Neos Dance Theatre, a Knight Arts grantee, had its opportunity to liven up the park – west side Akron’s Hardesty Park, that is – during the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival on the weekend of July 25-26. Unfortunately, the troupe was rained out for the Saturday performance, but those among the large audience who saw the Friday evening performance were in for a treat.

The company brought back a dance that it premiered at last year’s festival – “Spinning Plates.” What was appealing about the performance this evening was certainly the fine work by the dancers, but it also showed up in live music (performed by Timbre Cierpke, Patrick Rush and Mason Self on harp and guitar plus voice), making for some wonderful sounds floating through the warm nighttime park atmosphere. As the rain began during the final stretches of the piece, one person held an umbrella over harpist Timbre Cierpke so that the show could go on.

Timbre Cierpke, harpist. Photo by Timbre Cierpke

It was very cool to add the touch of live musicians this go around – it is always a treat to have dancers working with live music.

Something new was on the bill. Working with choreographer Penny Saunders of Hubbard Street Dance fame, Neos created a work called “Flight” last spring and presented the work at The University of Akron’s Paul Daum Theatre.

The name of the work hints at the emotional content of the piece, but equally it came through the musical choices – ranging from a country/western section of “Ramblin’ Man” (with legend Hank Williams along with Moonrise Kingdom) in which the hip-swiveling, low slung movements of the dancers matched the slow-jaunty nature of the song, through a new age, more melancholy, lonesome road traveling kind of music on toward much funkier sounds.

The alternation of musical and rhythmic content as a mood changer matches this company’s ability to shift gears, alter emotions, and extend the range of dance moves. There were 12-14 dancers on stage; the effect was of incredible dance volume as subgroups handled different rhythmic patterns and the dancers moved effortlessly on and off stage.

Bobby Wesner, Jennifer Safonovs, Neos Dance Theatre. Photo by Dale Dong

To finish the evening’s line up, a brand new piece by artistic director and co-founder of Neos, Bobby Wesner, was premiered. How often does an audience treated to a free dance performance get to see a piece unveiled for the very first time? It happens in Akron, at the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival, and with the innovative likes of Neos Dance Theatre.

The piece, “Slow Moving and Almost Stopped,” as can be imagined, has its somber element. Movements at times were slow, subtle, even as though held-back a little, much as the dancers seemed to do to each other when performing ensemble sections of the work. Audience members appreciatively responded at the end of the work – through comments of delight and amazement to each other and in the ample applause given to the dancers.

Neos Dance Theatre is a clear favorite among Akron dance audiences. It offers refreshing takes on the art form; it basks in multimedia elements that give great density to the individual pieces while maximizing the range of dance vocabulary for cast members; and it brings sincere articulations of movement that broaden the combination of emotion and thought in the works.