Reppin’ – Program – Rhythmically Speaking

REMINDERS:

Prior to the show, please silence your devices, and be advised that taking photos and/ or videos of the show is not permitted.
The show has a run time of about 90 minutes, including a 15 minute intermission.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

We acknowledge that our work occurs on Dakhóta Oyáte lands, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. We also acknowledge that as a company built around jazz and American social dances, forms with African diasporic roots and branches, anti-racism and intersectional justice efforts must also be central in our work. We view bettering these efforts as an ongoing journey, and welcome you to read more about this at our Anti-Racism page. We also welcome you to read our full ICE OUT statement here.

A NOTE FROM RS ARTISTIC & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

Hey folks. Thank you for joining us for an occasion momentous and likely singular for us: dancing on this revered stage. We’re so happy you’re here. Normally, I would wax poetic here about the meaningful necessity of art like ours. I’m gonna do that a bit, but I know we’re all tired, and you just came here to get yourself some joy witnessing people dance, so I’ll be brief. In echoing my more substantial remarks that we’ve released previously via email and social media, I say:

ICE OUT.

Keep observing, protesting, contacting legislators, boycotting, donating and organizing grassroots mutual aid.

We hope that tonight, you experience humanity-centered, thought-provoking and above all JOYFUL art that speaks to you, rhythmically (!!!), and (re)fills your cup. The forms we work in – jazz and jazz-related dance and music styles – were born out of responses to systemic oppression as tools of resistance. It is in this spirit, and in the spirit of creating and sharing in human joy, that we dance. For ourselves, with each other, and for you. We are all capable (and deserving) of feeling a beat together, becoming whole-heartedly connected in all the vibrancy, complexity and joy of our shared humanity.

Big Love breaking through the darkness,

Erinn

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SPECIAL THANKS:

To the Knight Cultural Opportunity Fund and the Ordway, particularly Jeremiah Zortman (our main point of contact and communicator extraordinaire – we are so grateful for all your help!), the RS Advisory Board for their enthusiastic and ongoing support, and to the artists on this show – without your dedication to this work, it wouldn’t exist!

PROGRAM:

BASSline (Premiered 2022, Reworked 2025/6)

Choreographer: Kathleen Doherty of Rooted Dance Projects (Halifax, NS, Canada)
Dancers: Nieya Amezquita, Doug Hooker, Sara Karimi, Erinn Liebhard, Jake Nehrbass, Kathleen Pender and Betsy Schaefer Roob
Music: “Branduardi” by the Walter Lang Trio, “Can’t Stop Running” by Adam Ben Ezra and “The Move” by Matthew Halsall
Artist Note: BASSline takes inspiration from the prominent bass line within the music, with the sounds influencing the movement choices, rhythmic timing, and shapes in the dancers’ bodies. This work explores how we can relate to music: when we go along with it, and when we add rhythms with the body to create an even richer experience. It has been performed by a variety of dancers, with multiple performances in Canada and the United States.
Special Thanks: A big thank you and acknowledgment to everyone who has been a part of this piece’s journey, and especially to the folks at Rhythmically Speaking Dance for taking it on for this show!

Beat Bop (Premiere)

Choreographer: Betsy Schaefer Roob, with contributions from the dancers
Dancers: Malia Craft, Sara Karimi, Kelli Miles and Julie Marie Muskat
Sound: The musical stylings of Betsy on the Bop It Extreme (TM), and “Bubblehouse” by Medeski, Martin & Wood
Artist Note: Bop it, twist it, pull it, flick it, spin it. This time, it’s all about rhythm.
Special Thanks: Erinn, for her support and leadership; the dancers, for their generosity and humor; my family members, for their encouragement and enthusiasm; my dad, for the vintage ’90s game; and my daughter, who brings out my courage and silliness.

Butter the Fly (Premiere)

Choreographer: Nieya Amezquita
Dancers: Malia Craft, Doug Hooker and Kelli Miles
Music: “Butter the Fly” by internetjunkhound (includes sample of “Dance of the Dream Man” by Angelo Badalamenti)
Artist Note: Butter the Fly is a jazz theater piece that dives into the charm and chemistry of a team trying to get it together long enough to plan a heist.
Special Thanks: To the dancers, Erinn, and internetjunkhound for wholeheartedly believing I could step out of my comfort zone and create something fun, playful and jazzy.

Shifting Gears (Premiere)

Choreographer: Jake Nehrbass
Dancers: Sara Karimi, Erinn Liebhard, Jake Nehrbass, Kathleen Pender and Betsy Schaefer Roob
Music: “Barreleye” and “Gigantactis” by Mark Lettieri
Artist Note: Shifting from 1st to 5th, if you catch our drift. We are Switching Gears.
Special Thanks: to the amazing RS cast, community, and friends who continually make my artistic dreams a reality, and help me to both grow as an artist as well as let me push the boundaries of what WE can do when we Tap.

