DanceAbility presents "Don't Leave Me"

“Don’t Leave Me” will be presented on Friday, June 10th at 7:00 p.m. "Don’t Leave Me" is an enthralling modern dance performance that celebrates creativity and the potential that is only possible when people with and without disabilities work together as equals.  This is the first professional mixed-abilities performance to ever be shown in Florence. It is also the first time that DanceAbility International will perform in Florence.

“Don’t Leave Me” is presented by the DanceAbility International dance company in collaboration with the University of Oregon School of Architecture—which designed the set structures. The show explores how we are all dependent on each other and how space determines action and vice versa. The dancers use the ever-changing set design as apparel, as furniture, and as architecture. The human and architectural bodies act as a symbiotic community.

This cross-discipline collaboration of dance and architecture takes risks with frames and bodies. During a rehearsal, one of the dancers was high up on the designed structure and felt it start to shake. She immediately called out to the dancers below her “don’t leave me!” This became the title of the piece. It speaks to our interdependence, and also the DanceAbility method belief that nobody should be left out or left behind.

This performance will open audience’s hearts and minds. It shows the unlimited potential of people when disabilities are not viewed as something inferior. The dancers with and without disabilities create and express together as equals. DanceAbility International performances surprise and delight, as they dissolve labels and barriers.

This project is made possible in part by Western Lane Community Foundation, Plum Creek Foundation, and Lane County Cultural Coalition, with operating support from Lane Arts Council and Oregon Arts Commission.

Tickets are now on sale for “Don’t Leave Me”--Florence, Oregon, June 10th, 7 p.m. at the Florence Events Center, 715 Quince St, Florence, OR 97439. For tickets please call the box office at 541-997-1994 or visit the website www.eventcenter.org.