photo credit Deeply Rooted Productions
Founded in 1995 by dancers Kevin Iega Jeff and Gary Abbott, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater teaches and performs dance as creative expression and community and spiritual healing. Jeff calls it “world class art from a grassroots perspective.”
Working within an African American dance aesthetic, Deeply Rooted explores topics as varied as the Somali civil war and famine, the quest to live in the face of AIDS, and early-twentieth-century African American cultures. Jeff and Abbott’s choreography stresses both technical virtuosity and the deep exploration of character and community. As one dancer explains regarding Deeply Rooted’s Life, which deals with personal struggles to live with AIDS, “I know I’m telling experiences of things I see every day. Right outside these doors, there’s some things about this piece that are going on.”
Staged in various venues throughout Chicago, the ensemble’s performances attract a diverse audience. Dance connoisseurs attend, but so do people who are not typically patrons of dance, but who find something uniquely cathartic and revealing in the ensemble’s performances. From the beginning, community outreach and teaching have been as much a part of Deeply Rooted as the ensemble performances. The company works with partners both in and outside Chicago to develop customized, community-oriented dance programs.
The company provides dance education for a continuum of talents and personal goals. The staff offers rigorous trainings for aspiring professional dancers and experienced dancers interested in working within an ensemble structure, open by audition, as well as youth dance classes and open dance classes available on a weekly basis. Personal exploration is as integral to the company’s dance pedagogy as it is to its performance philosophy. It made perfect sense for Jeff and Abbott to develop a new dance program based on feedback from audience members. “A lot of women who came to our performances were telling us how intimate and powerful it was for them,” says Jeff. “They wanted to experience that.”
In January 2007, Deeply Rooted launched Mature H.O.T. Women, a dance class geared toward baby boomers and active older adults. The program’s spirit is captured in its acronym: “Health-conscious, Optimistic, Triumphant.” Deeply Rooted now holds four eight-week sessions of Mature H.O.T. Women each year. Sessions are offered during the evening, attracting both retirees and women who are in the workforce. The classes are held at Deeply Rooted’s dance studio in downtown Chicago and in the predominantly African American neighborhood of South Shore. Each weekly two-hour class has extended warm-up and cool-down periods. The class is open to all ages, but the core participants are 45 to 75 years of age.
More than 100 women have participated since the program began three years ago. At the end of each session, the students have the opportunity to perform with one another. Deeply Rooted also weaves the students into its other programs and its professional ensemble. In 2009, several students performed with the dance company as part of a featured performance. Several other students also performed with Up Close & Personal, a Deeply Rooted outreach program that is offered at different community venues to allow people to see the artistic process unfold.
Now Deeply Rooted is considering replicating the program in other parts of the country. A partner group has expressed interest in offering the program.
To learn more visit their site at http://deeplyrootedproductions.org/