Dance Up Close ‘25 springs to life with Jumper Cables

Energetic conduits

Sood, a Dance Up Close ‘25 dancer, collaborated with Allison Smith on the work. They describe it as “a dance of energetic extremes,” and its foundation is what Sood called “intricate rhythms” and a dynamic “give and take” between the dancers. “We’re determined to find the edge of what we can physically and creatively accomplish,” she told me. “And to do that, we have to be there for each other in the moment when we’re performing.”

The choreography is athletic, incorporating “a swirl of all the styles that inspire us,” Sood said, including “house, breaking, postmodern, and tap all mixed up... because that’s where we’ve come from, and that’s where we are now in our respective dance journeys. All that is converging in this performance.” She explained that she grew up with ballet, modern, jazz, and tap dance. After graduating from University of the Arts with a degree in dance, Sood had “a whole lot more postmodern technique and, importantly, the foundations of house dance from Dinita and Kyle Clark.”

House dance “has been a source of community, connection, and inspiration to me over the past several years,” she said. Sood and Smith describe house as a form of Black vernacular dance. It builds upon and draws from forms of dance including hip hop, tap, African dance, and Latin social dance. Like Sood, Smith engaged with ballet, lyrical, musical theater, and tap before college broadened her dance horizon. Studying at Ohio State changed her perceptions, “prioritizing movement’s feeling over appearance, and opening my eyes to the value of Black vernacular dance styles,” as Smith put it. House dance instructor Tatiana Desardouin inspired her continued pursuit of street and club dance styles.

Vernacular, street, and social dances have tremendous cultural and artistic importance. They also inspire some of the most innovative new work in contemporary dance. For instance, earlier this year, Dance Magazine linked Jennifer Archibald’s rising profile to the choreographer’s exciting blend of classical ballet with street dance. Toward this end, Sood observes that Jumper Cables “doesn’t exist in a vacuum” but rather arises from “a long lineage of mentors and peers” and “a vibrant network of dancers who have devoted themselves to their craft.” Viewers can tap into this by watching live performances. “Dance wakes us up,” Sood notes. Performance establishes “a shared, visceral experience that creates space for the viewers to connect” with art, artists, and each other in a way “that directly confronts tactics of division and polarization that I see at play in this American political moment.”

Sharing the bill with Sood’s Jumper Cables is Seed & Sound, a dance to be performed by Oreoluwa Badaki, Anna Martone, and Jonathan Van Arneman along with drummer Jonathan Delgado. Seed & Sound harnesses elements of contemporary dance, West African dance, and house dance to explore diasporic existence. Dance Up Close ‘25 will continue in late April with work choreographed by Chloe Marie, in which Sood will return to perform.