Dance Company Spring Concert to Feature Joffrey Concert Group
The University of Akron (UA) School of Performing Arts (SOPA) is pleased to announce its Spring 2026 University of Akron Dance Company (UADC) Concert featuring the Joffrey Concert Group. This performance will be featuring works by Christine Howe, Colleen Barnes, and Bradley Shelver, along with Joffrey Concert Group repertoire. The concert will be held in E.J. Performing Arts Hall located next to the University of Akron campus. Performances will take place on Friday, April 3, 2026, at 7:00pm and Saturday, April 4, 2026, at 7:00pm.
Tickets are available at the door or online. Tickets for each show can be purchased through Ticketmaster, below. Parking is available through The University of Akron by scanning the QR Code located at the entrance of the lots.
“Bringing the Joffrey Concert Group to the University of Akron serves as a vital bridge between our institutions, creating reciprocal professional pathways for our dancers," remarked Dr. Todd Gaffke, interim director of SOPA. "By connecting artists of similar age, this collaboration fosters a meaningful exchange of creative practices. Ultimately, this partnership strengthens both organizations by expanding professional networks and demonstrating how emerging artists can build lasting communities through shared performance.”
Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino founded the Joffrey Ballet School in 1953. In more than sixty years of existence, the Joffrey Ballet School has remained on the forefront of American dance education. Graduates of the School have gone on to dance for major ballet companies, as well as for numerous modern and contemporary companies, both in the United States and abroad. The Joffrey Ballet School programming includes intensive pre-professional training, after-school programs, summer intensives in a variety of genre’s and open classes for enthusiast and professionals.
The Joffrey Ballet School's renowned Trainee program offers a well-rounded pre-professional curriculum consisting of two tracks (Ballet and Jazz & Contemporary Dance) for dancers ages 13 to 25. Depending on the track, genres of study include: classical ballet (technique, pointe, variations, adagio, men’s classes) contemporary ballet (technique, improvisation, partnering), contemporary dance, modern, character, choreography, dance history, music, hip-hop Pilates, street jazz, contact improv and more. Special workshops are taught by guest faculty to augment the curriculum and performance opportunities abound throughout the year. Dance classes come to life with live musical accompaniment including piano, percussion, cello, African drum, and a variety of other instruments depending on the genre taught.
Throughout the summer, the Joffrey Ballet School offers challenging and immersive dance intensives in a variety of genre’s throughout the United States and abroad. Students audition for entry into our summer intensive at official audition sites in the United States, Canada, South and Central America, western Europe, Australia, Japan and Singapore. Genres include classical ballet, contemporary ballet, jazz & contemporary dance, hip-hop, tap, and musical theater as well as multi-genre intensives fusing ballet, contemporary and commercial dance. They currently offer summer programs in New York City, California,Texas, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Nevada, Mexico, and Italy.” More about the Joffrey Ballet School
In 2024, UA and the Joffrey Ballet School forged a partnership. This noteworthy collaboration offers aspiring dancers the opportunity to enroll in the Joffrey Ballet School Trainee Program for unparalleled dance training while simultaneously pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in Dance in the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences. The partnership aims to provide students with specialized professional dance training from world-class instructors at the Joffrey Ballet School campus in New York City, coupled with exceptional online and classroom-based academic instruction from UA. Students will benefit from a comprehensive curriculum covering a diverse range of dance techniques, ranging across various dance idioms that span the worlds of concert and commercial dance, depending on chosen concentration.” Read more here.
The UA Dance Program offers both a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in Dance and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Dance. Students receive extensive training in technique, performance, and choreography, which is supported by academic coursework in dance history, pedagogy, and physical analysis. Each semester, students have the opportunity to audition and perform in a UADC production.
To further support this partnership, the dancers of UA and Joffrey Concert Group will appear onstage in a night of dance. The Spring 2026 Concert features pieces from Christine Howe, Colleen Barnes, and Bradley Shelver. Howe brings to the stage a contemporary work. Barnes and Shelver create a collaborative piece between the Joffrey Concert Group and UA dance students.
The Joffrey Concert Group will present “By Any Other Name”, choreographed by Clifford Williams. This work was commissioned through the Creative Movers Choreographic Initiative, a program that provides emerging choreographers with the resources and opportunity to create new work for the Joffrey Concert Group. “By Any Other Name” explores the ways we relabel, compartmentalize, and reinterpret our emotions, tucking them into neat boxes, tidy bows, restless cages, or convenient justifications. The piece invites audiences to consider the expansiveness of compassion and love beyond language and categorization. As Williams reflects, “Imagine a world where the possibilities for compassion and love are endless and regardless of what we call it… it still smells sweet.”
