cleveland dance fest 2021

november 5th & 6th

51 CHOREOGRAPHERS + 4 Performances + 18 dance films + 7 Master Classes

Festival Schedule

Friday November 5th

6:00 PM - EMERGING WORKS CONCERT

8:00 PM - SHOW 1

VIRTUAL DANCE FILM GALLERY GOES LIVE! (3-month access!)

Saturday November 6th

9:00 AM - 3:35 PM - MASTER CLASSES (PRO & YOUTH)

9:00 AM - Check-in starts

9:30 - 3:35 PM (Professional Class Schedule)

9:25 - 1:00 PM (Youth Class Schedule)

5:00 PM - YOUTH SHOWCASE #1

6:00 PM - YOUTH SHOWCASE #2

8:00 PM - SHOW 2

*On day 2 of the festival, dance films will be screened in the “common space” in the building. Details coming soon!

All sales go live Friday September 3rd at 9:00 am!

Covid-19 Safety Protocols

To ensure the safety of all our patrons, performers and staff, TMP has curated a weekend of responsible and safe practices for each performance and class.

• FACE MASKS POLICY - ALL Audience Members & Staff 2 years of age & up (regardless of vaccination status) MUST WEAR A MASK AT ALL TIMES upon entering Pilgrim Church. This is to ensure the health and safety of all. We strongly encourage all who attend CDF to be fully vaccinated prior to their attendance.

• DESIGNATED ARRIVAL TIMES - Patrons will receive a designated arrival time to ensure social distancing is maintained during check-in.

• VERBAL COVID-19 SYMPTOMS INTAKE FORM - Upon arrival all patrons, staff & performers must complete a Verbal Covid-19 Symptoms Intake Form. Anyone exhibiting symptoms or recent exposure to someone Covid-19 positive must leave the facilities immediately.

• REDUCED CAPACITY - All performances will be reduced to 50% capacity to ensure social distancing.

• CLEANING - All seating, high touch surfaces and facilities will be thoroughly sanitized between each performance/class. Hand sanitizing stations will be placed throughout the building for patrons to use throughout their time at Pilgrim Church.

  *Please note that TMP is dedicated to providing the safest environment for all patrons, staff and artists. Therefore we will be monitoring the ongoing pandemic and make any decisions necessary to ensure the health and safety of all in attendance. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Virtual Dance Film Gallery

Virtual Dance Film Gallery Access Portal

Opens November 5th, 2021!

CDF Performances

SHOW 1 & 2 PERFORMANCES

Saturday, November 6th

Professional Master Classes

Class descriptions below schedule.

9:30 - 10:45 am Contemporary & Improvisation

Artists: Alison Vitale & Maddison Manolis (MVment)

Location: Theatre

10:50 - 12:05 am Afro-Caribbean Fusion

Artist: Dr. Munirah Bomani (Caribe Conexion Cle)

Location: Theatre

12:05 - 1:00 pm Lunch Break

1:00 - 2:30 pm Contemporary Technique & Repertory

Artist: Sara Hook (Sara Hook Dances)

Location: Gym

2:35 - 3:35 pm Dancing Mindfulness

Artist: Alicia Hann

Location: Gym

Level* All professional classes are advanced and for ages 18+ 

Location* Pilgrim Church, 2592 W. 14th Street, Cleveland Ohio 44113

Master Class Sales go live Friday September 3rd at 9:00 am!

Covid-19 Safety Protocols

To ensure the safety of all dancers attending master classes, at this time we are requiring the following protocols for participation.

• FACE MASKS POLICY - Anyone entering the building MUST WEAR A MASK AT ALL TIMES. This includes dancers and teaching artists during master classes. Masks can be removed to drink water and during lunch in the designated lunch area. This is to ensure the health and safety of all. We strongly encourage all who attend CDF to be fully vaccinated prior to their attendance.

