Free outdoor dance recital tells how people are finding joy during the pandemic

For many people, joy is a commodity that’s been hard to come by for the past seven months.

And now the founder and artistic director of a Wichita modern dance company wants to know how people are finding joy during the days of pandemic and eventually translate that into a performance next spring.

“People are very, very hungry to talk about it and participate it and feel it and enjoy it,” said Regina Klenjoski, founder of the dance company that bears her name. “It’s something people are seeking. It has nothing to do with socioeconomic level or race or age, that we are all universal in our ability to experience it and draw from it.”

Discussions of “Radical Joy,” the title of the Regina Klenjoski Dance Company project, have already taken place.

A fall recital of “Radical Joy,” which Klenjoski is calling a “work in progress,” will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7 at Naftzger Park, 601 E. Douglas.

Klenjoski said the top three items that were bringing people joy, as brought up in the two discussions so far, were nature, serving others, and solitude.

“That came into the studio almost immediately,” she said of the ideas.

There were a number of people, Klenjoski herself at times, she said, who had a difficult time finding joy during this historic season.

“I thought of how radical it is for us to feel joy right now, because there’s so much suffering and pain going on. It’s very real for many of us,” she said. “I really want the work I make to connect with the community, to interact to transform personal relationships.”

Bringing thoughts and ideas to the discussions are mutually beneficial to members of the public and the four dancers who will be performing the piece, Klenjoski said.

“Not only is the purpose of that to create social connection, to offer an opportunity for Wichitans to contemplate the subject matter, but it’s also research for me and the dancers as thoughts and material and conversations come up for the professional work we’re creating,” she said.

Klenjoski is a modern dance choreographer who has owned her own professional studio in Los Angeles for the past 21 years and started her Wichita company in 2017.

The pandemic, she said, canceled her Kansas company’s plans for a California tour — called off last March, days before it was scheduled to begin — as well as a performance at Mark Arts and a residency for this fall season. Also delayed was a filming of “Out of Body,” the company’s Wichita debut from 2017.

“My work had come to a screeching halt like everybody else’s,” Klenjoski said. “Being in an industry where we’re going to have to really, really wait a long time because our work really depends on being together and interacting with others.”

The past few months, she said, have taught her to seek out her own joy.

“I have personally felt more joy in my life that is connected to resilience,” she said. “I have found that just discussing it, just having it as a subject in the forefront … leans you toward this. That’s exciting, because just talking about it in the community opens it up in our life and helps us build resilience.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 5:01 AM.