I think if COVID has taught us anything, it's life can be short, and it can be hard, and you better get out there and experience things you've never done before.
Stephanie Wilkins - phot by Kevin Kyzer
The Columbia Summer Repertory Dance Company (CSRDC) was founded in 2019 as an opportunity for Columbia-based dancers to work and practice in their off-season while staying in the city they love and to bring unique performances to Columbia patrons. After a sold-out opening performance in 2019, CSRDC is back with their second annual performance, Limitless.
Jasper, CSDRC’s fiscal agent, sat down with CSDRC’s co-founder and Artistic Director, Stephanie Wilkins, to hear her thoughts about the upcoming performances.
JASPER: How did you feel after your first performance in 2019?
WILKINS: I was just overwhelmed with joy at how well it went and at the support that the Jasper Project and the local community gave us. We only did one night the first time, and we completely sold out and had to turn people away at the door. I’m still so incredibly overwhelmed by that generosity and, of course, so happy that dancers and artists were able to get paid for what they love. I was so excited for the next season, and then COVID happened. But we continued to work through the summer last year with safety precautions. It was actually a good choreographic challenge for me to choreograph with everyone wearing a mask and, of course, no partnering. Both of the dances we made during COVID last summer will actually be featured in this show.
Stephanie with sister chorographer Angela Gallo after 2019 show
JASPER: Who is performing in the show this time around?
WILKINS: Excluding me, there are eight dancers—four women and four men: Bonnie Boiter-Jolley [who also serves as CSDRC’s co-founder and Managing Director], Abby McDowell, Nicole Carrion, Jennifer Becker Lee, Joshua Van Dyke, Sam Huberty, Nicholas White, and Josh Alexander, who just danced in the most recent Superbowl Halftime with The Weekend. I’m choreographing several dances, and there are three guest choreographers: Dale Lam, who is the Artistic Director of the Columbia City Jazz Conservatory; Angela Gallo, who is the Dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Coker University; and Terrance Henderson, who was the Artistic Director of Columbia’s Vibrations Dance Company’s for over a decade. We also have a couple of musical acts that will function as interludes in between the dances and as part of two of the dances as well: Katie Leitner, who is a local singer-songwriter, and Claire Bryant, who is a cello professor at the University of South Carolina and is currently in the band of Moulin Rouge on Broadway.
The Columbia Summer Rep Dance Company 2021
JASPER: You didn’t dance last show—what made you dance this time?
WILKINS: Good question. I am seriously terrified. I mean, I'm not so terrified of the group piece, the Carolina Shag, which is just so much fun and serves as a tribute to my dad. But the solo dance is what scares me. You know, I'm a lot older than these dancers—I could be their mother—but I'm not done yet. I'm in good shape, and even though my dancing career is different than it used to be, I can dance. I had two major knee surgeries in the past four years, so maybe I can't do the crazy stuff I could do when I was their age or younger, but I'm more seasoned and more expressive. It's been a very long time since I performed, so I'm really scared but excited too. But you know, you face fear. You're scared as hell, but you do it anyway. That’s why I’m dancing.
Stephanie on Gyrotonic equipment 2019
JASPER: What should the audience expect if they attend a performance?
WILKINS:Well, right now we’re looking at having at least nine dances, and we may have one or two more. There will be the two musical acts, and altogether the show will probably be about an hour and a half with one intermission. We have a little something for everybody. There’s a lot of contemporary dance and dances that cover the range of the human emotional spectrum. You know, people always joke with me, ‘Stephanie, can’t you choregraph something happy?’ but this is my art and my way of communicating and expressing my own emotions, which of course the dancers make their own and express in their own unique ways. We have a couple lighter pieces, like the shag, which might be the lightest moment of the show. Some pieces are mournful, some are lonely, some are angry.It’s a group of people using their bodies to show the depth of human emotion and how it wears on more than our faces and inner bodies.
JASPER: Do you have a favorite number or moment in the show?
