Verb Ballet had the honor of working with guest choreographer and multi-award-winning artist Dianne McIntyre. Her career spans four decades with choreography for dance, theatre, television and film. Through the support of the NEA Challenge America grant Verb Ballets produced Dancing Memories: Lost & Found- a legacy dance project of a group of seniors at underserved assisted living facilities in Cleveland.

The project brought to life the personal stories of residents at, Eliza Bryant Village and Eliza Jennings Skilled Nursing Facility, in dance pieces celebrating the triumph of the human spirit. Dianne McIntyre met with the medical staff and went from room to room engaging in conversations with the residents. Dianne McIntyre was so moved by their stories, she decided to tell the stories of all eleven residents who agreed to be interviewed. Many hours of invaluable help with translations for the foreign speaking residents lead by Nathanael Santiago, a Verb dancer, also works as a professional translator for the Spanish, Portuguese, French and English languages. From these conversations she learned of their amazing history, ranging from someone who was a member of the original Black Panthers, to a woman from Scotland who immigrated to the US as a child, to a woman who ran a speakeasy from her house, to a woman who was 102 years old and had made light bulbs for GE her whole life.

Choreographer, Dianne McIntyre utilized the Verb dancers not only as dancers but also as singers and actors in the piece. McIntyre created an evening length work for their memories to come alive through dance and the end result was unforgettable. The dances were then performed by Verb Ballets dancers for the participants and residents at each assisted living facility, as well as in a one night only public performance for the community and family members. Families across multiple generations came together see the stories of their families in the studio. “My family was there to support my father. It was nice family gathering for the younger great grandkids of my father. Would love to come again”, daughter of Joseph Burton.

The staff was universally moved to tears by the performances and explained how one the resident since coming had never left her room or engaged in anything but rudimentary conversations with the staff. For the performance she came out of her room to see her story and burst to life singing and moving to the music. She also insisted on coming to the performance in the studio after not leaving the facility for two years. Her life was changed by this experience. She now leaves her room every day to eat in the dining hall, talks to everyone she passes and participates in the home activities. The dancers were deeply moved when they saw how important their work was to the lives involved and honor to have brought their stories to life. Verb Ballets is grateful for the support of The

National Endowment for the Arts in supporting this project that help to connect generations in a new way and bring legacy through dance.

Review: Verb Ballets showcases classic and cutting-edge works at Firestone Park

August 1, 2017
By Kerry Clawson, Beacon Journal arts writer

Verb Ballets celebrated its 30th anniversary with some things old and something new at the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival in Akron last weekend, namely two classic works by Poll and the world premiere of the modern dance Surge.Capacity.Force.

Half of the dances on the program at Firestone Park were longtime favorites that Poll, who founded the former Ohio Ballet, had created in his Akron company. They included his early Schubert Waltzes, from 1974, a delicate, classically beautiful ballet featuring three sets of couples, color-coordinated in red, green or brown.

The mood of the work, set to piano music by Franz Schubert, ranged from a gentle solo frolic by new company member Mariana Perez to a stately sounding waltz as all three couples prepared to leave what feels like a special social dance. Perez, Omar Humphrey, Kelly Korfhage, Michael Escovedo, Kate Webb and Nathanael Santiago seemed to barely skim the stage in this ballet, which had a feathery feel as each man lovingly lifted his partner high above his head as she arched back gracefully. The small flourishes added much to the partnering, including a moment when each of the three women simply touched the left side of her netted skirt, in unison.

In the sassy, exuberant Eight by Benny Goodman, Verb continued the Ohio Ballet’s celebrated tradition of making this 1992 dance a staple of its outdoor summer performances. The stylish, eight-movement dance, rooted in the big-band era, featured men in tuxes and women in slim ballgowns in several sections, as well as a trio of female dancers wearing sweet pink short dresses, pillbox hats and white gloves in Somebody Stole My Gal.

Some of its most thrilling moments included the powerful Omar Humphrey’s one-arm lift of Webb high above him in I’m Nobody’s Babyand Webb’s sultry, lonely solo to How Long Has This Been Going On.

Switching gears, Michael Escovedo and new company member Korfhage displayed sheer talent and bravura in Marius Petipa’s 1869 pas de deux Don Quixote, staged for Verb Ballets by Cuban prima ballerina Laura Alonso. Korfhage, a Cleveland native who trained with Kansas City Ballet’s second company, is one to watch after so brilliantly executing the flourishes, tricks and lifts along with her equally accomplished partner Escovedo, who joined Verb in 2014.

The excitement of this classic work, staged in the Cuban ballet style, continued right through Korfhage’s final curtsey, in which she placed her palms in front at her waist and curtseyed with her back leg far behind her.

Finally, the company assumed a vastly different style for Tommie-Waheed Evans’ Surge.Capacity.Force. The dance began to a recording of Pete Seeger’s This Land Is Your Land, with banjo, as eight dancers marched in place. The barefoot dancers moved across the stage floor on one knee, executed apoplectic movements, turned their backs to the audience and jerked their shoulders in a dance that morphs into highly rhythmic sections, set to the pieces Bardo Thodol and Mint Tea with Gadaffi.

There’s a mounting tension in this work, which has a message of social justice that’s especially clear when a man’s recorded voice is heard yelling despairingly, “We are people! We are not garbage!”

The message of a human being denied his rights is clear. Evans takes it even further as the dancers move to the edge of the stage and yell out to the audience “I’m a human too!” and “But why? I just wanna be here!” over and over, a desperate-sounding ending to an intriguing new dance.

Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com. Like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/kclawsonabj or follow her on Twitter @KerryClawsonABJ.