The Kent Dance Ensemble, under the artistic direction of Gregory King, will welcome its second guest artist of the 2017-2018 season, Jess Pretty, the weekend of October 6. Pretty teaches classes in contemporaryTRAP, hip hop, and jazz funk.
About Jess Pretty:
From Jess Pretty's website:
"As a black female dancing body I am constantly investigating different methods of world-building so as to have a self created limitless potential for possibility within a society where my body has been deemed one that is impossible. In navigating this possibility I am looking to re-claim the stakes attached to my dancing body which find their ways into my work by relentlessly going after feelings of the fantastic. Feelings of unbelievable swelling. Feelings of pleasure and multiple possibilities. I want many things therefore I feel my work is rooted in a constant friction; moving back and forth between variant ideas and placings of movement and knowing. Friction finds itself inside of rhythm and directionality - two foundational components to my making - because friction can lead to surprises. And I love surprises. A third foundational component is physicality which often finds itself serving as a reactionary tool to the rhythm and directionality. Physicality is valued in my work because of the ecstasy that it can build in the body. Ecstasy building is a deep part of my physical practice because of the myriad of states that can result from it. A swelling takes place in the body, in the mind, in the mood, in the meaning, in the relationships to other bodies and in the relationship to space. What is that feeling between moving bodies? That giving and taking of euphoria that is downright addictive to locate, tirelessly rubbing up against variant possibilities of the body as it folds into different times, spaces, and relationships to those around it. What I’m building for myself and others through my work is something of a survival strategy; something of a method to the madness."
About the Kent Dance Ensemble:
Since its inception in 1990, the Kent Dance Ensemble, Kent State's pre-professional dance company, has been introducing modern dance to audiences of all ages throughout Northeast Ohio.Under artistic director Gregory King, the company provides a professional atmosphere and structure that prepares its student members to bridge the gap between a college dance experience and working with a professional dance company.