WILKINS: We’re still doing tweaks, but I think it's turning out to be a piece called “Seven,” which will be the piece where Claire performs with her cello. It was written by her friend, Andrea Casarrubios, who is a Spanish cellist living in New York, and she wrote it in honor of the 7:00pm hour during COVID in NYC where people would hang out of their windows, come out onto the street, and bang pots and pans and make noise in honor of the heroes, the frontline workers. I mean, I'm dreaming about that piece. I still haven't finished it, you know, I don't want to screw it up. It's such a beautiful composition, and it’s so beautifully played by Claire, and the dancers are exquisite. I'm ending the show with it because even though it's a mournful piece about the pandemic, it's hopeful too because it's about a moment in time where every night people were together—even though they couldn't come together and touch each other, they were celebrating, being alive, and making noise.
JASPER: What made you call the show Limitless?
WILKINS: I keep a journal where I jot down words that inspire me or might inspire or be relevant to a dance. I sent three choices from these to Bonnie for the title, and we both tended to lean toward limitless. I think all of us can say that we've limited ourselves in our lives in some way, shape, or form. I personally can say that in a lot of different aspects of my life, but specifically the dance world, I feel like I really pigeonholed myself. I was so sure of being a contemporary dancer, and one time my dad said to me, ‘Stephanie, dancers dance. That's what they do. And if you're dancing, you're doing what you love, regardless of if it's your favorite type.’ And I was just so stubborn, but I finally have opened myself up so much to anything and everything that is in the realm of the dance world,challenging myself as a choreographer and dancer. I’ve learned, even though it took so long, that I don't want to limit myself anymore. I don’t think anyone should. And that's where limitless stemmed from.
Stephanie with CSRDC co-founder Bonnie Boiter-Jolley post performance
JASPER: Why do you believe people should experience Limitless?
WILKINS: Often when I come across people in Columbia, whether clients, friends, or family, they either have a never been to a dance performance or their only exposure to dance has been maybe the Nutcracker as a child. So, this is an experience where if people are the least a bit interested in artistic presentations—whether they like dance or music or art or drama or theater—this has something for everyone. And it’s pretty phenomenal to watch the absolute artistry and athleticism of these dancers. Beyond that, it'll challenge your thinking—it'll make you feel something that maybe you didn't think about before. It'll make you laugh, and it'll make you cry. I think if COVID has taught us anything, it's life can be short, and it can be hard, and you better get out there and experience things you've never done before.This is a good chance to do that in our little, special town—a chance to be limitless, right here in Columbia.
CSRDC’s Limitless will premiere two consecutive nights:
Friday, August 13th and Saturday, August 14th, both at 8:00pm at Trustus Theatre.
You can purchase tickets at
https://summerrepdance.bpt.mehttps://summerrepdance.bpt.me
(Editor’s note: The Jasper Project is serving as the fiscal agent for the Summer Rep Dance Company, and we are encouraging this amazingly hard-working group of artists to start their own 501c3. We believe in them this much! But since this may be the last time we try to raise funds for them under the auspices of the Jasper Project, I wanted to say a little something.
THIS is what art is all about! These dance artists love what they do so much that they are changing the rules and upping the game. Their spirits and their artistic instruments — their bodies — miss dance so much during their off-season that they CREATED THEIR OWN OPPORTUNITY to dance. For themselves and for us.
Right now, we are about $3000 short of our fund raising goal of $12,000. All of the money we raise goes directly into putting on this performance — paying a modest amount to the dancers, choreographers, costumer, and crew with just a little bit toward advertising. Nothing goes to overhead or administration. Nothing to the Jasper Project. No frills.
This is art in its purest form.
So, here’s the humble ask.
If you can, please pat these artists on the back by offering your financial support either by buying tickets ($25 in advance with 3 different donor opportunities through BROWN PAPER TICKETS @ https://summerrepdance.bpt.me) OR visiting their page on this website and clicking on DONATE NOW.
Thank you for doing your part to promote artists creating grass roots opportunities to bring art to the city in its purest form.
Thanks & Take Care,
Cindi