Dancers Zachary Boresow (left), Gavin Abercrombie and Naomi Tanioka performing choreography by Kristopher Estes-Brown as part of Creative Intersections at the Pilgrim Labyrinth & Butterfly Garden in Hyde Park. (photo by Mike Strong)
The annual performance has become the send-off for summer and the kickoff to the dance season in the local dance community
Each spring and summer, our sense of life is renewed, as plants emerge from the ground, butterflies flick around blooms, birds swoop between branches and insects buzz and bumble.
Back in spring 2020, when the daily routines of the world stuttered to a halt, many took refuge in nature, in the cycle of growth and the act of gardening, adding a little life and beauty to a strange and tumultuous existence.
From those experiences — both the forced inactivity of COVID-19 and the perpetual impulse of creation — came the first iteration of Creative Intersections, a site-specific dance concert at the Pilgrim Labyrinth & Butterfly Garden in Hyde Park along Gillham Road.
“It felt like a little oasis,” said Cameron Thomas, co-founder of Creative Intersections and dancer with Kansas City Ballet. “Even though it was small, it felt like something.”
Now in its fourth year, with the free performance scheduled at sunset Aug. 10 and 11, Creative Intersections has become the send-off for summer and the kickoff to the dance season in the local dance community.
It was conceived by Thomas and former KCB dancer James Kirby Rogers, who at the time faced the uncertainty of closed theaters, classes on Zoom and canceled summer programs and winter seasons.
“It was mostly just the artists in us just wanting to do something because we didn’t know when the next chance we were gonna get to dance was,” said Thomas. “It just felt like we wanted to be seen, I think more than anything, we wanted our community to know that we were still here, and that we still cared about dance and that we were stir crazy and that we were feeling all the same feelings that everyone else was.”
It was, literally, a grassroots effort. They asked choreographers and dancers from the community to participate. Rehearsals were outside, dancers masked. There was no stage, no set, so the performance took place in the garden paths and the surrounding lawn. The dancers supplied their own costumes, which got grass stained. The audience brought their own picnic blankets or lawn chairs, or just stood around.
“It wasn’t a big crowd, but there were enough people that it felt like a release for a little bit, a confirmation that we were going to be okay.” said Thomas.
It was a chance meeting with Amelia McDaniel, director of Pilgrim Center, out and about in the neighborhood, which led to performing at the Butterfly Garden, but it’s proven an ideal spot for the event, with a sort of natural amphitheater in the little valley of Hyde Park.
“It’s a great space, with natural light. It’s always at sunset,” said Thomas. “It’s this little cove for dance and peace.”
Jennifer Owen, co-artistic director of Owen/Cox Dance Group, was one of the choreographers that first year. The following year, she approached the founders about collaborating, and they formed a partnership. OCDG had gotten a grant for an outdoor performance, and the work of Creative Intersections fit the mission. The annual event is now part of OCDG’s regular season, though Thomas oversees the artistic vision.
“We’ve committed to it because it’s a nice opportunity for families to come. It’s a free performance and you get people that are just kind of passing by that end up seeing it,” said Owen. “It’s a unique opportunity to present an accessible performance and bring people together.”
A few years ago, Owen recalled, “there were a couple of kids, like a brother and sister who were dancing behind the stage and trying to mimic the dancers. It was really a sweet moment to see the kids watching and doing. You can’t do that in a more formal environment. It would be considered disruptive, for the audience. But here in the outdoors it’s much more open, kids can dance around if they feel like it. They were having a good time.”
It has become quite a community endeavor, with Kansas City Ballet providing rehearsal space and the dance surface, Charlotte Street providing a performance platform, and Stacy Busch, with No Divide KC, providing audio equipment.
The performance brings together many dancers and choreographers who live or have worked in Kansas City. Many are familiar names in the community, and past years have included performances and work by Rogers, Owen, Gary Abbott, Emily Mistretta, Caroline Dahm, Olivia Emert, Haley Kostas, Alexis Borth, Tristian Griffin, Winston Dynamite Brown and Sam McReynolds, among others.
Many, busy in their own pocket of the dance scene, had never worked together, or don’t often have the opportunity.
“Increasing new connections has been easily the most rewarding part of subsequent years,” said Thomas.
New collaborations and a natural setting make for some unexpected results.
“Almost all the pieces are brand-new, so it’s just a chance to be creative and take risks and create something fresh and specific for the outdoors,” said Owen.
Thomas shared a favorite memory: “Two years ago, the first piece started in silence. Very quiet, peaceful nature sounds, and the dancer, Georgia Fuller, dancing on the floor and there’s just this butterfly flying around the stage, around her. It was magical.”
Like the garden itself, the event has grown and changed, but it’s still comfortably informal and will continue creating magic with new friends and familiar faces this summer, too.
Creative Intersections will be performed at sunset Aug. 9 and 10 at Pilgrim Labyrinth & Butterfly Garden, 3700 Gillham Rd. Rain date, Aug. 11. Free; lawn chairs or blankets recommended. For more information, www.owencoxdance.org.
