"in this world, we fear women if we cannot control them."
Akram Khan
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tnyradiohour/segments/giselle-rebuilding-ballet
Dates
Friday, April 12, 2024 | 8:00p.m.
Saturday, April 13, 2024 | 2:00p.m. & 8:00p.m.
Sunday, April 14, 2024 | 2:00p.m.
Price
$25
THE MARCELLE
3310 Samuel Shepard Drive
St. Louis, MO 63103
Financial assistance for our concert season has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. Woman is generously funded by Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.Woman was produced with support from the Regional Arts Commission.
All photographs by Dave Moore Photography
cherry chapstick
Choreography: Marlee Doniff, in collaboration with the dancers
Welcoming Pack choreographer, Marlee Doniff in her debut work with the company, cherry chapstick. Marlee graduated from Webster University in December of 2023 with a BA in Dance and has been dancing for the past two decades. Her relationship to the art form manifests in many ways — education, performance, choreography, research, and arts administration. Her new work cherry chapstick explores a longing for girlhood and questions how gender roles affect the way we view childhood.
Expectations
Choreography: Arica Nyamsi and Kaylee Arnold, in collaboration with the dancers
Arica Nyamsi is the Founder, Executive Director, Artistic Director and a Resident Choreographer for Pack Dance. Arica, along with fellow Pack choreographer, Kaylee Arnold, teamed up to craft Expectations, highlighting four middle school girls and how much social pressures weigh on them throughout adolescence.
Unproductive, Reproductive
Choreography: Jenny and Jessy Dyson
Jessy and her sister Jenny love to choreograph together. Their choreography has been seen across the state including MADCO’s Dare to Dance, Resilience’s SEEN, and Big Muddy Dance Fest. This piece begins with the reactions many women have when reading the latest headlines and when faced with making decisions around their own health.
Being
Choreography: Grace Mohr, in collaboration with Melelani Perry
Pack choreographer, Grace Mohr completed research on the effects of adaptive dance for children with disabilities, leading her to create CKDC’s Adaptive Dance Program in January of 2022. Since then, she has teamed up with Melelani Perry, to create Being. This piece does not seek to tell a specific story, but rather to provide a space where, Melelani can be accepted for all that she is, in an environment that she belongs in.
Mother
Choreography: Isadora Duncun
Isadora Duncan (1865-1927) was a choreographer and dancer who revolutionized the art of dance. Her philosophy of turning to one’s own body as the source of movement influenced all of concert dance today. Inspired by nature, great music, and the ancient Greeks, Isadora glorified the body as the temple of the spirit. She freed dance to express profound human experience. At a time when women were corseted by Victorian convention, Isadora dared to dance in Greek tunics and challenged the conventional roles of women in art, business, and love. “Oh she is coming, the dancer of the future…the highest intelligence in the freest body.” (Duncan, 72, 1955)
Man of the House
Choreography: Arica Nyamsi, Anthony Bady, Doline Colenburg, Kevin Lee, Lexi Lewis, Grace Mohr and Izzy Perry
Man of the House was choreographed by a collective of artists featuring Arica Nyamsi, Anthony Bady, Doline Colenburg, Kevin Lee, Lexi Lewis, Grace Mohr and Izzy Perry. Spotlighting Pack choreographer, Anthony Bady as this is his debut contemporary piece with the company. Anthony is currently co-creating two original works for the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis and St. Louis Art Museum with other members of the Pack.
Mommy
Choreography: Ashreale McDowell
In the Spring of 2018, Ashreale McDowell became the Assistant Artistic Director of Consuming Kinetics Dance Company. She maintained her leadership role until the Spring of 2022 when she became a mom to a beautiful baby boy. Ashreale currently resides in Oregon but remains a close member of our pack. She also has her own dance company called Take Root, named after a concert Ashreale co-created during her time in St. Louis with CKDC. Ashreale’s piece for Woman portrays her personal experience of motherhood as the most beautiful themed park adventure, all for her son in Mommy.
Growing Apart
Choreography: Arica Nyamsi, Lily Kluck, Doline Colenburg, Sage Dobbins and Katelyn
Growing Apart is performed by our Junior Company (ages 13-19) and tells a story of friendship and the impact of social structures in high school.
Kalopsia
Choreography: Lexi Lewis
Lexi Lewis has been dancing since she was three years old and has grown up on the competition stage. This piece is a representation of the journey of one dancer as she battles her negative thoughts. Sometimes she can overcome them, but sometimes they bring her down. We hope to showcase the ups and downs of this journey to help other women understand that they are not alone in their struggles.
Video
Jessica Pierce
Bitch
Choreography: Olivia Perez
Olivia Perez is a versatile dancer, educator, and choreographer who enjoys performing and training in concert and commercial styles of dance. Olivia’s piece, Bitch, empowers and amplifies the voices of women often labeled as divas or bitches, allowing them to reclaim their narratives and speak for themselves.