The Joffrey Concert Group will also present OOF, which will feature dancers from the University of Akron alongside Concert Group artists. OOF, which premiered in 2024 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, is a highly physical, energetic and musical work that dives into the world of playful frustration, missteps, embarrassment and “why did I do that” moments.
The UADC Spring 2026 Concert is made possible in part by an investment of public funds from the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a stage agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. In addition, with support from the Kenneth Calhoun Charitable Trust.
BIOGRAPHIES
Colleen Barnes (choreographer) is an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Akron’s Dance Program, where she specializes in classical ballet and anatomy for dance. Colleen has worked for the Joffrey Ballet School of New York City since 2009 and currently serves as the artistic director of the Joffrey South, Joffrey Colorado, and Joffrey Akron summer intensives. She danced professionally with the Dayton Ballet, Ballet Pensacola, and Dance Now! Miami, in addition to free-lancing domestically and abroad. She holds a BFA in Ballet from the University of Cincinnati, an MFA in Ballet from the University of Utah, and a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Akron. www.colleenbarnesdance.com
Christine Howe (choreographer) is a dance educator, performer, and maker currently serving as Assistant Professor of Practice in Dance at The University of Akron. She holds a BFA from The University of Akron and an MFA with performance emphasis from The University of Iowa. In Iowa, she received the Iowa Arts Fellowship and served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant under the direction of Rebekah Kowal. As an educator, she strives to create community environments in the classroom to support spaces of exploration and experimentation to leave students with a sense of creative individuality, an investigative curiosity, and a deep passion to move. She has taught for festivals such as The Cleveland Dance Festival and the American College Dance Association while also serving as a guest artist at numerous studios through NE Ohio. As a maker, her choreographic works have been presented by Columbus Contemporary Dance Company, The University of Akron Dance Company, The Cleveland Dance Festival, Take Up Space in Chicago, The Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, and Lindenwood University in St. Louis. She been selected for choreographic fellowships by Suttle Dance Company in Detroit and The Movement Project in Cleveland. Her choreographic research works deeply with performance techniques to dance beyond just spectacle, creating empathetic and humanistic connections.
Bradley Shelver (choreographer) trained at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg, South Africa and The Ailey School in New York. He is the Acting Artistic Director of the Jazz & Contemporary Trainee department at the Joffrey Ballet School and sits on the Artistic Advisory Board of the Metropolitan Opera in NYC. He has danced with Ailey II, Elisa Monte Dance, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, The Francesca Harper Project, Limón Dance Company, Phoenix Dance Theater (UK), and in projects with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co., Lar Lubovich Dance, The Universal Ballet, Radio City Music Hall, and in productions with the Mark Morris Dance Group. He is in his 17th season as a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. He has choreographed works for; Contemporary West Dance Theater Graham 2, Big Muddy Dance Company, Richmond Ballet, Ailey II, Ballet Austin, Lustig Dance Theater, Compania Rio Danca, New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble, Cape Dance Company, Cedar Lake 2, Sobers & Godley Dance, as well as creating works for The Royal Danish and Royal Swedish Ballet Schools, Joffrey Ballet School, Central Ballet School (London) The Ailey School, Boston Conservatory, Long Island University, Purchase College and Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the founder of Bradley Shelver Contemporary Dance Theater.
He was co-producer and curator for the annual REVERBdance Festival from 2010-2016. From 2013-2016, he was the Artistic Director of the STEPS Repertory Ensemble and the Production Director for Steps on Broadway. He was the Artistic Director of the Brooklyn Dance Festival Company from 2018-2020. Mr Shelver is an Adjunct at Montclair State University and on the faculty of schools and universities worldwide including; The Ailey School, The Graham School, La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts, Joffrey Ballet School, Bikuratim (Israel), Pan American Modern Dance School (Brazil), Hinton Battle Academy. (Tokyo) DAR Jazz Academy (Russia), ABT/JKO, Limòn Institute, Royal Danish and Royal Swedish Ballet Schools, Ateballeto, Company teacher for Mathew Bourne’s “Adventures in Motion Pictures”, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Lion King, and The Metropolitan Opera Ballet. He is a certified ballet teacher with the ABT National Training Curriculum. He was a contributing writer for Dance Spirit Magazine and His book, “Performance Through the Dance Technique of Lester Horton” is available worldwide.