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‘We feed off the audience’: Cleo Parker Robinson Dance returns to live performance

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by
Brian Willie, Linda Kotsaftis
• Published on
Rocky Mountain PBS

It's been 14 months since Cleo Parker Robinson Dance performed before a live audience. On May 8 and 9, the ensemble, wrapping up its 50th anniversary season, will finally have a live performance on its own stage again. 

And the dance-and-film spring show, “ComePassion,” will also be streamed live online for those who feel more comfortable watching from home.

"We're all being safe. … We're performing in masks,” said Cleo Parker Robinson, founder and artistic director. “We're doing social distancing and everyone is working overtime to make it absolutely perfect. And yet we're learning new things every day about how all this technology works with this hybrid kind of combination with (both) being in the theater and being on screen. Those are two different audiences and two different experiences.”

Colorado Voices

Cleo Parker Robinson: Come Passion

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Cleo Parker Robinson Dance is alive and in person.

In-person seating in the theater will be limited to 75 at each of two performances.

"Come be present whether it's online or whether it's physically in our theater,” Robinson said. “Coming together however we can come together is critical. It's critical for all of our mental, physical, spiritual spaces."

For the dancers, the weekend performances have been a long time coming. Dancer Winifred R. Harris says dancing in person is visceral. 

"It's visual and it's heartfelt. The movement that takes place within the body hopefully transfers out to the heart and minds of the people who are in the audience,” Harris said.

“We feed off the audience coming in and out of us,” she added. “We feed off their energy as they feed off ours. … In some ways it has helped to really deepen the artistry of each of us. … It's important that we’re moving forward in our artistry and that we continue to have a sense of incredible hope and that we're moving in a direction of growth.”

Performances are May 7 at 7 p.m. MT and May 8 at 3 p.m. The recently renovated theater is at 119 Park Avenue West, Denver.

Both virtual and in-person tickets can be purchased at cleoparkerdance.org/tickets

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