The Encounter: Akron
The Encounter: Akron is an expansive performance project created by choreographer/director Kimberly Bartosik. Joined by creative associate Burr Johnson, Bartosik has been creating unique Encounter projects in communities worldwide, exploring intergenerational cross-geographic, global conversation about the ferocious power of the body as a form of communication. The work is an encounter with oneself, pulling from what people currently carry in their bodies--grief, hope, fear, desire, newfound power--pulsing through and between generations.
Performance Details
The Encounter: Akron
August 10 at 7pm, August 11 at 7pm, August 12 at 3pm
Rubber City Theatre
Sandefur Theatre in Guzzetta Hall
228 E Buchtel Ave, Akron, OH 44325
Performance Details
The Encounter: Akron
August 10 at 7pm, August 11 at 7pm, August 12 at 3pm
Rubber City Theatre
Sandefur Theatre in Guzzetta Hall
228 E Buchtel Ave, Akron, OH 44325
Cast
The Encounter: Akron features a regional cast of professional, pre-professional, and non-professional performers.
Melissa Ajayi, 37 (Shaker Heights, OH), is a recreation therapist, mother of two children, loves to be outdoors, and is learning to garden.
Neema Bal, 26 (Akron, OH), is co-artistic director of Gum-Dip Theatre, was born and raised in a refugee camp, and has a passion for theatre and a strong dedication to uplifting and advocating for refugee children.
Katie Beck, 31 (Akron, OH), also co-artistic director of Gum-Dip Theatre, is a theatre maker, creative community builder, and social entrepreneur who loves her house plants, two cats, and the North Hill neighborhood.
Kobe Calain, 20 (Newton Falls, OH), loves to move, dance, perform, and make people smile.
Kay DePew, 28 (Akron, OH), former Miss Akron, is an experimental artist and business student.
Julia Dillard, 37 (Cleveland, OH), loves swimming in the ocean, making plum tortes, chasing her toddler, and being in nature.
Josy Jones, (Akron, OH), is from a theatre background and tends to ask a lot of questions that she answers with research and movement; dinosaurs are her favorite animal.
Elyse Morckel, 31 (Akron, OH), enjoys snuggles with her cat David, baking macarons, supporting her local library, and hiking the many trails a part of the Summit Metro Parks.
Britt Oliver, 39 (Akron, OH), enjoys yoga, travel, museums, painting, and any activity that sparks creativity.
J2 Shepherd, 11 (Akron, OH), loves music, dancing, and singing. He also enjoys learning to play new instruments, playing video games, and joking around with his friends. His happy place is at home surrounded by his family.
Larry White Jr, 21 (Akron, OH), has a passion for baking sweets, obscure fashion looks, and rarely is seen without a smile.
Melissa Ajayi, 37 (Shaker Heights, OH), is a recreation therapist, mother of two children, loves to be outdoors, and is learning to garden.
Neema Bal, 26 (Akron, OH), is co-artistic director of Gum-Dip Theatre, was born and raised in a refugee camp, and has a passion for theatre and a strong dedication to uplifting and advocating for refugee children.
Katie Beck, 31 (Akron, OH), also co-artistic director of Gum-Dip Theatre, is a theatre maker, creative community builder, and social entrepreneur who loves her house plants, two cats, and the North Hill neighborhood.
Kobe Calain, 20 (Newton Falls, OH), loves to move, dance, perform, and make people smile.
Kay DePew, 28 (Akron, OH), former Miss Akron, is an experimental artist and business student.
Julia Dillard, 37 (Cleveland, OH), loves swimming in the ocean, making plum tortes, chasing her toddler, and being in nature.
Josy Jones, (Akron, OH), is from a theatre background and tends to ask a lot of questions that she answers with research and movement; dinosaurs are her favorite animal.
Elyse Morckel, 31 (Akron, OH), enjoys snuggles with her cat David, baking macarons, supporting her local library, and hiking the many trails a part of the Summit Metro Parks.
Britt Oliver, 39 (Akron, OH), enjoys yoga, travel, museums, painting, and any activity that sparks creativity.
J2 Shepherd, 11 (Akron, OH), loves music, dancing, and singing. He also enjoys learning to play new instruments, playing video games, and joking around with his friends. His happy place is at home surrounded by his family.
Larry White Jr, 21 (Akron, OH), has a passion for baking sweets, obscure fashion looks, and rarely is seen without a smile.
Creatives
About Kimberly Bartosik/daela
Kimberly Bartosik is an NYC-based choreographer, performer, educator, and essayist who creates viscerally provocative, ferociously intimate choreographic projects that dramatically illuminate the ephemeral nature of performance while critically, tenderly, and violently etching away at deeply distressing threads of our society.