INTERMISSION – 15 Minutes

Confronting Consonance (2024)

Choreographer: Erinn Liebhard (RS Artistic and Executive Director), with improvised and choreographed contributions from the dancers
Dancers: Nieya Amezquita, Malia Craft, Doug Hooker, Jayde Grass, Sara Karimi, Erinn Liebhard, Kelli Miles, Jake Nehrbass, Kathleen Pender and Betsy Schaefer Roob
Music: “Tension” by Mulatu Asatatke & the Hoodna Orchestra, “Rehearsal 24” by The Heliocentrics and “Sports” by Aaron Parks
Artist Note: Confronting Consonance explores how humans can get in our own way when it comes to relating to one another. Moving from tension into listening into mutual support, the piece enlivens the concept that we are often more alike than not, even when that can be hard to see, and that we owe it to one another to remember that. Keep your eye out: there are several improvised moments, so as to capture an in-the-momentness that jazz really asks for, and most of the duet moments have been choreographed by the dancers.
Special Thanks: Big thanks to the dancers, Matthew Wagner and Rebecca Katz-Harwood at the University of Minnesota – Duluth for the opportunity to create this piece in 2024, and the original cast of dancers who brought it to life 🙂

Precipitous Wonder (Premiere)

Choreographer: Erinn Liebhard, with contributions from the dancers
Editor: Erinn Liebhard
Cinematographers: Doug Hooker, Erinn Liebhard, Joy Liebhard, Wayne Liebhard, Shannon Nemer and Kathleen Pender
Dancers: Doug Hooker, Erinn Liebhard and Kathleen Pender
Music: “Remembrance” by HEYARLO
Artist Note:

What is it about clouds?

It’s their appeal as a simple pleasure
Their consistent presence across time

It’s the possibility, and how it can shift so quickly

Taking imagination along

While they cannot be seen every moment or even every day or week

They always come back, bringing along whimsical delight

For as long as I can remember,

I have found them a source of fascination

It’s how they can only be predicted so well

In trying to better embody adaptability

They are an apt reminder

That you can dress for the weather, but the winds shift

It’s that they deliver rain

Both destructive and cleansing

A source of both chaos and calm

It’s like that, isn’t it?

It’s how they can look and feel both big and small

I feel that way too

To me, they are anything but frivolous fluff

They are precipitous wonder

I don’t stop and smell the roses so much as I stop and observe the clouds.

Special Thanks: To Doug and Kathleen for going with the flow on filming and always, to my citizen-cinematographers for allowing me to talk you into helping (you did a great job!), to my littles for inspiring fresh wonder in me every day (shout to to Niko who wanted to name this piece Sky Cloud CloudScraper), and to the Cloud Appreciation Society for reminding me every day that ‘bluesky thinking’ is overrated!

Groove: A Communal Love (2023)

Choreographer: Carlos R.A. Jones
Dancers: Nieya Amezquita, Malia Craft, Doug Hooker, Sara Karimi, Erinn Liebhard, Kelli Miles, Jake Nehrbass, Kathleen Pender and Betsy Schaefer Roob
Music: “Bull’s Eye” by the Souljazz Orchestra, “People, People” by The Souljazz Orchestra and “Happy Feet (for dancers)” by Theo Croker featuring Malaya
Artist Note: Giving over to groove releases the soul, allowing it to vibrate beyond the confines of the physical body. When we find groove in Community, the energy is amplified and the joy that radiates from the collective is transformative. The title of the piece and the lyrics of its music feel so in contrast to what is going on and may seem at odds with what is happening in your cities – our cities – today. Yet, they are not. Today’s performance of the work is a statement of resistance, an artistic protest against forces of division. Join us. Look into the eyes of the people around you today, see their humanity, and groove.

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::Help us better our efforts by filling out this SHORT SURVEY!::

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PEOPLE:

Advisory Board: Tameka Davidson, Brian J. Evans, Rae Fox-Charles, Doug Hooker, Erinn Liebhard, Kristoffer Olson and Shannon Nemer (and Advisory Member Zoe Sealy, with Legal Advisor Reilly Liebhard)

Ordway Staff:

Jeremiah Zortman, Rentals and Contracts Manager
Julia Erickson, Director of Production
Laurie Seifert Williams, Production Manager
Kris Broderson, Associate Electrician – Concert Hall
Collin Sherradan, Associate Sound Engineer – Concert Hall
Anna Hopps, Digital Content Manager
Andrea Corich, Director of Ticket Services

