Adaptations Dance Theater Presents ADT ON DEMAND: A Fundraiser and Video Streaming Experience

Maui’s contemporary dance company Adaptations Dance Theater presents ADT ON DEMAND, an online fundraiser and video streaming experience taking place throughout the month of May.

ADT ON DEMAND provides a way for audiences to enjoy the company’s past and present concert dance productions from the comfort of their own homes and on their own schedules – at a time when live performances are still on hold.

Each Friday in May starting this week, a new video will be made available for on-demand streaming:

• Week one: Bring it Home 2018 (streaming Friday – May 14)
• Week two: Tiny Dances 2020 (streaming May 14 – 21)
• Week three: Bring it Home 2019 (streaming May 21 – 28)
• Week four: SEED Films Premiere (streaming May 28 – June 4)

Purchasing a ticket grants the buyer access via a unique link to the selected week’s video for one 24-hour period during the eight days that video is available for streaming. Buyers are able to activate their viewing period between 12 p.m. on their video’s first streaming day and 11:55 p.m. on its last streaming day. Each video requires its own ticket purchase via its respective website. Tickets range from $10 – $45 depending on the week and on the number of viewers selected. 

Weeks one and three present the most recent productions of “Bring it Home,” ADT’s summer residency and performance series that invites Maui-raised dancers who have moved off-island in pursuit of professional opportunities to come home and perform for their island community. Bring it Home casts comprise local and guest artists who are tasked to create original works within the span of a month-long residency that culminates with a weekend of performances. Since its inception, several Maui-raised guest artists have been able to participate in Bring it Home multiple times; and thus far, two artists have permanently relocated back to Maui.

Week two features the last live ADT performances that took place just before COVID-19 shutdowns were implemented in Maui County – a collection of in-studio showings called “Tiny Dances” that were performed for an intimate crowd in late January 2020, and the main stage performance of the commissioned work ‘Henosis’ at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s ArT=Mixx in early February 2020.

Week four shares the world premieres of the three “SEED” dance films produced earlier this year in adherence to COVID protocols, demonstrating the company’s resilience and commitment to keep its artists working and its audiences engaged amid the pandemic.

“Given the multiple starts and stops of the past year and considering all that we know, and don’t, about the next phase of COVID, we felt the need to make it easy, as well as safe, to see concert dance created and performed by Maui’s own,” said Jen Cox, Adaptations Dance Theater executive director. “We are so excited to celebrate the choreographic gems of previous years and garner support for what’s next in our company’s trajectory with ADT ON DEMAND.”

Prior to the pandemic, ADT was poised to launch its inaugural SEED residency and performance series in the spring of 2020, with the specific aim to sow the love of contemporary dance across new audiences within Maui, reaching those whose life circumstances made them unable to experience concert dance in the traditional theater setting.

Reflecting on the program within a COVID context only strengthens the importance of its mission, as now virtually everyone is blocked from accessing live performance. The initiative to make concert dance accessible widened in scope as a result – not only to share these original SEED works with nonprofit organizations and community locations that serve Maui’s elderly and under-resourced residents, but to everyone. 

“Due to COVID, we all find ourselves without this incredible outlet, and particularly in these times of heightened stress and increased isolation, it is essential to give ourselves that respite to engage with the arts, to connect with something beyond ourselves,” continued Cox. “The arts help us process emotions and release stress, rejuvenating us so that we are ready to handle whatever comes next in life. ADT is working to address this need in the best way we are able as a small nonprofit arts organization, by harnessing the power of digital to foster these vital connections.”

Ticket sales and donations made through ADT ON DEMAND will support the company’s work in making professional contemporary dance accessible to Maui audiences through its performance and education initiatives. The continued sharing of its SEED films at different community organizations will take place throughout the remainder of this year; organizations interested in scheduling a SEED film screening for their audiences can email director@adaptationsdancetheater.com.

Beyond participating in ADT ON DEMAND, people may support ADT by making a donation online.