Three years ago, Inlet was accepted into a capacity building program with The Cleveland Foundation called Project Access. This program is designed to strengthen the leadership, management, program, and community advocacy skills of faith- and community-based organizations in Cleveland and its inner-ring suburbs. As a part of the program Inlet (a community-based organization) met The Nehemiah Mission (a faith-based organization) whose mission seemed similar to ours. “While The Nehemiah Mission rebuilds lives by providing services that improve living environments, Inlet uses dance to bring about personal development through training, mentoring, and to speak creatively about life issues.” Stated Jim Szakacs, Executive Director of The Nehemiah Mission. “Since we both build community, we felt a concert based on these efforts would inform and inspire all who attend.”
"Let Go" - Image by Lauren Stonestreet
The concert event, entitled Stone by Stone, is a beautiful representation of the two organizations coming together collaboratively to help rebuild communities. Inlet has been hard at work to curate a performance that will show their unique take on the art form of dance and how it can be used to further people. When asked about how the rep is chosen, Bill Wade, Artistic Director/Founder, said, “Every concert Inlet does is thought about from the vantage point of the scope of the entire evening. We don’t randomly choose repertoire. The concert as a whole needs to have a through line and a theatrical arc. It is easier to do that when you have a specific event like this one. Because I know what Nehemiah Mission does in the community and what their focus is, specific repertory comes to mind immediately. After numerous conversations with Jim, I have a sense of what is “right now” for their organization. Taking that information we are able to curate a concert that speaks specifically to issues of honoring relationships, diversity that can be unified, and honoring differences amongst us. While we look at overall content that creates a through line, it is also important to look at the dynamic range of each piece. This includes things like the tempo, the music, and the color palette. What we try to create is an evening that is multi layered and textural, all fitting underneath the umbrella of the through line.”
While keeping the mission of both organizations in mind, Inlet will be presenting a powerful performance! Our style of dance is unique to Northeast Ohio and is not-to-be-missed. Combining two distinct dance techniques, Hawkins based release technique and Nontraditional Partnering, Inlet is able to create beautiful and poetic work that is both technically impressive and layered with stories and deep meaning. Bill states, “Inlet’s creative process is unique in that all of the artwork is built collaboratively, with myself acting as final editor. Most choreographers come in with content and form already figured out and simply tell the dancers what to do. In contrast, we create a vocabulary drawn initially from improvisation based collaborative work with the dancers, and that becomes the world of that particular dance. I sit at the front as the third eye to help shape the final product. My choreography is image driven. I hunt through the minds and bodies of the dancers to create these images. Metaphor is very common in my work.”
We are thrilled to be partnering with The Nehemiah Mission to present this concert! The performance will take place on Saturday, November 12, at 8pm at Breen Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are General Admission. $20 Adult/$15 Student. For ticket information call 216-961-6968 x20 or nehemiahmission.org
