Scottsdale Center For The Performing Arts Announces Dance Residency With Jacob Jonas The Company

Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts is excited to announce a new dance residency with Jacob Jonas The Company, which focuses on community engagement for the 2019-20 season.

Prior to the Company's Arizona debut on Friday, Jan. 31, they will visit Scottsdale in September and January to engage with the dance community through public talks, workshops and private masterclasses, such as a closed dance workshop through Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation Cultural Connections program on Jan. 31 with four Scottsdale Unified School District high school dance students.

"The newly formed Dance Advisory Committee shared their interest in making connections with young Los Angeles dance companies, so Jacob Jonas The Company was a perfect fit. I've been watching the Company for a few years and have been really impressed with their ambition, talent and the progress of their work. Jacob is very authentic in his approach, and his interest in building community grabbed my attention. We decided to have Jacob and his co-founder Jill Wilson visit Scottsdale in September, before the January performance to get to know our community and ideally find support for the creation of a new work," said Abbey Messmer, programming director at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.

The goal of the residency's outreach is to create a more accessible environment around the Company's work in an effort to expose audiences across the Valley to the power of dance. By working with the Company during their formative years, the Center is eager to support the development of new work and is interested in fostering a long-lasting relationship.

Jacob Jonas The Company will also bring the popular #CamerasAndDancers meetup to the Scottsdale Arts campus, adding it to a long list of cultural co-hosts including LACMA, Jacob's Pillow, ASU Gammage and Whitney Museum of American Art.

#CamerasAndDancers brings dance and photography together to create content and creatively activate spaces both in real time and online. The Company will hand select local photographers and influencers to capture their movements and the beauty of dance in the landscape.

"I'm extremely excited for the results that will come from all the collaboration," said Messmer.

In addition to the public events with Jacob Jonas and the Company, the Center and Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation will be presenting two closed educational engagements with musician and composer Okaidja Alfroso on Jan. 30 and 31. Memory Lounge - a program for people living with mild to moderate stages of dementia-related illness and their care partners - is one of the arts enrichment activities Alfroso will participate in, where he will take participants on a global music and dance journey that promotes cross-cultural understanding through actively engaging in music, dance and storytelling. During the Company's performance on Jan. 31, the audience will see Alfroso live on stage performing his score "CRASH," which was specifically created for the Company.