Columbia Repertory Dance Company Showcases SC Talent & Upholds Commitment to Innovation with
KISS THE GROUND
August 1st & 2nd at Koger Center
Columbia Repertory Dance Company presents Kiss the Ground at the Koger Center for the Arts on Saturday, August 1st at 7:30pm and Sunday, August 2nd at 3:00pm. The Company’s seventh season celebrates the extraordinary artists who are shaping the future of professional dance in South Carolina, and features a dynamic ensemble of professional dancers, emerging apprentices, choreographers, and designers whose work reflects the depth of artistic talent found throughout the Midlands and beyond.
The beginning of the program highlights the company’s signature style, featuring repertoire by Angela Gallo, Christian von Howard, company artists Ashlee Taylor and Erin Bailey, and emerging choreographer Molly Allen, a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina’s Betsy Blackmon Dance Program.
The second half of the evening premieres “The Weight of the World,” a new one-act work by artistic director Stephanie Wilkins that explores resilience, connection, and the shared human experience through sweeping, emotionally driven choreography. Representing a break with the company’s tradition of exclusively presenting mixed repertoire. The work, an expansion of 2025’s show closing “An Internal Growl,” consists of six movements of various configurations of dancers, each taking the audience along on a shared journey through the battles we fight to win our way to hope, says company co-founder and managing director, Bonnie Boiter-Jolley.
Performed by ten professional dancers and five apprentices, and supported by a professional design team, the production exemplifies Columbia Rep's commitment to artistic excellence and multidisciplinary collaboration. “Together, these diverse artistic voices reflect Cola Rep’s mission to broaden the dance experience through innovative choreography and meaningful connections between artists and audiences,” Boiter-Jolley says.
“I am really excited about this change from our usual format to premiere Stephanie’s new choreography,” she continues explaining that "The Weight of the World" consists of six distinct movements. “An Internal Growl,” the company’s show closer in 2025, “Wept,” which is a quartet that premiered at the Starlight Gala earlier this year; “One Step Forward and Three Steps Back,” which is a more angular and almost militaristic piece featuring mass ensemble movements and unison with individual breakaway moments; the fourth section, “Bleed” is a solo performed by Erin Bailey, embodying a sense of weariness familiar to many right now; the fifth section, which is also currently untitled, utilizes the full 14 dancer company in what feels like a united fight and is set to a piece of music composed and performed by Clinton Wilkins' band “Marmalade Knives;” and finally, “Unbroken,” a restaging of a work that deals with overcoming the idea of hopelessness to rebuild oneself and rediscover hope.
CRDC dancer Carrie Preus
“Though it is challenging to switch gears between each chapter, it makes the story much easier to tell,” Boiter-Jolley says. “The viewer will understand why the dancers are wiping away tears in the second section and grasping at the air, fighting to find their feet and endlessly running in the final section. I was in the cast of that final section, “Unbroken,” a number of years ago when I was still a part of Columbia City Ballet, and as soon as we began getting that movement into our bodies this time around the tears came. There is a definite catharsis that comes with sweating, laughing and crying in a room full of people you love and respect and also being able to end a journey joined hand in hand and looking toward the future.”
Boiter-Jolley also says she is “very proud of how multi-generational the company is this year. I have two former students from USC in the company: Amy Brooks (who I taught for all four years and will be dancing with a local ballet company in the fall) and Megan Kelly (who graduated in 2025 and is now teaching in the public school system,) and Carrie Preus introduced Rylie Budnick (recent Converse College graduate) and Dylan Miller (current rising Junior at Converse) to the company as apprentices. Carrie, Erin Bailey, Ashlee Taylor and I all teach in the University system while Jack Thompson, Megan Kelly and apprentice Kaela Colemen are in public education. There is a huge amount of ‘passing it on’ happening and it feels like what is being passed is valuable enough to make a difference both in an individual's journey and the dance landscape here in SC.”
According to Wilkins, this performance is inspired by the Rumi quote, “Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground,” as it “delves into extremely personal, yet universal themes, including grief, loss, love, community, feeling broken and beaten down, and then finding your strength and resilience again, rising up and refusing to be made small or to shrink, and reclaiming your power, both personally and as a people.” She continues, “It is a response to not only what has been going on in my personal life, but in our nation during these turbulent times. Though not a political piece per se, it certainly touches on themes that we, as a country, have dealt with over the past few years. Ultimately, it ends with hope.”
Show times: August 1st at 7:30pm and August 2nd, 2026, at 3pm in the Koger Center Black Box Theater.
Tickets are $35 & available here
For more information and tickets, https://www.colarep.com/events contact Managing Director Bonnie Boiter-Jolley
Phone: (803)622-6879 E-mail: colarepdanceco@gmail.com
The Columbia Repertory Dance Company’s mission is to broaden the experience of professional dance artists and patrons in Columbia, SC through multidisciplinary collaborative performances year-round. We aim to retain the talents of South Carolina dance artists and provide a spectrum of professional opportunities while inspiring and developing a broader and deeper understanding of dance in Columbia and surrounding areas.