Costumes & Props: Choreographers, Erinn Liebhard, Joy Liebhard and Dancers

Nieya Amezquita (Dancer & Choreographer – Butter the Fly)

Nieya

Nieya Amezquita is a Minnesota-based artist currently working with Rhythmically Speaking, Arena Dances, eMartin Dance and Corpus Dance Works. She has also performed with Threads Dance Project, Elayna Waxse Movement Projects, Concerto Dance, Off-Leash Area, and Doma Dance Theater. In 2019, Nieya earned a Bachelors in Dance and Psychology from the University of Georgia, during which she performed nationally and internationally with CADE:NCE before studying in Portugal with the Addo Platform, where her passion for choreography was ignited. Now Nieya’s work has been presented in the Blackness Is Arts festival produced by the Guthrie Theater, the CandyBox festival produced by Arena Dances, commissioned by Threads Dance Project, Alternative Motion Project and Ballet Co’Laboratory. In 2023, Nieya furthered her professional development by founding and leading Amez Dance, a project-based dance company created to push the boundaries of art and how it can develop our community. She has been a Rhythmically Speaking company member since 2020. Website | @Ni_Amez

Malia Craft (Dancer)

Malia Craft is from Hartwell, Georgia and began her training at Hot Shots Dance Company, where she trained in ballet, modern, contemporary, hip hop, and jazz and found her love for performing, as well as teaching. Malia attended the University of Georgia, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, with a minor in exercise and sports science, and a certificate in K-12 dance education. Malia was also a part of the Georgette’s Dance Team for three years. She is currently an artist with Threads Dance Project and Concerto Dance. Aside from training and performing, Malia has a love of working with dancers and has taught, as well as choreographed, for several studios and dance teams throughout Georgia and Minnesota. She has been a Rhythmically Speaking company member since 2025. | @MaliaDances_

Bill Cameron (Photographer)

DSC09165m

Bill Cameron is a Minneapolis photographer who loves photographing people. He specializes in working with local dance companies and their wonderful dancers. | @Bill.Cameron

Kathleen Doherty (Choreographer – BASSline)

Kathleen Doherty (she/her) is a producer, choreographer, dance artist, and educator based in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Kathleen co-founded the professional dance company, Rooted Dance Projects in 2012 and has worked as Artistic Director since the company’s inception. Kathleen completed her professional training with Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in 2009-2011, and continues to find so much joy in jazz dance! She regularly creates and performs with her company, Rooted Dance Projects, is the Artistic Director of The Young Company of Halifax Dance, and teaches jazz dance at many studios and organizations around Nova Scotia. Kathleen is proud to be a working artist mom to her 7 year-old son, Cillian.

Doug Hooker (Administrative & Artistic Associate | Dancer)

Doug graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Dance. He has had a variety of professional performing opportunities, including with the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum & Bugle Corps, the Broadway show Blast! and the Dancing People Company, and locally with ARENA DANCES, Collide Theatrical Dance Company, Concerto Dance, Shapiro and Smith Dance and Threads Dance Project. He has been in Rhythmically Speaking productions since 2017, and has been a company member since 2019. Website | @MisterHookerSir

Jayde Grass (Dancer)

Jayde Grass is a Minnesota-based multidisciplinary dance artist. She attended Winona State University where she first danced with RS AED Erinn. She graduated with a BS in Elementary Education and a Dance Minor, and has been training and performing ever since. Most recently, she danced in the Amez Dance, Analog Dance Works, and Ruby Josephine Dance Theatre collaboration show Converge. Jayde has danced with Rhythmically Speaking since 2025. | @Jayde_Grass

Carlos R.A. Jones (Choreographer – Groove: A Communal Love)

Carlos R. A. Jones spent his early career performing in television, film, musical theater, and concert dance. He has been seen on The Drew Carey Show, The Nanny, Dance With Me and Uptown Girls, to name a few. Jones has choreographed for Broadway legend André De Shields, SNL Veteran Ellen Cleghorne, and television icon Carol Burnett, among others. Among his directing and choreography credits are, Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope, Footloose, Beehive and Hairspray. His concert works has appeared with the companies JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble, Rhythmically Speaking, Movement Source Dance Company, Bethune Theaterdanse, and his self-named, Carlos Jones and Company. Jones is a contributing author to Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches and Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty First Century, where has is also co-editor. He has served on faculty at Salve Regina University, Chapman University, Loyola Marymount, Buffalo State University, and is currently Professor and Chair of dance at SUNY Brockport.

