Cola Rep Dance Company Presents KISS THE GROUND, Aug 1 & 2 at Koger Center

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.

REVIEW: Workshop Theatre's CATS

CATS … finds success with a cast that exhibits unflinching commitment to the task at hand (and they seem to be having a rather good time while they’re doing it).

Workshop Theatre of South Carolina opened their production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS last weekend, starting a three-week run of this show which ran for 18 years on Broadway. As the resident community theatre troupe at Columbia College’s Cottingham Theatre, the Workshop presentation is a special collaboration between Workshop and the Columbia College Dance Education and Dance Studies program - creating a unique opportunity for community actors and dance students to work together. 

Based on T.S. Eliots Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Webber’s CATS has been performed for over 40 years and had a feature film adaptation in 2019. For those reasons, we’ll spare you a synopsis and move right along.  

CATS, under the direction of Julian Deleon, finds success with a cast that exhibits unflinching commitment to the task at hand (and they seem to be having a rather good time while they’re doing it). This ensemble, which consists of over 35 performers, hits their marks, are constantly engaged in catlike activities, and ultimately offers an energetic performance that feels dutifully rehearsed.  

Actors Bobby L. Rogers (Munkustrap), Katherine Brown (Bombalurina), Carly Siegel (Demeter) and Blythe Long (Jellylorum) hold the audiences’ hands (read: paws) throughout the production as their characters are charged with introducing us to many of the characters or informing the viewers about the history and traditions of the Jellicle Cats. All four performers have truly lovely voices that are fitting for Webber’s vocal score, and they all lead the proceedings with poise and control that makes the audience feel welcome to their secret society.  

Lisa Baker, as Grizabella, does an admirable job in this production. Baker’s performance of “Memory” satisfies fans of the song due to her powerful vocals and purr-fect tone (sorry, we had to) that throws comforting nods to the Betty Buckley performance we’ve heard countless times over the last four decades.  

The performances of Nathan Jackson (Mungojerrie) and Jessica Roth (Rum Tum Tugger) are also winning moments for this production. Jackson’s Mungojerrie feels incredibly familiar to folks who have experienced the original production of this piece. He’s fun, mischievous, and quite comfortable with his dance duties. Roth’s Rum Tum Tugger deviates from the usual characterization that mixes Tom Jones with glam rockers of the 80s and provides audiences with a Janis Joplin-esque rock-n-roller that is delightful when she takes the show over.  

Without a doubt, Choreographer Erin Bailey was responsible for a larger part of the production than is usual with most musical theatre works. Bailey has created a lot of movement for the cast that allows the trained dancers to wow us when they take the spotlight, and for the “movers” in the cast to look their best throughout most of the production. While some moments aren’t as successful as others, there is a lot of varied movement throughout the production and your eyes don’t get tired seeing a large cast execute it.  

To that end, Emily Jordan (Victoria on March 9th), Katherine Brown (Bombalurina) and Jack Thompson (Mistoffilees) gave us professional performances in regard to dance in the production. They lend Bailey’s work the talent that it desires, and they give longtime CATS fans a glimpse into the choreographic focus with which the show originated.  

Music Director Taylor Dively, in his first time navigating the music for a full-length musical, shows promise in that the vocals of CATS are rather good - especially when regarding the soloists. However, the sound design makes the proceedings uncomfortable at times as the sopranos are too high in the mix - which can make certain moments feel like a caterwaul rather than the good blend coming from stage. On March 9, the band was unfortunately not meeting the cast’s performance level, as the show began with wrong notes on the keyboards, destroying the iconic opening melody. These sorts of accidents occurred often throughout the evening, leaving us hoping that the musicians will realize that they are being paid to be there, and should therefore be just as prepared as the cast who is donating their talent. 

Ultimately, despite the efforts of the cast, this production suffers from a design concept that simply does not work. The show has been promoted as “not your mother’s CATS” - and this is truthful advertising. Our mother’s CATS had humans in fully committed feline-wear, and the illusion worked rather well to make such a bizarre concept a Broadway and West End hit. Workshop’s cats have painted noses with headbands or hats that have “cat ears” attached. Our mother’s CATS had fun set pieces that allowed the cast to create a train out of oversized junk pieces laying around the set along with other moments of inventive whimsy. Workshop’s cats had bare bones structures with some castored scaffolding that left us thinking we were watching CATS on a scaled down set of RENT. The show asks for many moments of reveal, surprise, inventiveness and magic that, in this production, were simply absent. We were not tricked into thinking Macavity was in disguise as Old Deuteronomy. We did not believe we had witnessed magic when Mistoffelees motioned for the cast to wheel Old Deuteronomy back on stage when he’s supposed to be miraculously summoned. The same lack-of-illusion applies when Grizabella is wheeled off stage left as she finally ascends to the Heaviside Layer. Where’s the thrilling sleight of hand? The possibility of that felt lost in the first 30 seconds when a crew member, portraying a human in the wrong alley, walked across the stage making it clear the felines were the same scale as he.  

Cast member Harrison Ayer’s bio briefly and aptly reads that Ayer “is a human, acting like a cat dressed like a human.” That’s pretty much what you get with this directorial concept. If it was a big idea that didn’t come to fruition due to the immensity of the project, then it can be forgiven. However, if this production meets the vision of those who created it - then perhaps this CATS shouldn't have been let out of the bag. Doing “different” is welcome, but only when there’s a relatable or inventive perspective that exposes something newly relevant or unexpected about a cherished work.

We always invite patrons to challenge our reactions by taking the time to see the work themselves. Art is entirely subjective, and you may have a very different experience. If you want to see a fully committed cast giving you undeniable energy in tandem with some rather talented dancers that are performing one of the theatre industry’s most successful works, then you should book your tickets to see Workshops’s production of CATS. The show runs through March 23rd at Cottingham Theatre on the campus of Columbia College. You may buy tickets at www.workshoptheatreofsc.com. Also, don’t forget that the theatre is taking donations for animal shelters, so be sure to bring some treats, litter, or toys with you.