It was a great moment last Tuesday evening, Nov. 15, in Washington DC.
Hosted by shared-workspace giant WeWork at its Washington DC Dupont Circle installation, the acclaimed Company Danzante enchanted the business community audience with its new modern dance creation “Lost in the City”.
Everyone in this WeWork 21st century workplace-turned-performing arts stage became part of NPAFE’s first DanceFactor event – an innovative series of original performing arts showcases centering on the entrepreneurial and collaborative DNA common to business and the performing arts: theater, music, and dance.
Reflecting WeWork’s own business model of shared entrepreneurial workspace and its “Doing What You Love” mantra, Company Danzante’s new “Lost in the City” was purposefully crafted to allow audience members to share the stage with the dance company’s eight brilliant performers — dancers doing precisely what THEY love.
It was a beautifully-executed modern dance vision of entrepreneurs hard at work, choreographed by the Company Danzante husband-wife leadership team of Arturo Garcia and Katherine Horrigan, themselves two of the captivating performers on this special WeWork stage.
No longer were audience members mere onlookers. Instead, they were intentionally drawn in, up close and personal with the dancers, quite literally sharing workspace together with the performers. It was American modern dance creativity at its best, in a spectacular workplace-setting-as-stage.
Audience reaction was uniformly positive, perhaps best summed up by this email comment the next morning from Dana Mekler: “I absolutely LOVED the performance, and doing it interactively in that beautiful open space was special. The dancers were wonderful and the choreography made me think about the construct of ‘work’ and how liberating it is to break down the norms of dress and behavior to let creativity flow. I also really appreciate the model of partnering up with businesses to bring the arts to the office space … [and] glad WeWork is leading the way in that effort.”
So is NPAFE. As the Tuesday evening host, WeWork went the distance and more, working hand-in-glove with NPAFE and Company Danzante to bring into sharp focus just how shared workspace can harness collaboration so that entrepreneurs succeed, not just work – even when and especially when presenting the best in modern dance artistry.
To be able to present Company Danzante and achieve this moment for the audience was a privilege for NPAFE. To be invited to present this at a dazzling place like WeWork was extra special.
Our sincere thanks to co-collaborators WeWork, Company Danzante, and everyone else who helped make NPAFE’s DanceFactor series launch a real entrepreneurial success!