Sara Karimi (Dancer)

Sara is a native of Wisconsin and a graduate of University of Iowa (BFA in Dance Performance, BA in English). She performed and toured with 10,000 Feet Dance Company, The Architects and Kayle + Co. before relocating to Minneapolis. She is a company member with Rhythmically Speaking, Threads Dance Project, Ruby Josephine Dance Theater (RJDT) and 43X94 Movement Research. Additional performance credits include Concerto Dance, Borealis Dance Theatre, Dance & Other Behaviors, Rogue & Rabble Dance, and MN Opera. Sara is a Mat Pilates instructor and a 500 E-RYT Yoga Instructor, leading classes and workshops locally and nationally. She has been in Rhythmically Speaking productions since 2016, and has been a company member since 2019. | @Karimi__Sara__

Erinn Liebhard (Artistic and Executive Director | Producer | Choreographer – Confronting Consonance & Precipitous Wonder | Dancer)

Erinn is a dance artist (MFA University of Colorado Boulder, BFA University of Minnesota) making opportunities for people to experience the reflective and connective power of groove through performance and education. In performance (besides RS!), she freelances and performs as self-created character entertainer “Nerdette” for Saint Paul Saints Baseball. In education, she is an active residency artist, is on faculty at Carleton College, St. Olaf College and Winona State University, conducts educational outreach through RS and is an active writer and conference presenter. Photo by Galen Higgins. Website | @ErinnLiebhard.DanceArtist

Ben McGinley (Videographer)

Kelli Miles (Dancer)

A Midwest native, Kelli is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Leadership. Kelli has trained and danced across the globe, from New York City and San Francisco to Barcelona and Israel. Locally, she has had the pleasure of dancing with several companies in addition to Rhythmically Speaking, including HoneyWorks, Hatch Dance, ARENA DANCES, Black Label Movement, and Threads Dance Project. She has held teaching positions at Zenon Dance School and Westmet Classical Training, further fueling her passion for this art form and love of connecting with people through movement. Beyond the studio, Kelli is a part of the Consulting team at Artspace – a national organization creating, fostering, and preserving affordable and sustainable space for artists and cultural organizations. She has been a Rhythmically Speaking company member since 2019. Website | @KelliBelliii

Julie Marie Muskat (Dancer)

Julie Marie Muskat is a freelance dancer, choreographer, teacher, and stage manager currently based in the Twin Cities and originally from Texas. She has worked across the US, Israel, and Italy, dancing with companies such as Threads Dance Project, Vox Medusa, Revolution Dance Theatre, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, and Compagnia AiEP. She is the founder of Deeper Water Arts & Mind/Body Center, which provides dance, cross training, and health and wellness opportunities for young people and adults. She is honored to work with Rhythmically Speaking.

Jake Nehrbass (Dancer & Choreographer – Shifting Gears)

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Jake has been studying and performing dance since the age of three and teaching since age 12. He received his BFA in Dance and Kinesiology from St. Olaf College, has an interest in physical therapy and yoga, and works as a performing artist, choreographer, and dance teacher (Prairie School of Dance and Ballare Teatro) in the Twin Cities area. Currently, Jake is a company member of ARENA Dances, Black Label Movement, RDJT and Rhythmically Speaking, and has guested with Contempo Physical Dance, Concerto Dance, Arena Dances, Mixtape, Threads Dance Project, Flying Foot Forum, Katha Dance Theatre, Eau Claire Dance, STRONGmovement and Hatch Dance/ Honey Works, and performed in Stephan Koplowitz’s Northfield Experience. He has been a Rhythmically Speaking company member since 2022. Website | @Jake_Nehrbass

Kathleen Pender (Dancer)

Kathleen Pender is a performer, dance educator, arts administrator, and massage therapist with a B.A. in Dance from St. Olaf College and an A.A.S. in Therapeutic Massage from Northwestern Health Sciences University. She has performed in works by choreographers Erinn Liebhard, Suzanne Costello, Gretchen Pick, Julie Warder, Taja Will, Kathleen Doherty, Laura Ann Smyth, and Pat Taylor/JazzAntiqua, among others. She teaches with Young Dance, where she also works as Program Manager, and practices massage with TC Fit at Motion St. Paul, a physical therapy clinic. Kathleen is passionate about community and relationships cultivated through movement exploration, education, and performance. She has performed in Rhythmically Speaking productions since 2013, and has been a company member since 2019. Photo by Bill Cameron. | @KatDewPen

Betsy Schaefer Roob (Dancer & Choreographer – Beat Bop)

Betsy was born and raised in Elm Grove, WI. Based in Minneapolis for over fifteen years, she has worked with ARENA DANCES, Threads Dance Project, Dance & Other Behaviors, and 43X94 Movement Research, among others. Betsy holds a self-designed Bachelor of Individualized Studies in English, Dance, and Sustainability Studies from the University of Minnesota. Her career path has encompassed the arts, education, and healthcare, and she is mama to one. Betsy has been a Rhythmically Speaking company member since 2019. | @betsy_kae