Aftermath: Professional Company Concert

City in Motion Dance Theater will present its professional company concert, “Aftermath”, on Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, May 1 at 2:00 PM at City Stage Theater at Union Station. The Friday night dress rehearsal will be open for dancers only as an industry night opportunity for young artists to experience the show for free.

Artistic Co-Director, Tracie Jensen will premiere the full length work titled, America, after premiering excerpts for Dance in the Park 2021.  The suite consists of five dances from the folk album “Rabbit Fur Coat” by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins.  This submersive character piece is full of soul, longing, and regret. “America” is an intimate portrait of the female experience in the United States and how those roles in society have been shaped by men, religion, politics and the American dream.

Artistic Co-Director, Marisa Callaway will be presenting, Virtuosi.  "A Woman's Honor or Virtue" is a euphemism for virginity. Because having sex before marriage was considered immoral during the regency era, an over importance was placed on virginity. This modern era-based piece symbolizes women in their sexuality and the connectivity of scrutiny that still remains today.  With music, Concerto grosso No. 12 in B Minor, HWV 330: I. Largo, by Arte dei Suonatori & Martin Gester & Ice Wine by Lia Ices.

Artistic Co-Director, Joanna Des Marteau, will present, Who Am I Now?  A solo danced by Jordan Wilson to “Nocturn No. 7” by VNV Nation.  This solo is a reflection of where many of us are in the current time asking ourselves the question, who am I now?  How do I recognize myself in a world that has shifted everything from what we do, how we think, how we cope, relate  and ask, what now?

Reverie by Bobbi Foudree, Guest Choreographer, focuses on memories and the overall ephemeral nature of life. Photographs, digital pictures, and videos were used to shape the dance and create the phrases within it. Dancers fade into and out of these memories and pictures much like our minds do; repeating some memories over and over while some are not as clear.

Guest choreographer, Hunter Jones’ piece,  N’Flux is about encountering your lowest low whether it be an event, a feeling, or an emotion and your choice within the fight/flight response that kicks in. Her piece is about choosing to fight, to stay hungry, to conquer and to persevere.  The music is, I'm Fine from Teen Wolf, On the Nature of Daylight by Max Richter, Written on The Sky by Max Richter.

In The Aftermath  by Kyle Mullins, we find seven women moments after an unknown, and seemingly horrific, event has occurred. In the minutes that follow, we see these women deal with the event (and the role they played within it) through fear, distrust, and paranoia. Exploring the complex web of relationships and how trauma stretches the ties that bind us, The Aftermath shines a light on the complicity of human connection. Humor allows the audience to laugh at (and with) these women as they work through their individual and collective reverberations, showing us that while events may be specific, our responses are universal.

Guest choreographer, Crystal Robbins, Dusk premiered at Open Stage at the J on March 1, 2020.  It is a piece about loss using the imagery of sunsets.

Lastly, a special guest performance by the Youth Dance Theater will present their set-for-stage piece from the site project, National Water Dance- Dancing Out of Time', under the direction of Persi Mey. This live work project will be presented at Kaw Point Park, Kansas City, KS on Saturday, April 23rd at 3pm. In collaboration with the Mid American Indian Fellowships, professional dancers, puppets, live violin and the CIM Youth Dance Theater, this project highlights climate awareness and social action.