is about those who so wanted to leave and then realized what the mountain culture had to offer and teach that made them want to come home."

The piece will also portray the threat of extinction faced by the monarch butterfly, the state's official butterfly. Dancers use green springs and dryer vents to show the creatures' shapes during their metamorphosis.

"People are responding that the entirety of this work touches them deeply," said Toler-Akers. "I hope it brings issues to the forefront of thought before we lose our mountain culture and all that it has to offer."

Akers-Toler has served as artistic director of the state's only professional touring dance company for four decades and is a master teacher of the West Virginias Governor's Honor Academy. The Smithers appearance is part of the company's 2023 tour to 30 schools and communities in the state.

The ensemble's week-long residency in Smithers will also include dance workshops for the Fayette County senior center and Valley PK-8 students, plus a free public performance of "Mackerd," based on Shakespeare's "Macbeth," on Friday, May 5 at 10 a.m. at the Gateway Center.

The West Virginia Dance Company's appearance is made possible by a grant from The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation and in cooperation with the Fayette County Board of Education.

"The public is invited to the free concerts, particularly dance students," said Beach Vickers, community events organizer for Smithers. Further information is available by calling Smithers City Hall at 304-442-5282.