One of four works debuting in Cincinnati Ballet’s Mercurial Landscapes has strong Cincinnati ties. Mercurial Landscapes is a contemporary show created by three choreographers that showcases four works, one of which is a world-premier presentation with costume design by Cincinnati native Asha Ama Bias-Daniels.
Bloom by Rena Butler premieres to the world within the showcase of Mercurial Landscapes by Cincinnati Ballet April 5-7. Butler is the choreographic associate for the Gibney Dance Company in New York and Bias-Daniels, who grew up in Avondale, is a couture designer who has appeared on two seasons of Project Runway and created pieces for artists like Zendaya and Little Big Town.
Bloom was created to mirror women’s collective life experiences; it’s meant to encourage women to reflect on ways they make themselves smaller or “dim their own light” to make others comfortable. It aims to evoke emotion and ignite a fire in women that urges them to “break free from confines” they have historically and continually been placed in. According to a press release, choreographer Butler was called, “The epitome of contemporary cool” by Dance Magazine, and Bias-Daniels said she has been honored to collaborate with her.
“Working with Rena was love at first sight,” Bias-Daniels said in a press release. “She is a young, Black woman at the height of innovation in her industry. Like myself, she breathes meaning into her work. We came up with the concept for this original piece the last time we got together for drinks. Laughing and crying about the times we’ve conquered great mountains in our careers but found ourselves shrinking our greatness to make others comfortable and having a great accomplishment soured by an unsupportive partner. This led to a bigger conversation about how we owe it to the women that came before us, that didn’t have the freedom to be big, to honor their sacrifice by being larger than life.”
Bias-Daniels goes on to say that she’s never created designs from a place of “practicality” and that she works best when inspired by a grand message that informs a complex vision. She says that designing for dance is not different from her usual couture projects and that she used the dancers for additional inspiration.
As a Black woman, Bias-Daniels found herself in the world of fashion after conquering feelings of being misunderstood, stereotyped and misidentified, the press release states. During her successful career, her work has been featured at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum and Taft Museum of Art.
Mercurial Landscapes also features choreographers Jodie Gates, and Jiří Kylián. The title composition was created by Gates and set to Max Richter’s re-composition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Petit Mort and Sechs Tänze, by Kylián, are set to the music of Mozart.
Mercurial Landscapes runs from April 5-7 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts’ Jarson-Kaplan Theater. For more information visit cballet.org.