• VERBAL COVID-19 SYMPTOMS INTAKE FORM - Upon dancers arrival all must complete a Verbal Covid-19 Symptoms Intake Form. Anyone exhibiting symptoms or recent exposure to someone Covid-19 positive must leave the facilities immediately.

• CLEANING - All seating, high touch surfaces and facilities will be thoroughly sanitized between each class. Hand sanitizing stations will be placed throughout the building for patrons to use throughout their time at Pilgrim Church.

  *Please note that TMP is dedicated to providing the safest environment for all patrons, staff and artists. Therefore we will be monitoring the ongoing pandemic and make any decisions necessary to ensure the health and safety of all in attendance. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Class descriptions

Professional Master Classes

Contemporary & Improvisation by Alison Vitale & Maddison Manolis from MVment (9:30 - 10:45 am) MVment’s master class will focus on the core elements of modern technique followed by diving into concepts of improvisation.

About the Artist: Maddison Manolis and Alison Vitale are emerging contemporary dance artists based in Pittsburgh, PA. As Slippery Rock University Alumni, they earned their BFA degrees in Dance with an emphasis in Performance and Choreography in 2018. Both artists have performed in Lindsay Viatori’s “Over Exposed,” concert at the New Hazlett Theater and work by Teena Marie Custer at the August Wilson Center. Manolis and Vitale were cast in a dance film produced by Marta Renzi, “Plant, Plow, Reap,” that has been shown nationally and internationally around the world. As a duet, MVment has performed their own work at Texas Woman’s University, the gala stage at The American College Dance Association, Gibney Dance, Koresh Artist Showcase, DUMBO Dance Festival, Koresh Come Together Festival, Pittsburgh’s NACHMO Dance Festival, SoloDuo Dance Festival, Kun-Yang Lin InHale/ExHale series, newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival, Cleveland Dance Festival, Millennium Dance Complex Showcase, SRU Faculty and Guest Artist Concert, and more. MVment was the 2019 artist residents for the FORGE Summer Dance Intensive. Currently, MVment is in the process of curating an evening-length work.

Afro-Caribbean Fusion by Dr. Munirah Bomani from Caribe Conexion Cle (10:50 - 12:05 pm) Afro- Caribbean fusion is an evolving, high-energy style that encompasses traditional Afro Caribbean elements such as skirt work and steel drums while embracing modern lines, technique and counts. In this class, students will get an introduction to Caribbean musicality, shoulder movements and cultural context as to how popular dances evolved. The class will incorporate elements from Puerto Rican, Cuban, Brazilian and Jamaican techniques, infused with touches of Modern American Contemporary dance.

About the Artist: Caribe Conexion Cle is a Cleveland-based dance company geared towards highlighting and teaching Afro Caribbean culture and dance. Its founders, Dr. Munirah Bomani and Inali Pichardo are dedicated to providing authentic, low-cost classes and programming based on the various genres of the Caribbean diaspora. The ultimate goal of the company is to heighten Caribbean art into a genre that can be seen as mainstream, and so that children choosing careers in the Arts can see themselves reflected in the work that is being displayed. https://www.caribeconexioncle.com/meetourdancers

Contemporary Technique & Repertory by Sara Hook from Sara Hook Dances (1:00 - 2:30 pm) Sara Hook’s master class will be an exploration of performance and presence. Her unique approach to physical practice combines classical modern vocabulary, somatics theory, and philosophy of self. Students will also learn excerpts of repertory from her work Salad Days, which is being presented at the Festival.

