Program

Choreographer, Artistic Director, Producer - Dorothy O’Shea Overbey

Piano - Dr. Scott Donald

Technical Director, Lighting Design - Stephen Pruitt

Stage Manager - Andrea Williams

Film Producer - Whitney Rowlett

Fashion Design Displays - Aaron Kubacak, EmmaSis Designs, Eesa Rani Style, Adrienne Yunger

“Welcome to Rituals of Light!

This evening marks the beginning of something that has been growing beneath the surface for years: the initiation of a fantasy narrative universe called CRONE.

What you’ll experience tonight is the first chapter of a project being developed as a series of films and immersive live productions, involving commissioned original scores, live musical performance, dance, and fashion design.

Rituals of Light is both celebration and experiment. We are building the world of CRONE through a series of interdisciplinary performances, sharing our progress as it unfolds and inviting you into our creative process.

Tonight, we explore a culture where people live in harmony with themselves, others, and the environment—a fantasy universe where each inhabitant possesses unique magical abilities. Through movement, music, and collaborative creation, we begin to establish what the movement language of CRONE.

We are deeply grateful to be sharing this inaugural chapter with you at the new East Side Performing Arts, and to be working alongside the extraordinary artists who have brought this vision to life: our masterful pianist Dr. Scott Donald, our Technical Director Stephen Pruitt, Film Producer Whitney Rowlett, our incredibly gifted dancers, and our visionary fashion designers.

Thank you for joining us at the threshold.
”

— Dorothy

Prelude

Claude Debussy, Girl with the Flaxen Hair - Dr. Scott Donald, Piano

Dances of KNowing

We begin our creation of the CRONE universe, exploring a culture where people live in harmony with themselves, others, and the environment. In this fantasy world, each inhabitant possesses a unique magical ability, and through these dances, we begin to build the movement language that will convey the essence of this vision.

Composer - Connor Chee

Dancers: Cellise Brown, Rachel Culver, Elaine Fields, Kanami Nakabayashi

Costumes: Dorothy O’Shea Overbey & Tikiri Shapiro

I. The Seer of Pathways: Cellise Brown - Prelude #3, The Navajo Piano

II. The Guardian of the Living Force: Rachel Culver - Weaving, Scenes from Dinétah

III. The Keeper of Memory: Elaine Fields: Female Rain, Scenes from Dinétah

IV. The Walker Between Worlds: Kanami Nakabayashi - Running, Sixteen Etudes for Piano

Live Devising

A collaborative creation exercise

Composer - Samuel Barber | Piano - Dr. Scott Donald

Dancers: Megan Davidson, Joshua Martinez, Jessica Siclari, Tikiri Shapiro

Creative Process Design: Dorothy O’Shea Overbey

Intermission

Prelude Act II

Claude Debussy, Feux D’Artifice (Fireworks) - Dr. Scott Donald, Piano

Alone, Together

Here, we ask what happens when beings become consumed by their own identities. Trapped between vanity and conformity, they can no longer truly see those who surround them.

Music - Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 7, II. Alegretto

Dancers: Cellise Brown, Rachel Culver, Elaine Fields, Kanami Nakabayashi, Tikiri Shapiro, Jessica Siclari

Costumes: Dorothy O’Shea Overbey

Elegy

This short dance film examines joy and grief as two sides of the same coin. As CRONE develops into a series of films, we use this performance series to test ideas and learn the filmmaking process, working within the capabilities of the medium to explore profound human experiences.

Director & Choreeographer - Dorothy O’Shea Overbey

Dancers: Ty Graynor, Navaji, Dorothy O’Shea Overbey

Music - Elegy for the War Dead, John Donald Robb

Producer - Whitney Rowlett | Editor - Aaron Sherry

Director of Photography - Jason Stone | Associate Producer - Sarah Celeste Robb

Costumes - Navaji & Dorothy O’Shea Overbey

Rituals of Light

The evening culminates in a rapturous celebration of light, both literal and metaphorical, as we complete this first foray in to the CRONE universe and the ritual of shared artistic experience.

Music - Un Sospiro, Franz Liszt

Dancers: Cellise Brown, Rachel Culver, Megan Davidson, Elaine Fields, Kanami Nakabayashi, Tikiri Shapiro

Thank you to our Donors and Sponsors

East Side Performing Arts • Blair Johnson • Joel Hobbs • Nancy Lesch • Brad King

Sweet Charli Girl • Chapter Social • Sour Duck Market

Support our mission

Special Thanks

Whitney Rowlett, Andrew Sherman, AJ Garcia-Rameau, Andrea Williams, Coleman DeWayne, Brooke Mountain, Jess Griggs, Claudia Sanchez, Mars Johnson, Matt Williams, Bright Folk Consulting, Aidan DeWitt, Navaji, Robb Musical Trust, Ivan Spaller, Sarah Celeste Robb, Annie Petterson