CLOUDS Dance Company is a project based dance company housed in Kansas City, Missouri, founded and directed by Olivia Emert. CLOUDS is composed of performances, collaborations, movement research, and training spaces, all which seek to offer connection and kinesthetic experience. 

MISSION

CLOUDS seeks to create safe training spaces and processes. We believe movement is healing. Movement holds a language, which at times is louder than words. Movement grounds us into our skin and our lived experiences. Our kinesthetic memory is a large part of who we are. CLOUDS seeks to celebrate, investigate, and honor this part of ourselves as dance artists and as humans. Through mindfulness exercises, movement research, agency and autonomy of our own bodies in space, CLOUDS offers safe and conversational spaces for dancers to work and train.

 CLOUDS seeks to create work that is authentic and human. Work that pulls from lived experiences & emotional awareness. Work that creates relationships on stage, relationships formed to the space, relationships with each other in process. Work that can live & breathe with intention. Not only are we creating environments through our training and process, but we create environments on stage: a feeling for audiences to embrace, an ephemeral moment to experience, a full sensory awareness to feel throughout the work…

VISION

As a project based company, CLOUDS structure is ever changing and expansive. The goal is to be intentional with what the work is, who is the work for, and how the space affects the work. CLOUDS investigates the questions: how do we adapt to the space, how do we create an immersive experience in the sense of sharing lived visceral moments, when do we show the work, and why do we create the work at this moment in time. CLOUDS aims to move through collaborations, evening length works, short pieces, artist based processes, improvisational spaces & more… Fully actualizing our intentions and purpose for the work.

VALUES

SAFE SPACES 

Within CLOUDS, all voices are welcome and important to process/product. Agency and autonomy are inherent. We honor and protect the broad spectrum of emotion and capacities within each individual. Conversations are welcomed and encouraged. 

EQUALITY & DIVERSITY

We are dedicated to showcasing queerness, being mental health advocates, and amplifying diverse voices. To pull from lived experience is to recognize, share, listen and hear all experiences. 

INVESTMENT

Dance is a vulnerable art. We invest in the art, the story, and the process that it takes us on. We care for each other & ourselves within the work. We show up for ourselves and others within CLOUDS training and creative spaces.

EXPERIENTIAL ART

A focus on creation of work which engulfs its observers. Work that is truly original in form and invites onlookers to experience the work in as many senses as possible.  CLOUDS strives to build environments and attach the vulnerability of emotion to the work, creating a kinaesthetic connection for all. 

COMMUNITY

The goal is to share in art and art making. To create relationships in and out of work. To share and listen. Everyone has a place at the table and everyone is important to the space. Collaborations are fostered in equality.