About the Artist:  Sara Hook has choreographed 48 pieces that have been produced in venues throughout New York City, in over half of the 50 American states, and in Canada, South America, and Europe. In the early years of her career, Hook performed with Martha Graham luminaries Pearl Lang and Jean Erdman, later touring the world with Nikolais Dance Theater and subsequently with Nikolais/Louis Dance. The experiences of embodying the movement language and cultures of these companies affected her choreographic signature: the grandeur and full-bodied voluptuous movement of the Graham Technique and the dynamic, detailed textures and rhythms of Nikolais. The tensions of these two forms and her own subjecthood emerge in both a rebellious politic and multifaceted movement compulsions, expressed with candor. Hook holds a BFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts, has an MFA from New York University, and is a certified movement analyst from the Laban Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. She has toured widely as a guest artist and has taught at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Princeton University, Paul Taylor Dance Company Summer Intensives, and the Bates Dance Festival, and is now a Professor of Dance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. http://www.sarahookdances.com

Dancing Mindfulness by Alicia Hann (2:35 - 3:35 pm) Dancing Mindfulness is a movement practice and mindfulness meditation. It is a form of conscious dance which is not rooted in a step vocabulary or choreography. Instead, Dancing Mindfulness is an invitation to allow the body to move organically and individually through a trauma-informed lens. Dancing Mindfulness was created by trauma therapist and expressive artist Dr. Jamie Marich. Students are gently guided through mindful movement facilitation aimed at helping them access individual authentic expression, community, acceptance, and potentially healing. The class is typically structured around a playlist with a theme which plays continuously throughout class. When providing this experience to a population of dancers the participants may notice many parallels to their study of improvisational dance, and there can be a lot of overlap. The difference is that instead of focusing on crafting movement around compositional skills, students are encouraged to focus on making choices in the moment based on physical sensation, the bodies impulses, letting go of judgement or expectation of what is coming up, and to just "go with that".

About the Artist: Alicia is a Columbus-based dance educator, performer, and choreographer. Alicia began her dance training in Columbus, Ohio focusing heavily on the study of ballet. She then pursued a study of modern dance at Ohio University where she received her BFA in Modern Dance Performance and Choreography. Alicia fell in love with modern dance and its endless possibilities for creative physical expression. Alicia is a Dancing Mindfulness Facilitator, certified through The Institute for Creative Mindfulness. Dancing Mindfulness is a form of conscious dance which incorporates meditation, improvisation, music, and community through a trauma-informed lens. Alicia is currently dancing in Columbus with CoMo and Hixon Dance Company, as well as freelancing choreographic projects. Alicia’s choreography has been presented in Columbus City Dance Showcase, The Movement Mission’s Annual Benefit Concert, Ten Tiny Dances, and has been performed by CoMo. Alicia has worked with choreographers from around the country, notably, Miki Orihari, Principal Dancer of The Martha Graham Dance Company, Kelsey Bartman of Texture Contemporary Ballet in Pittsburgh, Hannah Williamson of Mutual Dance Theater in Cincinnati, Todd Weeks and Elyse Guttman of MADCO based out of St. Louis, Ellen Vierse of Project 606 Dance in Chicago, Dustin Crumbaugh of The Big Muddy Dance Co, and Alexandra Bodnarchuk of ABDP currently creating work in Minneapolis. Alicia hopes to share with her students, collaborators, and audiences the ability to tap into an inherent joy of moving and self-discovery. Alicia strives to foster an appreciation of dance as a physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual pursuit.

Youth Master classes

Contemporary Ballet by Christine Howe (9:25 - 10:25 am) In Contemporary Ballet, we will be embracing that ballet is for everyone and every body. We will utilize balletic structures but expand upon them to include risk-taking, experimentation, and freedom of artistry. The form will focus on the directional and energetic flow of movement rather than valuing outside aesthetic values. Come as you are and ready to groove in this new take on ballet for the contemporary scene!

