Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutritional Alliance is taking the gloves off in its fight against illness.
The agency, which provides nutritional meals to people facing life-threatening illnesses including HIV/AIDS, is again partnering with the Pennsylvania Ballet for the annual Shut Up & Dance fundraising show, 8 p.m. March 21 at the Forrest Theatre, 1114 Walnut St.
The show began in 1992 in response to the burgeoning HIV/AIDS crisis. It is a one-night-only event in which the PA Ballet performers choreograph their own numbers, with proceeds benefitting MANNA.
“Shut Up & Dance will always be what its origin was: a show choreographed, produced and directed by dancers of the PA Ballet. That will never change,” said Ballet member and the show’s producing director Ian Hussey, who noted the creative control the performers are given is, while time-consuming, also refreshing. “Every year we have younger people, older people, people who do it every year, people who’ve never done it before. They take time out of their schedule, on lunch breaks, to create the pieces. Leading up to the event, people always ask me what it’s going to be like and the fun part is I’m just as surprised as anybody; I provide the template for them and then we let the choreographers do whatever they want.”
About 25 dancers participate each year.
Hussey said that, in the past few years, the event has included participation by outside performers. This year’s show will include pieces from the University of the Arts and BalletX.
The 2015 performance is centered around a boxing theme, an idea Hussey said was born in a design meeting.
“We always get together and talk about ideas and imagery for posters and advertisements. And Matt Bouloutian, the graphic designer, started talking about his fascination with old-school vintage boxing posters and how graphically they’re so gripping. And then we saw how that idea fits so well with what we do for MANNA and what MANNA does for the community,” Hussey said. “From there we came up with the ‘Help us knock out illness’ tagline and everyone in the room just said, ‘Yes, that’s definitely it.’ It’s such a cool idea and totally different from what we’ve done before.”
While the theme changes each year, so too does the audience, which continues to grow with each performance.
MANNA event manager Laura Payne said the show draws both longtime supporters and newcomers, as well as ballet aficionados and novices.
“It’s gotten bigger and bigger every year,” she said. “We definitely have an audience that has been coming all 23 years. Many people have told us they were there in the beginning and still buy tickets every year. But then there are new people, a lot of younger people, just finding out about it. And you don’t have to follow ballet to enjoy it, that’s one of the great parts.”
That the show is just one night, Hussey added, is one of its most unique points.
“People don’t want to miss out on it because it’s such a wonderful night of incredible, unique energy. It’s a show filled with so much love and passion,” he said. “It’s hard finding time to rehearse but everyone says on the day of the show that it’s always worth it. Seeing the audience come in so full of energy, and then we’re so excited, creates a wonderful relationship between audiences and dancers. It’s a unique, fun, high-energy event with a roller coaster of emotions: laughter, tears, joy. It runs the gamut.”
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.mannapa.org/shut-up-and-dance-2015/.