Life in Motion: Moving Ethos Dance Company's new outlook

Moving Ethos Dance Company needed a break.

Three years ago, the company was gearing up for its big spring performance. On the surface, everything was great: Moving Ethos, then in its sixth season, had steady work; its performances were well attended and rehearsals were on schedule, but for Leah Verier-Dunn, the company’s co-founder and co-director, something just wasn’t right.

She met with co-founder and co-director Courtney Smith Inzalaco, and they decided to cancel the performance — and any future ones, indefinitely. 

“I realized we were trying to do something that wasn’t compatible with who we wanted to be,” she says. “We were pumping out work, and we were losing sight of what we love. I was asking a lot — of our dancers and of our audience. But we asked if they were willing to go on this ride with us while we went back to our roots to work on a new piece and really focus on the process — with no deadline.”

It would be two years before the performance came to fruition. The piece, “As We Fall,” enjoyed a sold-out run at the Urbanite Theatre during its inaugural season, and it was a resounding success, something Verier-Dunn attributes entirely to the risky decision to start from scratch.

“For the first time in a long time, we were back to the truth of why we create art,” she says. “We weren’t rushing; we weren’t putting on a show for money. We were giving good art to Sarasota, and they were hungry for it. An audience can tell when something is honest and authentic.”

Now, Dunn and Moving Ethos are taking that newfound mindset into a new performance, “To Have and Uphold,” which runs from March 23 to March 26 at the Urbanite Theatre. After the run of sold-out performances last season, Urbanite Co-Artistic Director Brendan Ragan asked the company to return.

Fittingly, “To Have and Uphold,” centers around the topic of exhaustion. It explores the physical, mental and emotional fatigue brought on by routine and monotony. To keep sight of the company’s newfound approach, Verier-Dunn says she focused on the most important thing she took away from “As We Fall,” which was that trusting her gut was key.

“If we discover something in rehearsal, no matter how weird or irrelevant an idea might seem at the time, it’s important not to quiet that voice,” she says. “You have to explore it. Sometimes, it will take a week or two for us to realize how it fits into the big picture, but it eventually clicks.”

Beauty in Vulnerability

At a recent rehearsal, Dunn is going over some notes before the dancers get started. Dozens of outfits are strewn about the floor, and a row of folding chairs is lined up along the far wall of the rehearsal space.

“Remember what we talked about,” she says. “We’re thinking about the chairs in a completely different way.”

The dancers proceed to run through a choreographed daily routine — over and over again. The result is, as intended, unsettling. Dancers simulate a morning commute, workday and happy hour; they writhe on the floor, have violent outbursts and create a hectic, feverish chatter, all —ironically — to the tune of “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

“We just changed an entire scene,” says Jess Pope, a dancer who’s been with the company since 2009. “We were moving the chairs, and Leah suggested we try it a little differently. It was such a small thing, but it ended up changing the entire scene. That’s something we might not have done before, and I’m really grateful for that. There’s always more eggs to find.”

Megan Wors, who’s danced with Moving Ethos since 2013, says the change in outlook has allowed the company to better explore topics that speak to both the directors and dancers, and with which audiences can easily identify. The idea of losing yourself in the blur of a daily routine is almost universal, if not uncomfortable to confront. But, she says, for true art to work, both the artist and the viewer have to be open to the experience.

“We’re asking the audience to be vulnerable right there with us,” she says. “At least once, we’re asking that you be willing to take the ride. Sometimes people are afraid to let their guard down and participate, but it’s the difference between saying, ‘Wow, that was a beautiful performance,’ and saying, ‘Wow, I really felt something – I had an experience.’”

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