Dreams With Wings – Courtesy y of Renzulli Photography. Used with permission.
Of all the annual performing events I cover, the Kids Dance Outreach Event of the Year is among my favorites. This year’s Dreams With Wings was certainly no exception and like previous years, it topped its predecessor. I attended the Saturday performance, which included a fundraising interlude that raised thousands, at The Howard Schrott Center for the Performing Arts at Butler University.
Dreams With Wings – Courtesy of Renzulli Photography. Used with permission.
Founded in 2012 by Artistic Director Michael J. Johnson, Kids Dance Outreach is a nonprofit organization that offers arts and dance education with live music to children, regardless of their background, abilities, or financial situation. An example of the impact KDO has made is last year’s numbers, which reflected 505 hours of free dance education to 1,604 children in Marion County from sixteen partner schools.
Guided by a 24-member team of staffers, the diverse and inclusive company of ninety-four dancers performed a program that was best described in Johnson’s message in the printed program. It read Tonight we embark on an extraordinary adventure where dreams have no boundaries. Through their artistry, they will transport you to a place where imagination soars and anything is possible. The evening is a celebration of the dreams that lift us, the courage that drives us and the imagination that can help us take flight. From my point of view, Johnson’s prediction was spot on and then some.
The production featured a talented seven-piece band, led by music director and conductor Jeffrey DeHerdt. The presentation also included superb vocals performed by Mina Keophane, Steven Hedrick and Matt Sovern and a chorus of KDO alums.
Aci 1 highlights were John Sebastian’s What a Day for A Daydream, with ensemble dancers from the incoming SWAT Team featuring Noavella Day and Freddie Mercury’s Don’t Stop Me Now with ensemble dancers from the X Team featuring Giselle Moore. Another work was set to John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Imagine with dancers from FLOW. Adaptive Dance and the X Team.
Act 2 included performances such as Running Down a Dream with music by Tom Petty, featuring Ensemble dancers from the SWAT team including Oliver Seiple; Roy Orbison’s In Dreams, featuring August Hurley; and From Now On with the entire KDO company, featuring Rilee Coe and Lucas Martin, and set to music by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
My favorite number and a clear crowd pleaser was the piece Sleep Walk Parts I & II. Danced to music by Santo and Johnny, the dancers, all of them tiny tots depicting sheep with Austin Day, a KDO staffer as a shepherd, included Ava Barlow, Claire Thomas, Gemma Ruiz, Zoe Davis and guest performers Lena Bauman, Valentine Johnson and Austin Day. Wearing costumes cleverly designed and constructed by Kevin Burzon the small fry charmed and delighted the crowd and me with your precocious antics.
The show’s ebullient choreography and expert staging was led by Johnson and Monica Munoz in collaboration with the KDO Team. Guest choreographer was by Ellen Weinstein and Mary Kennedy.
New York based Yael Lubetsky was responsible for the production’s spectacular lighting design.