Bartosik is a 2020 Bessie Award Honoree for Outstanding Performance & Outstanding Performer (Burr Johnson) for her work through the mirror of their eyes (New York Live Arts). She is a 2023 Ragdale Fellowship Residency Artist; a 2021 recipient of a Doris Duke Foundation Performing Artist Recovery Fund in the New York Community Trust; a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography; and a 2020 Virginia B. Toulmin Women Leaders in Dance Fellowship at Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU. She was a 2017 Dancing Lab Artist at NCCAkron.
Bartosik’s work has been commissioned and presented by BAM Next Wave Festival, New York Live Arts, LUMBERYARD, The Chocolate Factory Theater (2025), American Realness, FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival, Abrons Art Center, Danspace Project, The Kitchen, La Mama, and others. She has toured to Supersense: Festival of the Ecstatic (Melbourne, Australia), Bratislava in Movement, WexnerArts Center, Dance Place, American Dance Festival, The Yard, MASS MoCA/Jacob’s Pillow, FlynnSpace, Bates Dance Festival, Columbia College, and others.
Select awards include National Dance Project (NDP) Production & Touring Grant and Community Engagement Fund; MAP Fund; Jerome Foundation; FUSED (French-US Exchange in Dance); Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, USArtists International; Creative Arts Initiative (CAI); New Music USA, Live Music for Dance; and Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artists and Emergency Grants.
A member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for nine years, Bartosik received a Bessie Award for Exceptional Artistry in his work. For more information on Kimberly’s work, visit daela.org or follow @kimberlybartosik_daela.
Kimberly Bartosik is an NYC-based choreographer, performer, educator, and essayist who creates viscerally provocative, ferociously intimate choreographic projects that dramatically illuminate the ephemeral nature of performance while critically, tenderly, and violently etching away at deeply distressing threads of our society.
Bartosik is a 2020 Bessie Award Honoree for Outstanding Performance & Outstanding Performer (Burr Johnson) for her work through the mirror of their eyes (New York Live Arts). She is a 2023 Ragdale Fellowship Residency Artist; a 2021 recipient of a Doris Duke Foundation Performing Artist Recovery Fund in the New York Community Trust; a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography; and a 2020 Virginia B. Toulmin Women Leaders in Dance Fellowship at Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU. She was a 2017 Dancing Lab Artist at NCCAkron.
Bartosik’s work has been commissioned and presented by BAM Next Wave Festival, New York Live Arts, LUMBERYARD, The Chocolate Factory Theater (2025), American Realness, FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival, Abrons Art Center, Danspace Project, The Kitchen, La Mama, and others. She has toured to Supersense: Festival of the Ecstatic (Melbourne, Australia), Bratislava in Movement, WexnerArts Center, Dance Place, American Dance Festival, The Yard, MASS MoCA/Jacob’s Pillow, FlynnSpace, Bates Dance Festival, Columbia College, and others.
Select awards include National Dance Project (NDP) Production & Touring Grant and Community Engagement Fund; MAP Fund; Jerome Foundation; FUSED (French-US Exchange in Dance); Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, USArtists International; Creative Arts Initiative (CAI); New Music USA, Live Music for Dance; and Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artists and Emergency Grants.
A member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for nine years, Bartosik received a Bessie Award for Exceptional Artistry in his work. For more information on Kimberly’s work, visit daela.org or follow @kimberlybartosik_daela.
About Burr Johnson
Burr Johnson is a dancer and choreographer living and working in New York City. He currently dances with Kimberly Bartosik/daela and The Trisha Brown Dance Company. He has also danced with John Jasperse Projects, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Marina Abramović/GIVENCHY, Ryan McNamara, Boris Charmatz, Isabel Lewis, Nick Mauss, Peter Sellars, Christopher Williams, Sally Silvers, Bill Young, Jack Ferver, Moriah Evans, Brittany Bailey, and Netta Yerushalmy, among others. His choreographic work has been presented through Movement Research, Abrons Art Center, Danspace Project, New York Live Arts, The American Dance Festival, GIBNEY, Works and Process at the Guggenheim Museum, and The Future Dance Festival at the Joyce Theater. He has guest-taught at Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, Philadelphia University of the Arts, the University of Utah, Salem College, MoMA PS1, Goucher College, Virginia Commonwealth University, UNC Greensboro, Purchase College, and The American Dance Festival. In April 2019 he performed four solos choreographed by Merce Cunningham for "Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event" at UCLA in Los Angeles. He is a 2020 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award honoree for individual performance in Kimberly Bartosik’s “through the mirror of their eyes”.