About the Artist: Christine Howe is a native of Akron, Ohio and began her dance training at the age of four at The Dance Institute of The University of Akron. She continued her training at The University of Akron where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance in 2016. She then received her Masters of Fine Arts from The University of Iowa in 2019. In Iowa, she received the Iowa Arts Fellowship and served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant while also choreographing and performing. She has performed in works for events such as UADC, ACDA, Iowa Arts Festival, Ohio Dance Festival, Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival and The University of Iowa Gala Concert. She has created work for The University of Akron Dance Company, Lindenwood University, and the International Writers Program at The University of Iowa. She is currently Assistant Lecturer at The University of Akron where she teaches technique, theory, and composition courses. https://christinehowemfa.wixsite.com/dance

Choreography & Collaboration by Chloe Napoletano & Hana Newfeld from Soft Moss Dance Club (10:30 - 11:30 am) This master class will guide participants to use improvisation as a tool for creating collaborative choreography. Dancers will be guided through improvisation scores and choreographic devices that Hana & Chloe use in their own creative process. This class will encourage dancers to call upon memories and lived experiences to create meaningful movement.

About the Artist: Chloe Napoletano & Hana Newfeld are the collaborative force behind their performance project, Soft Moss Dance Club. Their work is informed by contemporary dance, contact improvisation, drama, and their deep friendship. By drawing on their humanity and following their intuition, Chloe and Hana make dances that are memorable and offbeat. Hana Newfeld is a collaborative dance artist living in Columbus, Ohio. She holds BFA in dance from The Ohio State University, is an active member of SeaBus Dance Collective, and is currently serving as the Vice President of Outreach for the Columbus Dance Alliance (nonprofit). Chloe Napoletano is a Columbus, Ohio-based dancer, teacher, choreographer, art administrator, and community dance practitioner. Chloe received her BFA in dance from The Ohio State University and is also a dancer with SeaBus. She co-facilitates Perennial Movement Group, a dance and performance program for older adults.

Beginner Popping & Boogaloo by Samuel McIntosh from 10K Movement (12:00 - 1:00 pm) This class is designed to equip students with the basic beginner tools and techniques in the genre of Popping and Boogaloo. We will focus on the cultural, historical, and stories of Popping & Boogaloo as they relate to the movement provided. Techniques will be applied in a cypher circle testing dancer's improvisational skills and ultimately exchanging and collaborating with peers in a fun and supportive environment.

About the Artist: Samuel McIntosh is a dancer, choreographer, and Hip Hop ambassador specializing in various street styles but specifically Popping, Animation, and Boogaloo. He has been dancing for 10 years; learning from some of the most influential dancers and pioneers such as the Electric Boogaloo’s, Slick Dogg of G-Style, Brian “Footwork” Green, Elite Force Crew and many more. One of his first teachers were Valley Style Locking legend, Richard Lechner, and fellow Cleveland native, Anthony “Tony Fresh” Velez. Samuel has competed locally and nationally in street dance events like Step Ya Game Up in New York City, and Slick City in Chicago. He participated in renowned international competitions such as the International Funk Styles Battle, and Freestyle Session in Los Angeles as well as placing at esteemed international competitions such as Under Pressure: International Street Dance and Graffiti Convention in Montreal, Quebec and was a finalist at Kings Of New York in New York City. Samuel also has premiered and performed work in Greater Cleveland and Ohio such as places like Cleveland Dance Festival, Severance Music Hall, the historic Karamu House, Kent State University, as well as nationally such as places like Peridance Capezio Center and The Cutting Room in New York City. Samuel is also an administrative professional with a degree in arts administration from Baldwin Wallace University. In 2016, he received the Arts Administration Fellowship from the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been an award recipient of the 2019 Cleveland Arts Prize Verge Fellowship, the 2020 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, and a 2020 college of the arts distinguished alumni and faculty award recipient receiving the Arts Advocacy Award. These experiences would widen his view of Arts and Culture nonprofits and show him how to integrate his artistry in various sectors through programming and business. Samuel believes Hip Hop culture can help develop and cultivate the surrounding community when the 5 values (Peace, Unity, Love, Having Fun, and Knowledge) are present and educated. He believes by having these values present, this culture can create a sense of empowerment and individualism that turns into high-level problem solvers, thinkers, actors of change, and of course movement artists. http://10kmovement.org