Sept. 6 – 15, 2024 | Aronoff Center for the Arts 

The KAPLAN NEW WORKS Series

WHAT’S FRESH IN DANCE.

Experience four world premiere commissions from choreographers Darrell Grand Moultrie, Christian Denice, Caroline Dahm, and Gustavo Ramirez. Staged in the intimate Jarson-Kaplan Theater at the Aronoff Center, the contemporary series is a perennial patron favorite.

Darrell Grand Moultrie has created and staged works for dance companies across the world including American Ballet Theatre, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, BalletX, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. The Harlem, New York-based choreographer also served as a choreographer on Beyoncé’s record-breaking The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. 

Christian Denice is a dancer and choreographer originally from Los Angeles, California. As a choreographer, he has created new works for such companies and organizations as Moving Arts with dancers of Cincinnati Ballet and Kansas City Ballet, Chamber Dance Project, Odyssey Dance Theatre, and DanceWorks Chicago.

Gustavo Ramírez Sansano is one of Spain’s most internationally recognized choreographers. Gustavo Ramírez has been commissioned to create works for some of the most representative dance companies all around the world, including Ballet Hispánico, Jacob’s Pillow, Nederlands Dans Theater, Hubbard Street Dance, Scottish Dance Theatre, among others. He is the recipient of numerous international awards for his work.

Caroline Dahm is a dancer, choreographer, and educator from Los Angeles, CA. After graduating from the UMKC Conservatory (BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography), Caroline has danced a vast repertoire of works and contributed to original choreography and art direction. She has performed with Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Kansas City Ballet, Buglisi Dance, Wylliams Henry Contemporary Dance Company, Owen/Cox Dance, Quixotic, San Francisco Dance Works, Malashock Dance, and has performed in several operas with the Lyrics Opera of Kansas City. Caroline continues to perform professionally for various companies/ projects while choreographing and creating. Caroline has created dance-based works spanning stage, film, and immersive performance mediums. She has been commissioned to create on Cincinnati Ballet, SALT Contemporary, Newport Contemporary Ballet, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Wylliams/ Henry Contemporary Dance Company, and five original works on the Kansas City Ballet including a dance film “Misguided”. In addition to working for dance companies, Caroline is a passionate educator training the next generation of pre-professionals/ professionals. She is a Professor of Dance at her alma mater, the UMKC Conservatory, mentors the Trainees at the Kansas City Ballet, and leads master classes all over the nation. Caroline has been awarded a two-year residency with the Charlotte Street Foundation and won a Laurel Award for Best Overall Dance Film for her original film “Face Me I Face You”, that she directed, choreographed, danced, produced, and edited at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Caroline is grateful for this beautiful life of movement and believes everyone has something to contribute to art. Art will change your life. @sweetcarolinevd

Program notes:

\EP-uk\ A distinctive period of time in someone’s life.  When our minds are compressed with an overload of complicated thoughts, we turn it into actionable movement. We pause, we reflect, and we move. There is beauty and breath within the chaos; during and after.