Wonderbound

I had the pleasure of seeing «winter» tonight. It was beautiful! The dance, live music, lighting, and costumes were all a delight to the senses! True art.

On a cold night in November, I found myself in the financially challenged neighborhood of north Broadway and Park Avenue in Denver. The financially challenged part is important… which you will see in a moment.
Walking past the homeless lining up in hopes of acquiring a bed for the night, I was completely and fully aware of my privilege. I was headed to a private event at Wonderbound Studio, the dance company formerly known as Ballet Nouveau Colorado.
Wonderbound is located in a former postal garage — industrial flooring, giant spaces, and huge windows. This is not a sheltered haven of performance and privilege. The brilliant minds behind Wonderbound gave a bit of an intro to their performance space and community philosophy, which includes an open door policy during rehearsals. That open door policy includes the most constant and present members of their immediate community, which is in fact the financially challenged homeless population in the neighborhood. This amazing dance organization made a point of opening their doors to invite in the people that are often excluded from experiences such as dance, performance, and art. And for that, I give them 5 stars alone!
BUT! That’s not all!!! They are also an ASTONISHING performance group! I got to see a preview of their «Winter» performance, and it had me in tears, for all the emotion of the dancers, and the amazing storytelling happening with music and movement. This is an organization that blends the perfection of the small town and big city that Denver simultaneously embodies.
Visit their website, attend a rehearsal, get tickets to a performance, and be Wonderbound.