About CDS Creative Productions
Carlos Diaz Stoop (he/him/his) is a full-time Associate Producer at Beth Morrison Projects (BMP), a Brooklyn-based opera and music theatre production company. In 2022 Carlos was also the Associate Director of BMP: Producer Academy - an 8-week nuts and bolts course designed to prepare the next generation of Creative Producers. Previously he was employed as the Program Associate at The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, a multi-disciplinary grantmaker in the arts in Philadelphia, where he supported the Performance program, cross-program functions, and served as the coordinator and founding member of the Center’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.
As an Independent Creative Producer and Artist Advocate Carlos supports theatre, music, dance, opera, community engagement, and social justice projects with various organizations and individual artists along the East Coast including: Girard College (Be Holding), Philadelphia Contemporary (Convalescence and The Re-Emancipation of Social Dance), Raja Feather Kelly, Yarn/Wire, Tyshawn Sorey, Ross Gay, Kimberly Bartosik/Daela.
Carlos is also a member of CIPA (The Creative Independent Producer Alliance), a group of over 300 Independent Creative Producers worldwide where he sits on the Organizing Team aiding in the oversight and strategic planning of CIPA’s continued growth as a hub for Community, Mentorship, and Advocacy for Independent Creative Producers in the performing arts sector.
About Rubber City Theatre
Rubber City Theatre’s mission is to bring affordable and professional theatre to the Akron area. Its intimate and innovative productions aim to open the eyes and the hearts of audiences in an intentionally accessible, inclusive, and safe space. rubbercitytheatre.com
About NCCAkron
The National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron supports the research and development of new work in dance by exploring the full potential of the creative process. In addition to offering studio and technical residencies to make new work, activities focus on catalyzing dialogue and experimentation; creating proximity among artists and dance thinkers; and aggregating resources around dance making. For more information, visit nccakron.org.
The establishment and general operation of NCCAkron are made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Burr Johnson is a dancer and choreographer living and working in New York City. He currently dances with Kimberly Bartosik/daela and The Trisha Brown Dance Company. He has also danced with John Jasperse Projects, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Marina Abramović/GIVENCHY, Ryan McNamara, Boris Charmatz, Isabel Lewis, Nick Mauss, Peter Sellars, Christopher Williams, Sally Silvers, Bill Young, Jack Ferver, Moriah Evans, Brittany Bailey, and Netta Yerushalmy, among others. His choreographic work has been presented through Movement Research, Abrons Art Center, Danspace Project, New York Live Arts, The American Dance Festival, GIBNEY, Works and Process at the Guggenheim Museum, and The Future Dance Festival at the Joyce Theater. He has guest-taught at Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, Philadelphia University of the Arts, the University of Utah, Salem College, MoMA PS1, Goucher College, Virginia Commonwealth University, UNC Greensboro, Purchase College, and The American Dance Festival. In April 2019 he performed four solos choreographed by Merce Cunningham for "Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event" at UCLA in Los Angeles. He is a 2020 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award honoree for individual performance in Kimberly Bartosik’s “through the mirror of their eyes”.
About CDS Creative Productions
Carlos Diaz Stoop (he/him/his) is a full-time Associate Producer at Beth Morrison Projects (BMP), a Brooklyn-based opera and music theatre production company. In 2022 Carlos was also the Associate Director of BMP: Producer Academy - an 8-week nuts and bolts course designed to prepare the next generation of Creative Producers. Previously he was employed as the Program Associate at The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, a multi-disciplinary grantmaker in the arts in Philadelphia, where he supported the Performance program, cross-program functions, and served as the coordinator and founding member of the Center’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.
As an Independent Creative Producer and Artist Advocate Carlos supports theatre, music, dance, opera, community engagement, and social justice projects with various organizations and individual artists along the East Coast including: Girard College (Be Holding), Philadelphia Contemporary (Convalescence and The Re-Emancipation of Social Dance), Raja Feather Kelly, Yarn/Wire, Tyshawn Sorey, Ross Gay, Kimberly Bartosik/Daela.
Carlos is also a member of CIPA (The Creative Independent Producer Alliance), a group of over 300 Independent Creative Producers worldwide where he sits on the Organizing Team aiding in the oversight and strategic planning of CIPA’s continued growth as a hub for Community, Mentorship, and Advocacy for Independent Creative Producers in the performing arts sector.
About Rubber City Theatre
Rubber City Theatre’s mission is to bring affordable and professional theatre to the Akron area. Its intimate and innovative productions aim to open the eyes and the hearts of audiences in an intentionally accessible, inclusive, and safe space. rubbercitytheatre.com
About NCCAkron
The National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron supports the research and development of new work in dance by exploring the full potential of the creative process. In addition to offering studio and technical residencies to make new work, activities focus on catalyzing dialogue and experimentation; creating proximity among artists and dance thinkers; and aggregating resources around dance making. For more information, visit nccakron.org.
The establishment and general operation of NCCAkron are made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.