Stories, Movement, and Meaning at SummerWorks 2025

One of my favorite parts of TMP's programming is our summer season.

Kicking off in mid-May and wrapping up in early August, it's a highly condensed time frame where we bring on new team members, host guest artists in company class, create new work, and, as of a few years ago, revisit repertory pieces for new discoveries. This combination evokes a season of creative energy that mirrors the abundance of summertime and concludes in our culminating performance: SummerWorks 2025.

This summer is no exception.

And yet, even now as I write this the country and moreover the world is experiencing unprecedented waves of historic events from attacks on individual liberties, the dismantling of institutions we as a society rely upon.. the feeling of instability has never been higher. With all this, it is more challenging than ever to almost justify maintaining space for engaging in creative practice. It can be overwhelming to witness these events unfold and still find space to create. To move beyond the internal question, why bother? But in times of crisis, art requires no justification.

Art is grounding.

Art helps us understand the world around us. It connects us to our community, to share the stories of others, helps us see what we may be overlooking, and calls us to act.

It invites us to look deeper, speak louder, and stand together.

In that spirit I took the opportunity to collect the perspectives of two choreographers presenting works at Sandefur Theatre this August: Madison Burris, TMP Company Member, and Melissa Ajayi, Founder of Ajayi Dance.

Rounding out her first full year with the company, Madison Burris is eager to present her newest work, a trio set on fellow company member Emma Devore and Seasonal Company Members Robyn Noelani and Makayla Ulery.

Still in the early stages of rehearsals, Madison is deep in the process of crafting her new work Contained Chaos. The piece explores patterns of internal conflict and the balance between control and surrender. The choreography is being shaped collaboratively, drawing on improvisational prompts, journaling, and spatial patterning to evoke both emotional tension and release. The process has already sparked discoveries around rhythm, responsiveness, and how ensemble work can both conceal and reveal vulnerability.

A graduate of The Ohio State University, Madison has previously presented choreographic works that center personal narrative and embodied research. However, she notes that Contained Chaos marks a shift in her approach. This time the process has started with the body and letting meaning emerge from movement, rather than the other way around. Her compositional practice reflects her experience with artists she trained under including the physical rigor of Abby Zbikowski and the aesthetic principles instilled from Donald Isom.

Interestingly, Madison notes that most of the ideas that she brings into the rehearsal space have come from moments right before falling asleep or waking up. This sourcing of material from the place between consciousness was reflected in my conversation with Melissa Ajayi.

*AGAIN and AGAIN and (Photo Credit:* Matt Degrand)

Many parts of Melissa Ajayi’s AGAIN and AGAIN and emerged while navigating the dream space following the 2024 presidential election.

The piece confronts the roles of Victim, Aggressor, and Bystander, three archetypes essential to the perpetuation of injustice. Through the work, Melissa explores how fear, privilege, and complicity can make us all unintentional participants in systemic harm. Her process began with a visceral response, born of anger and self-reflection, and evolved through stories manifested in dreams that revealed entire choreographic scenes to her.

"It was as if the movement came to me from beyond," Melissa shared.

Melissa worked closely with her cast to create space for vulnerability and catharsis, explored across the work in physically demanding ways including a section that has dancers drag themselves across the floor. Melissa explained that it was curious to observe how embodiment of these types of prompts elicited emotional states.

Following these creative exercises, Melissa heard responses from participating dancers who shared, “I didn’t realize how badly I needed to drag my body across the floor.” Allowing dancers to explore movement motifs in this way invites them to tap into embodied experience, bringing a deeper level of authenticity to the audience’s experience.

That tether to physical states of being is echoed in other works being presented on the concert, including TMP’s newest creation Ephemeral Systems by Liz Conway, Megan Gargano, and Elyse Morckel, as well as the return of live wire by Megan Gargano, performed for the first time in nearly a decade and featuring youth artists from TMP’s Summer Intensive 2025. Together, these works offer more than performance, they offer perspective. They ask us to stay present, to pay attention. They challenge us to move through the world with greater awareness, urgency, and care.

Join us for Summerworks 2025 at The University of Akron’s Sandefur Theatre on Saturday, August 2nd, with performances at 2:30 PM and 6:00 PM.

Join us at SummerWorks!