Owensboro Dance Theatre’s upcoming 2021-22 season will be their 40th anniversary, and they are planning to celebrate it with several events that have not been possible due to the pandemic.
Along with the annual Christmas production The Nutcracker will be a reimagined Dance Battle Extravaganza in February; In Concert featuring Mary Poppins’ Homecoming; a Bingo for Bags opportunity; a Snowball daddy-daughter dance; and a celebration that will be held June 4 at the RiverPark Center.
The inaugural 2019 Dance Battle Extravaganza saw great success by pitting community dance teams against each other. The 2020 battle had to be postponed, which allowed the artistic directors to rethink the event. For the upcoming season, ODT plans to add judges to the evening, along with some interesting twists, according to founding Co-Artistic Director Joy Johnson.
The spring show, In Concert will celebrate pieces that ODT has performed from the previous 40 years along with Mary Poppins as the second-act performance.
Johnson co-founded Owensboro Dance Theatre with Karen Carothers in 1982 at the home school, Johnson’s Dance Studio. What began as a company of “five-to-six” with one show a year now has 30 company members and several annual productions.
ODT trains aspiring dancers in the region, with many continuing their studies upon high school graduation.
“It really is amazing what our graduates have done,” Carothers said. “Some have danced professionally, some have gone on to teach dance. It’s a wonderful program.”
Carothers, who retired as co-artistic director in 2009, said that while dance was the career path for many, the program was also designed to train the whole person.
“Dance teaches discipline and hard work,” she said, adding that many company members have used what they learned in the company in their careers as doctors and lawyers, to name a few.
Johnson agrees and said that many past members regularly contact the two to thank them and the Owensboro Dance Theatre.
“The arts are very special,” she said.
One lesson for members is that they can be successful wherever they go. Prior to the pandemic, company members traveled to Chicago, Atlanta, New York and various summer intensive programs held at universities and studios.
“It’s good to get out of Owensboro and get in a room of others from various states,” Johnson said, relaying a story of one company dancer who walked in a room and was intimidated by another dancer who was on the floor stretching with great flexibility.
When the girl stood and began dancing, she really couldn’t dance well — something that Johnson said provided a teachable moment.
Carothers credits the quality of the professional choreographers ODT has brought to Owensboro as another element of the nonprofit’s success.
Johnson said that the community’s support, along with the City of Owensboro’s support, is a major reason for the success and evolvement of ODT.
She said that the first year, she went to the mayor to ask for funding for a specific type of flooring for the dancers to be able to travel, and she was told to ask every City Commissioner. They got their funding and have in years since.
“There was no dance in schools at that time,” Carothers said. “Now there are programs in schools for dance, [and outreach].”
ODT’s outreach programs encompass Arts Access for All, including Rising Stars Adaptive Therapy program, Alzheimer’s Dance Therapy program, and the nutrition-exercise-based program L.E.A.N.
Even when everything was shut down over the last year, ODT continued many of its programs through videos and online services.
Both Johnson and Carothers believe that Owensboro’s RiverPark Center has allowed their program’s growth and added much to their dancers’ experiences. Johnson said that they often tell their dancers that if they dance on a national tour or in other cities, they will not dance in a place as nice as the RiverPark Center.
The volunteers that help with all ODT productions are another reason they believe in the success of ODT.
“We wouldn’t have gotten where we are without it,” Johnson said, adding that even during the 2021 performances that were held with COVID-19 restrictions, volunteers had to help with check-ins and check-outs of dancers, using more ushers and taping seats for social distancing.
“We were very fortunate in that respect,” she added.
Carothers said that ODT has been an organization longer than some realize and that many past dancers have returned to work at Johnson’s Dance Studio or serve on the ODT board of directors.
With more than 200 dancers serving as extras alongside the company and apprentice company members, ODT has many returnees in its performances and audiences. This year, they had to double cast for performances and Johnson said they liked it so much they plan to continue that process.
“I hope ODT will be around for another 250 years,” Carothers said.
