Event Description

Ajayi Dance is a Cleveland based dance company with a goal to create dance that inspires connection to self, others, community, and the world around us. Since its inception in 2021, founder and director Melissa Ajayi has created more than a dozen original works which have been presented at multiple festivals and venues in the Cleveland area including Cleveland Public Theatre’s DanceWorks series, Cleveland Dance Festival, MicroTheatre, Ingenuity Fest, Borderlight Festival and is thrilled to make their debut at the historic Playhouse Square.

Half the Sky is a curated evening of contemporary dance works that explore themes of individual and collective identity and responsibility. The program features a cast of 18 local dancers representing the depth of Cleveland’s artistic landscape and includes new and recent works by Melissa Ajayi including AGAIN and AGAIN and (2025), and selected excerpts of Gentle Men Let Us Rest (in progress).

Ajayi Dance is also excited to invite guest artist Annika Sheaff back to Cleveland to set her work Time is a Mountain (2025) on the Ajayi Dance artists and to perform Wish you were here (2021) by Monica Bill Barnes.