Mission

Concerto Dance by Jolene Konkel creates modern and jazz dance works driven by musicality and virtuosity. Our mission is to explore work that strengthens and uplifts the human spirit, aiming to inspire hope and build community connections through vibrant concert dance.

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We Value...​

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• Technical Excellence. Drawing from and expanding upon the technical traditions found in American dance forms across the genres of jazz and modern dance.​​ ​

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• Musicality and Virtuosity.  A common denominator in how we approach both modern and jazz dance work is through musicality and athleticism striving to embody and express the richness and depth of the musical forms we use.

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• Community. We believe dance is a means of expressing joy, an integral part of community, and a part of what it means to be human. Dance is a common language that has the ability to bring people together and we desire to create work that builds community connections through a shared experience.

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• Engagement. We seek to create artistically compelling and entertaining concert dance that engages a broad audience. 

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• The Historical Roots of Jazz.  We acknowledge and seek to honor the African Diasporic roots of jazz and celebrate the diverse cultural influences woven across all American dance forms. 

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• Diversity. We believe in the inherent dignity and value of all people and celebrate people from all nations, ethnicities and backgrounds. We believe we are all better together and there is value and place for everyone in dance. ​

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• Choreography that Educates and Illuminates. We desire to create work that shares stories, reveals history, and is a reflection of our time.

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• The Transformative Power of Dance.  We know that dance has the power to affect positive change in our communities and the world, and we seek to create work that calls on our collective humanity to build up and support one another and offer hope. 

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Why "Concerto"?

 

Concerto in origin is simply the word for "concert", reflecting our mission to bring original concert dance works to the stage and to film.  

 

Leonard Bernstein has described the original meaning of "concerto", or "concert" as simply  the "togetherness" of the orchestra. Believing we are better together, Concerto Dance seeks this same idea of "togetherness" through building connections with each other and the community.

 

A Concerto has now come to be associated with a specific musical form characterized by the virtuosity and technical skill of the musicians. This captures our aim to cultivate virtuosic performers who express technical and artistic excellence through work driven by musicality and virtuosity.