Among the casualties of the pandemic was the 2020 edition of the Spring to Dance Festival, the annual showcase presented by Dance St. Louis. A Memorial Day weekend tradition, the popular event was put on hold due to health and safety concerns.
But now that the cloud of COVID-19 is lifting, dance fans can once again experience the artistry of bodies in motion. The festival, which in past years has been presented at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri St. Louis, returns this weekend under the Big Top in Grand Center.
And yes, itās still called Spring to Dance, even though that season has morphed into summer.
āThat was my first thought,ā says Michael Uthoff, artistic director of Dance St. Louis. āBut we didnāt want to confuse people, so we kept it Spring to Dance. Weāll be reverting back to Memorial Day weekend next year.ā
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Among the acts appearing this weekend are Boom Crack! Dance Company, DanceWorks Chicago, dawsondancesf, Eisenhower Dance Detroit and Owen/Cox Dance Group, along with performers representing Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (including Jacqueline Green and former principal artist Antonio Douthit-Boyd) and Miami City Ballet.
Gregory Dawson, artistic director and founder of the San Franciso-based dawsondancesf, says his group will be appearing at the festival for the first time, with world-premiere performances of āDrinkā at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. June 27.
āMichael and I are good friends, and he asked whether I would be able to come out for Spring to Dance at some point,ā Dawson says. āDrink,ā which he says runs about 20 minutes and addresses āthe truths in life and how we approach them,ā is being staged with the Big Top space in mind. The tent is usually home to Circus Flora but since the pandemic has hosted a variety of performances.
Indeed, the move to the Big Top has imposed certain challenges, Uthoff says.
āBecause of our concern for (the safety of) audiences and artists alike, the flaps of the circus tent are up, so the whole environment is very bright.ā As a consequence, theatrical lighting āwonāt have the dramatic impact that it would have in an enclosed theater.ā
On the upside, Uthoff says, audiences will see āincredible dancers in the most incredible situation, bringing joy to their lives.ā
But regardless of the venue, programming the festival can require quite a bit of juggling, Uthoff says.
āYou need to figure out how you can make a program work,ā he says. āItās not just hiring companies and putting them onstage. Itās figuring out which company works with which and how the program moves. All of that has to be taken into consideration.ā
In a world thatās persevered through unexpected change, experiencing the Spring to Dance Festival under a circus tent might best be appreciated as just another instance of going with the flow.
āThe opportunity to do it in a totally different venue, creating a different kind of atmosphere and taking away the formalities of a theater,ā Uthoff says, āwas something that we thought would get people excited. And it seems to be working.ā
What Spring to Dance Festival • When 7:30 p.m. June 25, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. June 26-27 • Where The Big Top, 3401 Washington Boulevard • How much $25 per person, sold in pods of two to five; masks required for entry and when not seated • More info dancestlouis.org
Boom Crack! Dance Company
Boom Crack! Dance Company states its purpose as āto make music visible.ā Audiences can experience that sensation for themselves June 25 when the hip-hop dance ensemble performs at the Spring to Dance Festival.
Since it began in 2008, the festival has been notable for showcasing a wide range of dance styles. So itās not surprising that the Chicago-based Boom Crack! is part of the lineup at a time when hip-hop culture has become very much a part of the mainstream. The company will perform āDivine,ā choreographed by artistic director and founder Trae Turner.
The title, Turner says, refers to being āangelicā and āamongst the clouds.ā As such, the dancers will symbolize āreally being committed to being a greater version of themselves.ā
Boom Crack! was founded in 2008 as the first professional hip-hop dance company in Chicago, Turner says. The company, which also performed at the festival in 2019, takes its name from the musicās origins.
āIn hip-hop, you have dance, you have rapping, you have DJing and production,ā he says. āAnd in the ā80s, you would see people beatboxing (vocally imitating the sounds of a drum machine) on the street. So Boom Crack! is paying homage to that.
āIn hip-hop itās sometimes hard to count your choreography, in a class or in rehearsal format. So I use sounds.ā
Turner says that the acceptance of hip-hop as an artistic movement worthy of respect has ābeen a long time coming.ā
āWhen I was a teenager in the ā90s, there werenāt a lot of corporate sponsorships or collaborations,ā he says. āNow, you can see rappers doing their own commercials, having their own products and stuff like that. I think itās well-deserved. And itās a great opportunity to spread the culture throughout the community and throughout the world.ā
āDivine,ā he says, is the āepitomeā of what audiences can expect from a Boom Crack! performance.
āWhen we do showcases, we try to take the level up a little bit,ā Turner says. āFor us, this piece really shows who we are as a company ā and our range of choreography, which is very broad. We want to break down perceptions and make sure that people take us seriously.ā
Owen/Cox Dance Group
Over the years, the Kansas City-based Owen/Cox Dance Group has become a familiar presence at the Spring to Dance Festival. On June 26, Owen/Cox will perform excerpts from āLove Songs,ā a collaboration with African American singer-songwriter Krystle Warren.
Choreographed by Jennifer Owen, artistic director and co-founder (with composer Brad Cox) of the company, the pieces feature music from Warrenās double album of the same name. Twelve minutes in total, the excerpts will be set to the songs āForever Is a Long Time,ā āEvery Morningā and āIf It Wasnāt for the Lake.ā
āKrystle Warren is based in France but from Kansas City originally,ā Owen says. āSheās made quite a name for herself, and weāve loved working with her.ā The songs, she says, are āabsolutely beautiful.ā
In 2019, āLove Songsā premiered in its entirety at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, with Warren performing live.
āIt was really well received,ā Owen says. āAnd it was incredible to have Krystle perform with us. One of the most enjoyable and artistically gratifying projects that weāve gotten to do.ā At the festival, recordings from the album will be used.
Not only does āLove Songsā reflect the collaborative nature of Owen/Cox projects, but the piece is also in step with the times in terms of LGBTQ representation.
āThere are four couples,ā Owen says. āAnd of the four couples, three of them are same-sex couples, and thereās one couple thatās male and female.
āItās kind of unusual for same-sex couples to be represented and celebrated and just have that be what the piece is about. One of my male dancers said, āItās so nice to be partnering with another man, because normally I have to be partnering with a woman and imagining that Iām in love with her.ā There were so many people who were really moved by just seeing that representation.ā
Owen says that her company managed to survive the pandemic with the help of government funding and a shift to video projects.
āIt was a lot cheaper than doing live performances,ā she says. āWe were able to still produce pieces, and hire dancers on a smaller scale, for shorter time periods.ā