In March, Matthew Roberts met Ronnie in Akron’s Middlebury neighborhood. Roberts was in the beginning stages of choreographing a new work focused on the experiences of homeless people. He was driving to a homeless shelter to interview people when he saw Ronnie flying a sign. The two chatted for a bit, and Roberts gave Ronnie some food before driving away.
Roberts didn’t make it very far before he realized he had just found someone to interview.
“[I] went around the corner, saw him again and said, ‘Hey, here’s my email. If you’d like, I’d love to interview you for this dance I’m creating,’” Roberts, 33, said during an interview at Guzzetta Hall at the University of Akron.
CDF | Akron Concert Series 2024
May 3 and 4, 7:30 p.m.
Akron-Summit County Public Library Main Auditorium
Tickets are free, but registration is required. (Walk-ups are welcome if seats are available.)
During the interview, Ronnie told Roberts about his upbringing and his experiences with addiction, homelessness and incarceration. The conversation completely changed how Roberts planned to approach his choreography.
“What I was going to create without his story would not have painted the unhoused in the correct light,” Roberts said. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve had a lot of experiences with the unhoused population. I think I can make a dance about it.’ And that was foolish to think. Because I’m coming from a fortunate situation. I’ve never had to ask someone for my next meal. I’ve never had to reach out to a stranger and get denied.”
Ronnie’s story is the impetus behind Roberts’ new work “Homesick,” which he will present this weekend as part of the Movement Project’s CDF | Akron Concert Series. The two-day event, which takes place at the downtown branch of the Akron-Summit County Public Library, will feature new works from emerging choreographers at Inlet Dance Theatre, Dancing Wheels Company, Ohio Contemporary Ballet, GroundWorks DanceTheater, and The Movement Project.
Series aims to provide pay, support to Akron choreographers
The Akron series is an offshoot of The Movement Project’s Cleveland Dance Festival, which aims to provide Cleveland artists with paid choreographic opportunities as well as professional resources and support. Megan Gargano, The Movement Project’s founder and artistic director, said the organization now wants to do the same for Akron dancers.
“There is a lot of rich dance here, but it tends to not necessarily [be] Akron-based. It’s a lot of artists, like, for example, The Movement Project: We do a lot of work here, but our location is in Fairview Park in Cleveland,” Gargano said. “The goal is to create a space for Akron dance artists, to cultivate an ecosystem for dance artists to get paid for their work.”
As The Movement Project’s 2024 choreographic fellow, Roberts, who is also the founder of the Akron-based Frtrss Dance Theatre, will present “Homesick” at both of the Akron Concert Series shows and again in the fall at the Cleveland Dance Festival.
“He has this really [good] understanding of himself as a mover, and he is able to convey a lot of narrative and emotion through his movement,” Gargano said of Roberts’ choreography. “I feel like he’s able to really draw people in, and they find a level of connection that’s really human and really personal.”
Roberts was inspired to create “Homesick” after coming across Street Sheet, a newspaper published by the Coalition on Homelessness, while working in California last December. He also drew inspiration from his own interactions with people experiencing homelessness. While studying dance at Marymount Manhattan College, Roberts said, he saw homelessness on a large scale for the first time.
“I saw people in New York that were ignored, dismissed and treated like lepers. And I just kept asking myself, why are we doing this?” he said. “It made me feel guilty. It made me feel conflicted. And it just really rattled my spirit the wrong way.”
Those feelings stayed with Roberts after college as he moved around the country, working at dance companies in Dallas and Oakland, California, among other places.
“It almost kept knocking on my soul, like, do something,” said Roberts, who knocked his fist on the table for emphasis.
Told in five movements, “Homesick” follows the character R.J., who becomes unhoused after a relationship ends and he loses his job. He finds community with others experiencing homelessness even as he struggles to accept his situation.
“Homesick” is Ronnie’s story – Roberts paid Ronnie for the interview and also hired him to make signs for the production – but it’s Roberts’ storytelling. Through choreography, Roberts wants to present a narrative about people experiencing homelessness that is grounded in compassion and his Christian faith. Creating “Homesick” also forced Roberts to examine his own actions and views.
“For a long time I was just in this place [of] feeling pity for them. If you stay at a place of pity, the relationship is not mutual. They just become some sort of project or something to be fixed,” Roberts said. This realization led him to change how he interacts with homeless people.
“[I would no longer] just roll down my window and hand them food without looking them in the face. I started saying, ‘Hey, what’s your name?’ I started communicating with them. I started asking, ‘How can I be praying for you? How can I help you?’”
Roberts decided to end “Homesick” on an uplifting note by focusing on the community R.J., the lead character, now has around him. Roberts isn’t interested in grandstanding or lecturing. The goal of “Homesick” is simply to present an intimate portrayal of homelessness that viewers might be unfamiliar with. What they choose to do with it is up to them.
“I don’t want it to just be, ‘Hey, we should help the homeless more.’ I wanted to avoid that. I don’t want this god complex to develop. I’m not the solution to this. And I’m not the one who needs to be pointing a finger. Because I’m still trying to fix this within myself,” he said. “I wanted to show, even if you’re not gonna move a muscle, they have their own hope. And it’s not dependent on you — but you could help.”
