The City of Akron continues a 33-year tradition first established by the founding artistic director of Ohio Ballet, Heinz Poll in offering four consecutive weekends of outstanding dance free of charge at four Akron parks.

The series features four professional companies including Verb Ballets of Northeast Ohio, Ballet Theatre of Ohio. and the GroundWorks Dancetheater. Performances are at Hardesty Park, Firestone Park and Glendale Cemetery along with next week’s inaugural summer performance at Goodyear Metro Park.

Company C from the Bay Area of California is a dance troupe not unlike Akron’s own former dance company, an ensemble of 13 classically trained dancers, using ballet to explore the works of contemporary American choreographers. The company came to life in 2002 when New York City Ballet veteran Charles Anderson was invited to pull together a group of dancers to fill a vacancy in a series being presented at San Francisco’s Cowell Theater. The Company has grown rapidly, adding works by choreographers Twyla Tharp, David Parsons, Antony Tudor, Paul Taylor, Michael Smuin, James Sewell, David Grenke, Alexandre Proia, and Patrick Corbin.

The program for Friday, July 18 and Saturday, July 19 at Goodyear Heights Metropolitan Park, 2077 Newton St, will feature six works each night: Armenia by renowned choreographer Twyla Tharp; The Envelope by David Parsons; Starshadows by Michael Smuin; Partly Cloudy by Patrick Corbin; Vespers by David Grenke; and Charles Anderson’s own version of the Ravel classic, Bolero.

Programs begin at 8:45pm on Friday and Saturday; there is a children’s program starting at 7:45pm each night presented by the University of Akron Dance Institute.

"I approached a number of high caliber professional dance companies from Ohio and around the nation," said Jane Startzman, director of the Heinz Poll Festival, and a former Ohio Ballet dancer. "Company C presents an impressive repertoire and will offer a stimulating and informative residency at the University of Akron while they are here."

Joining Startzman in selecting a visiting company for the festival was Neil Sapienza, (sap ee EN zuh) the acting director of the UA School of Dance, Theatre, and Arts Administration, which will host two programs during the week:

• a free public discussion/presentation, "Demystifying Dance," which will be held on Thursday, July 17 at 11:30am at The University of Akron’s Albrecht Dance Studio in Guzetta Hall; and,
• Master classes for advanced and pre-professional students Saturday at 11:30am in the Guzetta studios at a cost of $10/student. (For information call 330.972.7948 or contact dance@uakron.edu.)

Company C is national in scope, featuring dancers from ten states, including Ohio. The Akron tour will be a homecoming of sorts for 28 year old Kate Lieberth, born in Akron and a graduate of Our Lady of the Elms High School, who received her early training at the University of Akron Dance Institute and Nan Klinger’s "Excellence in Dance" school in Cuyahoga Falls. She was a cast member with Akron’s Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet for eight years while the company performed annually at the Civic Theatre. Lieberth and fellow dancer Alec Lytton are also presenting the Thursday demonstration program with Company C Artistic Director Charles Anderson.

The San Francisco-born Anderson began choreographing ballets while still a dancer with the New York City Ballet, with whom he performed from 1985 to 1993. He trained at the San Francisco Ballet School, the Joffrey Ballet School, the American Ballet Theatre School and the School of American Ballet. In addition to his work as a dancer, choreographer and teacher, Anderson has served on the board of governors for the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), and has been an adjudicator and instructor for the Bob Fosse Scholarship Program. Twyla Tharp has choreographed more than 125 dances, five Hollywood movies, directed and choreographed two Broadway shows, written two books and received one Tony Award and two Emmy Awards. With Mikhail Baryshnikov she created CUTTING UP, which went on to become one of contemporary dance’s most successful tours. Her first Broadway work was in 1980, WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG, followed in 1981 by her collaboration with David Byrne on THE CATHERINE WHEEL at the Winter Garden.

Tharp’s 1985 staging of SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, played at the Gershwin Theater for 367 performances followed by an extensive national tour. More recently, Tharp and Billy Joel’s Tony Award-winning dance musical MOVIN’ OUT premiered on Broadway in 2002 and a national tour began in January 2004.

David Parsons, founder of Parsons’ Dance Company, has enjoyed a remarkable career as a performer, choreographer, teacher, director and producer of dance. He was a leading dancer with The Paul Taylor Dance Company, is a recipient of the 2000 Dance Magazine Award, as well as the 2001 American Choreography Award, for his work as a co-producer of AEROS, a production featuring the Romanian Gymnastic Federation that was featured on Bravo.

In July, 2007, the New York Times called David Parsons "one of the great movers of modern dance." 

The Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival is funded by the City of Akron with support from the Akron Community Foundation, the GAR Foundation, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Information about the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival is online at www.akrondancefestival.org.