 At heart, I am a storyteller. As a child, in my grandmother's backyard, I would create for all of her friends a "theatrical spectacle" of dance, song and storytelling that would travel from a swing to an apple tree to the prairie field next to us. It is no wondering that I grew up to be an artist that tells stories through dance, theatre, music, and now film. My inspiration is the world around me and all that I see. I believe poetry to be the essence of language. Dance is the essences of movement and film captures life in its visual essence. Love is the essence of living and creating art from this place, allows me to be a conduit of creativity expressing this. One of the love stories in "Touch" is inspired by my parents, Johnny and Karen, and how my father knew he was going to marry my mother from "the moment he laid eyes on her." Loss is apart of love. Longing for love is a theme in touch but the moment we understand that we as humans are all interconnected, we are no longer alone on this journey. "Mirrors" is a reflection of our need for connection to self, others and what guides us in this world. Rumi, in the 13th century wrote, "Man & Woman Arguing" about a couple's disagreement over money. I believe his words still ring true in many households today. Rumi is a poetic storyteller and the reason his words have inspired me and countless others, is because they are timeless. Good storytelling is timeless. Come be apart of the story of "Touch" and "Mirrors" opening May 17th! Buy Tickets $15 in advance, $20 at the door. -Ellyzabeth Adler Executive Director, Founder and Storytelle
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"We touch each others lives and don't even know the impact we may have on them. Moments strung together on life's timeline become moments strung together on life's timeline become gifts. A gift just like today."
-Ellyzabeth Adler from "Touch" I wrote this months after meeting someone through a chance encounter, who was a gift, even if for a moment. There is an ancient Chinese saying "There is an invisible thread that connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break." Rumi wrote, "The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along." In 2010, I asked myself, "why is Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet, theologian, and Sufi mystic, one of the most influential people of all time?" Rumi's influential words transcend through our ethnic borders and into our hearts pushing and challenging us into action. Through his poetry, he teaches us to restore our connection to the world by examining ourselves, relationships to others and mostly, to the Beloved. "The nation of Love has a different religion of all religions - For lovers, God alone is their religion." And "I looked in temples, churches & mosques. I found the Divine within my Heart." -Rumi Listening to the media, one can only wonder what would happen if we applied this to our lives. "Mirrors" (2011) tells the story of four alienated characters whose longing for connection in a world that privileges individualism is brought into focus as they each encounter mirror images of themselves. "Touch", tells the story of a young woman and an elderly man, whose chance meeting at a cemetery brings their lives closer than they ever could have imagined. Ellyzabeth Adler in TouchPeople have asked me, "how do you dance and tell stories through poetry?" My first answer is come see the show and second, poetry is like Shakespeare, it is story-telling and it is the essences of language and dance is silent poetry. Both productions weave together film, music, theatre and dance into a story that I hope, will cause you to pause and reflect on life. Come see how this all happens May 17-25th and check out our website for more behind the scenes action. More to come, until then, "live your Love or else, you'll only end in words."-Rumi Ellyzabeth Adler Executive Director & Founder |