Choreographed steps in Dancers Studio Inc.’s latest production are more than expressive art. For performer Andrea Contreras, they are steps to express emotional health.
Contreras hopes the feelings she conveys in her roles in the spring contemporary ballet presentation of "Inside Out," slated outdoors at Columbus City Hall Plaza Saturday and at Mill Race Park April 24, can help audience members unleash or process their own emotions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic; or anything else for that matter.
The 35-member troupe also will perform May 22 at the Indianapolis Artsgarden in a performance that will be professionally taped.
"I want to see (people’s) goosebumps," said the Columbus North High School senior, talking about a hoped-for connection and impact.
The 30-minute free show, birthed and choreographed by Dancers Studio Director Stacie Woempner, is inspired by the Pixar dramatic comedy "Inside Out," which highlights serious feelings, and by part of the novel coronavirus that has left many feeling a bit inside out.
Woempner wanted the production to engender and stir such vulnerability in both the dancers and audience that, as rehearsals began, she asked the older dancers to journal deep instances of personal sadness or anger — and then share their writings with their studio peers.
When they read aloud their journal entries among themselves, in some instances, tears welled.
"Dance always has had that emotional link for me," Contreras said. "I’ve always used it to express how I’ve felt in a particular week. So, definitely, this show is therapeutic. I mean, wow, we can really show emotion that we have, and showcase it for people. Because this expression is really nothing new for us here."
Sasha Varchenko, an eighth-grader at Central Middle School, said the upcoming show "really ties in well with everything we seem to be going through right now."
She recently tested one of her scheduled dances on a couple of her friends to see if her peers could understand what she might be conveying with her body language and movement.
"They could automatically tell what emotion it was," Varchenko said, adding that she will perform in pieces reflecting both anger and sadness.
Like Contreras, Varchenko has long drawn a link between dance, emotion and mental health.
"Dance always has been a really good escape for me," Varchenko said, adding that she has used it to free herself of stress and burdens.
She loved the journaling exercise maybe as much as learning the dance steps.
"If you write things down, it gives you a mindset and motivation to focus on a clearly set goal," Varchenko said. "I’ve never thought of this (process) this deeply before. But now I am really taking it a lot more seriously."
Woempner is heartened by such talk, and is pleased that her charges are learning to "speak" without facial expressions since the local performances will include masks.
"You don’t even have half your face," Woempner told the dancers.
That’s fine with 11-year-old Josie Steinmetz, who is performing in the fear dance in the production. She does a maneuver to hide her face, anyway, to project fear.
"I think people will connect with these (dances)," she said.
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What: Dancers Studio Inc.’s 30-minute spring contemporary ballet, "Inside Out," focusing on the emotions of joy, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust. Inspired by the Pixar movie "Inside Out." Dancers will perform to a variety of recorded music, including one song from the movie.
When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Columbus City Hall Plaza, 123 Washington St. And 1:30 p.m. April 24 at Mill Race Park, 50 Carl Miske Drive. Rain date is May 1 in the Dancers Studio Inc. parking lot at 2158 Cottage Ave.
Admission: Free.
Information: dancers-studio.org
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