Azara Ballet uses dance to address screen addiction in its second season

Kate Flowers knows a little something about the seductive power of the internet. 

Before she and her husband Martin (Roosaare) Flowers founded Azara Ballet in 2022, Flowers was a social media influencer. It's a term she doesn't endorse wholeheartedly, but it's the one that best describes what she was doing to promote a healthy lifestyle when she took a hiatus from dance.

To some, it might seem ironic that the final program of Azara's second season, will kick off with a piece choreographed by Martin called "7 Hours." (That's the amount of time the average person spends looking at a screen each day.)

But to the Flowers (when the couple married in January, Martin took on Kate's surname), dance is the perfect forum to explore how technology is in danger of crowding out human interaction. 

"I was glued to my phone from 2015 to 2018," Kate says. "I had a big TikTok presence. When the pandemic came along, everyone was on their screens all the time. When I retired from being an influencer, I started doing research on how smartphones are affecting mental health, particularly that of young people. The news isn't good."

Like other pieces choreographed by Martin for Azara, "7 Hours" will use whimsy, props and audience engagement to get its message across. The 30-minute dance "ebbs and flows between nostalgia and excitement," Kate says. "The dancers use the phone almost as an appendage to demonstrate how it's disconnecting our close relationships." 

There are some surprises, too, but no spoilers here.

"7 Hours" is one of three dances on the bill in a program that the Azara co-founders have titled "Momentum." The other two are a neo-classical piece called "A Fantastic Trip" choreographed by Ariana Hughlett and a meditation on bullying choreographed by Gabriel Gaffney Smith titled, "What's Your Neighbor Doing?"

In their two seasons in the Sarasota area, the Flowers have made tackling thorny social issues the raison d'etre of Azara, both on and off stage. 

Kate's real-life struggles have provided inspiration for the company's mission. After a promising start as a young dancer, including a stint with the Joffrey Ballet, Kate's life spiraled out of control when she was 19. While trying to keep her weight under control, she developed an eating disorder. She took a 10-year break from dance, but when she put her toe shoes back on at Cincinnati's De La Dance Company, her eating issues resurfaced.

After meeting Martin, a veteran of BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio, and Nashville Ballet, Kate became convinced she could pursue dance in a healthy way that would also help Martin, who is on the autism spectrum.

The couple formed Azara Ballet, placing an emphasis on mental health and "body positivity" at their fledging contemporary dance company. It wasn't just their dancers that they wanted to keep healthy; the Flowers have used dance classes and performances to reach out to children with autism, adults with Parkinsons' and others in the community who are underrepresented in the dance world.

A name with indigenous and Hebrew roots

The Flowers chose the name Azara for their company after seeing it on a chalk sidewalk artwork near Burns Court. Some people believe it's an indigenous term for Sarasota; it also means "help" in Hebrew. Both of these connotations seemed appropriate for the dance troupe's mission. 

Like some other theater and dance companies in the area, Azara is nomadic, meaning it has to rent rehearsal and performance space. Even the well-established Sarasota Ballet alternates its performances between FSU Center for the Performing Arts, the Sarasota Opera House and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. 

Not everyone is as lucky as Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, whose generous donors enabled it to first rent and then purchase and renovate its theater near downtown Sarasota.

In its brief lifespan, Azara has held most of its performances at the Ovation Black Box Theater on State Road 64 in Bradenton. "Momentum" will be the first program the company has presented at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, a full-fledged theater in Bradenton that is the home of the Manatee Players and also hosts touring productions.

"People enjoy walking into the ambiance of a nice theater," says Kate, who is the ombudsman for the company but takes "notes" from her husband on a conference call. "It's the nicest theater we have performed in so far."

Azara hasn't been around long enough to have been hurt by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' unprecedented cutbacks in state arts cultural grants last year, Kate said. The Flowers have kept their contemporary dance troupe on a tight budget and have enjoyed the support of ticket buyers and donors in addition to the grant they received from the Barancik Foundation.

As Kate deals with the implications of her own recent diagnosis of autism and learns how to delegate responsibility, the No. 1 priority for Azara is to find a venue in Sarasota where it can perform during its third season. 

With her marketing background, Kate is a great believer in research. She has learned from audience surveys and other input that Azara's patrons want at least one of the company's shows to be in Sarasota. One possibility is the Riverview Performing Arts Center, a popular venue for Sarasota Concert Association's classical music events when the Van Wezel isn't available.

If Azara had its own rehearsal space, it could also offer adult dance classes, Kate notes.

Also on the couple's personal to-do list is cleaning up after last year's hurricanes. "We're on five acres near Myakka State Park. Our house survived the storms but we're still dealing with the grounds," Kate says. 

There's also a real honeymoon to be planned. After the couple tied the knot in January, they took a "mini honeymoon" to a rainforest in Costa Rica. After their season ends with "Momentum," they plan to take a longer trip to a destination still to be determined. 

There's plenty to celebrate, including a recent profile in The New York Times and the hard evidence from their research that they are connecting with audiences, particularly younger patrons who are sometimes elusive in this market.

"We've done 350-plus surveys so we have tangible feedback from the community," Kate says. "One of the highlights is that people feel an emotional connection to our work. They have an appreciation for the authenticity and vulnerability that we are bringing."