–As seen in Asheville Citizen Times / Asheville Scene, May 10, 2024.
By Nick Kepley; Special to Citizen Times.
How does one choice spark a chain reaction in the world around you? This simple yet profound question is the catalyst behind Stewart/Owen Dance’s latest creation, where i end, you begin, which opened May 9 and will run through May 19 in the Tina McGuire Theatre at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.
The production features six dancers, primarily from North Carolina, whose stories are intertwined with grace, passion and whimsy. The movements are fast and slow, sharp and smooth, contracted and extended. And the playlist is a mix of electronic and eastern European folk.
The fact that all of these ideas are creatively contained within a performance that takes place inside an intimate 60-seat black box theatre means viewers can expect to have their senses flooded with stimulation from start to finish. For Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, the company’s co-founders and co-artistic directors, the project has provided them with the opportunity to present dance to new audiences in a new way.
“We know this will be a lot of people’s first time seeing dance in a space like this,” Stewart said. “We’ve worked hard to craft the experience in such a way that you’re drawn in. ‘Who are these people?’ ‘What is the world of this place?’ That’s part of what makes dance so powerful – there are no words to tell you what the dancers are communicating. You get to feel your way through it.”
Last year, Stewart/Owen Dance received the first commission of a new work ever granted by the Wortham, and stunned two nearly sold-out houses with their imaginative and impassioned performances. The company has also received national attention and praise, being called as “sensual” (Washington Post) as it is “humorous, elegant and wild” (Seattle Dances). This summer, they have been invited to represent Asheville at the prestigious American Dance Festival at Duke University.
It would be easy for Stewart and Owen to be pulled to other cities with more established dance communities, but the pair say they are firmly committed to cultivating dance here in Asheville.
“Our mission is to build a sustainable ecosystem where professional dance artists can thrive,” Owen said. Dancers that grow up here are often forced to move away when the time comes to find a job. We want to change that. We want to make dance that lives here, not dance that leaves here.”
The company is already well on its way to achieving this goal by offering ongoing open-level adult community dance classes at the Wortham, and hosting DELVE: the intensive, a two-week summer program for young professionals seeking guidance and mentorship at a crucial transitional stage in their artistic development.
Above all, Stewart/Owen Dance believes in the art form’s distinct ability to heal, inspire and connect individuals from all backgrounds and experiences.
“Dance is inside all of us,” Owen said. “It’s not something you have to understand mentally, it’s something you experience physically. These days, that kind of universal language feels like the greatest gift we can offer.”
IF YOU GO
What: Stewart/Owen Dance: where i end, you begin
When: May 9–19
Where: Tina McGuire Theatre at Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave., Asheville
Tickets: $42
