Winter Program – Reppin’

Reppin’ – Past Moves, New Grooves

Thanks to a generous grant from the Knight Foundation Cultural Opportunity Fund in conjunction with The Arts Partnership, we are thrilled to be making our Ordway Concert Hall debut with Reppin’: Past Moves, New Grooves! As the premiere jazz dance company in the Twin Cities, we are lauded locally, nationally and internationally for our unique groove, interaction and improvisation-driven approach that honors the African diasporic roots of the form while innovating it forward. We’re not only excited to be making our Ordway debut, but also for additional company firsts: revisiting favorite guest artist repertoire and commissioning company dancers to create new works, forming a collection of pieces that REPresent our signature approach to jazz dance.

Repertoire works on the show include Groove: A Communal Love (2023) by Carlos R.A. Jones (NY), which celebrates giving over to groove and finding joy in community, and BASSline (2022) by Kathleen Doherty (Halifax, Canada), illuminating the body’s relationship to prominent bass lines within music. RS Artistic and Executive Director Erinn Liebhard will also have a repertoire work on the show in Confronting Consonance (2024), which explores how we often get in our own way of finding our common ground. Rhythmically Speaking company members creating new works include Nieya Amezquita, Jake Nehrbass and Betsy Schafer Roob, and A/ED Liebhard will also be creating a new screendance for the show. The production will be danced by company members Nieya Amezquita, Malia Craft, Doug Hooker, Sara Karimi, Erinn Liebhard, Kelli Miles, Jake Nehrbass, Kathleen Pender and Betsy Schaefer Roob, and guest artists Jayde Grass and Julie Marie Muskat.

Reppin’: Past Moves, New Grooves offers vibrant jazz dance that connects audiences to themselves, others and the moment.

This performance is made possible in part by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in conjunction with The Arts Partnership.