CELEBRATING ST. LOUIS’ VIBRANT DANCE COMMUNITY

St. Louis Dance HQ’s Blog is a compilation of writings and performance reviews from a variety of St. Louis based dance writers. If you’re interested in sharing your writing on our blog, please email stlouisdancehq@gmail.com.

HQ Review: Leverage Dance Theater presents “Refractions of Being”
HQ Review, Leverage Dance Theater Josiah Gundersen HQ Review, Leverage Dance Theater Josiah Gundersen

HQ Review: Leverage Dance Theater presents “Refractions of Being”

Beneath the hallowed sanctuary of Hope United Church of Christ, the audience of Leverage’s concert “Refractions of Being” finds themselves. Illuminated by the sterile white lights of the church’s basement, Leverage’s fourth concert in their series “Spiritual Architecture & Sacred Spaces” began. The unconventional use of space that Leverage is well known for is immediately made evident as the audience is corralled into a corner facing a rectangular hole in the wall that looks into the church’s cafeteria space. There is a stark informality to being shepherded into such a space to watch dance. Though the program speaks of inviting people “to participate in an experience of shared spiritual intention,” it feels discordant to begin the concert in a space that is charged with such mundanity. However, there is spirituality even in the commonplace, and the mundane will soon bubble with vibrancy as the dancers of Leverage enter the space.

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HQ Review: Leverage Dance Theater’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes
Leverage Dance Theater, HQ Review, Performance Will Brighton Leverage Dance Theater, HQ Review, Performance Will Brighton

HQ Review: Leverage Dance Theater’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes

A haunted house turned immersive dance theater thrill ride, Leverage Dance Theater’s third installment of Nightmares and Dreamscapes serves as a fitting grand finale for both their 2024 production season and the Halloween season at large. Filled with classic horror tropes from ghoulish twins to haunted dolls (and ample screams), the production showcases what Leverage has become best known for - bringing meticulously crafted immersive dance experiences to unconventional spaces. Presented at 2715 Cherokee Street, a near blank slate of a building located steps away from The Luminary, Nightmares and Dreamscapes journeys the audience through every inch of the building’s chilling crevices.

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HQ REVIEW: Leverage Dance Theater presents “Of Matter, Mind + Spirit” at Holy Cross Lutheran Church
Performance, Leverage Dance Theater Will Brighton Performance, Leverage Dance Theater Will Brighton

HQ REVIEW: Leverage Dance Theater presents “Of Matter, Mind + Spirit” at Holy Cross Lutheran Church

The third installment to a series of concerts for sacred space, Leverage Dance Theater’s Of Matter, Mind & Spirit takes audiences on a rabbithole-esque voyage down, out, in, around, up, and through seemingly every inch of the Holy Cross Lutheran Church. Consisting of six unique works by six different choreographers, the dancers of Leverage Dance Theater guide and coax their audience through a journey that both celebrates and questions ideas of spirituality and its place, both physically and ideologically, in our humanity.

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