Take it from past audiences: Up-Close sells out annually for good reason
"Jaw is still on the floor. Beautiful beautiful humans and choreography."
"The most intense performance in my experience"
Mutual Dance Theatre: Up-Close '26
December 3-12, 2026 at the Mutual Arts Studio in Hartwell
Surround yourself in an enrapturing modern dance experience
In our annual Up-Close series, Mutual Dance Theatre’s immensely talented resident company performs in the round, inches from the audience. Every seat is a front-row seat!An audience favorite and quickly sold-out every year, Up-Close is not your typical dance performance. Audience members surround the performers in a small, converted rehearsal studio. You will feel the movement through the floor, hear the breaths, and be part of the action of experimental, long-form works.Past audiences describe it as immersive, immediate, and unforgettable: “jaw is still on the floor; beautiful humans and choreography” and “the most intense performance in my experience.”This year’s program features two heavy-hitters: a second look at |S|P|A|C|E|, which enveloped and wow-ed audiences during the COVID pandemic, and Anchored...in the Middle of an Ocean, a new commission from the beloved Countess V. Winfrey. Winfrey's last work for Up-Close was called her “opus.”Tickets are limited: this is the only chance all season to see Mutual Dance Theatre’s resident company this close, breath and step within reach! One audience member shared, “I love the intimacy of the studio black box. Proximity to the dancers creates a palpable level of connection to their movement and emotion. This is unlike any other theater.”Get your tickets now to experience Anchored...in the Middle of an Ocean and |S|P|A|C|E| before this sells out!Want to know more? See more? Join our email list here for deep insights, videos, photo, artist profiles, and more. You can also follow MDT on Instagram or Facebook.
Steven P. Evans
Steven P. Evans‘ |S|P|A|C|E| features a floor-to-ceiling curtain of translucent plastic that divides the room — and the audience — in two. Made during the isolation of 2020, |S|P|A|C|E| poses questions about distance, misunderstanding, and the ways we mask and separate from one another. In a season built around what we inherit and what persists, this look back lands with resonance. |S|P|A|C|E| was one of our earliest experiments in the immersive format at the Hartwell studio: we divide the audience, bring them together, and collectively feel the whir of the air stirred by massive pieces of plastic that both obscure and transmute.
Countess V. Winfrey
Countess V. Winfrey is not only a newly appointed associate artistic director with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, but a Mutual Dance Theatre favorite. Back for a second commission in this unique format, Winfrey’s first Up-Close Work (Somewhere, They Freed Themselves) received palpable audience praise and was described by one viewer as her opus. Another audience member wrote, “each person in my party was hit hard.” Winfrey’s new piece, “Anchored…In the Middle of an Ocean,” arrives at the height of her career, culminating after 14 years of performing, choreographing, and mentoring. “Anchored…” explores various dichotomies, including both the majesty and the tragedy that can exist in love, comparable to the beauty and destructiveness of an ocean.
MASTERCLASS FOR DANCERS
Saturday, December 5, 2026, 12-1:30pm
For experienced dancers, learn parts of |S|P|A|C|E| in the very performance space with Steven P. Evans, choreographer! Artistic Director, Jeanne Mam-Luft will observe. $20 pre-registered. $25 day-of. Register today to save $5!
CHOREOGRAPHER INTERVIEW
Saturday, December 12, 2027 7pm
Come early for an interview hosted by Jeanne Mam-Luft with choreographers Steven P. Evans and Countess V. Winfrey. These interviews — an audience favorite! — are newly added to the Up-Close series for the first time this season.
AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION
Saturday, December 12, 2027 performance
Please inform the ushers of your need for a clear sight-line to the interpreter.
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Subscriptions are our best deal!Settle your whole year at once — no scrambling later.Get first dibs on the best Director's Choice seats and the always-sold-out Up-Close.And, allow us to spend more of our time in our nonprofit work.
Mutual Dance Theatre in Up-Close '26
December 3-12, 2026
Immersive, surprising, and human
Boca Tuya of New York City
February 26-27, 2027
Cinematic brainchild of rising star Omar Román de Jesús
Mutual Dance Theatre in Modern Mix '27
April 30 – May 1, 2027
Stunning talent in a tour-de-force of new and canon MDT works
for experienced dancers
Repertory MasterclasswithSteven P. Evans
Dancers: learn an excerpt from |S|P|A|C|E| in the space with choreographer Steven P. Evans! Artistic Director Jeanne Mam-Luft will observe.
Saturday, December 5, 202612-1:30pmMutual Arts Center Hartwell Studio$20 pre-registered, $25 day-of registrationsCapped at 25 students
WATCH
Mutual Dance Theatre is our resident company who — as opposed to our out-of-town guest presentations — creates and produces work year-round here in Cincinnati. Meet the company and choreographers of Up-Close ’26.
Choreographers
Countess V. Winfrey
Countess V. Winfrey, a native of Nashville, TN, was recently promoted from company member and rehearsal director to Associate Artistic Director Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. Winfrey has spent 13 seasons building a career as performer, creator, and mentor. She has danced works by historically significant choreographers including Ulysses Dove, Talley Beatty, Rennie Harris, Paul Taylor, Dwight Rhoden (Complexions Dance), Donald McKayle, Ray Mercer (Lion King and PHILADANCO! choreographer in residence), and Ronald K. Brown (EVIDENCE Dance). Countess has performed in Bermuda, China, Kazakhstan, and Russia, including halls like Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater (2018), Lincoln Center (2019), The Joyce Theater (2020, 2024), and the American Dance Festival (2018, 2025). She attended the University of Memphis and also performed with ClancyWorks Dance Company (Washington, DC). Countess returns to Mutual Dance Theatre with a second commission: her first, “Somewhere, They Found Freedom” resonated with audiences so strongly that one viewer commented it should be considered “her opus.”
Steven P. Evans
Steven P. Evans joined Mutual Dance Theatre when it was MamLuft&Co. Dance in 2014. During 3 seasons as a Company Member, Evans’ talent was quickly apparent: he performed lead roles and heavily contributed choreography in Artistic Director Jeanne Mam-Luft’s canon of works including /SHIFT/, Maps, and Memoriam. After starring The Double by Susan Honer, an evening-length work based on the eponymous Dostoevsky novella, Honer led the creation of seminal company works The Tragedy of Time (which premiered at the Cincinnati Art Museum in conjunction with the WWI Centennial) and Double|Sided (which premiered at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center to sold-out audiences). As a Company Member, Evans also collaborated with Dutch sound artist, Allard Van Hoorn through a partnership with the Contemporary Arts Center. Beginning in 2020, Evans led the Company as Director whilst creating new stageworks. Evans hails originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance and Choreography at Ohio University, as well as a Master of Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University. While at Ohio University, he was the recipient of the Undergraduate Student Enhancement Award and the College of Fine Arts Creative Research Award for his project “Improvisational Dance: Performance Development, Exploration, and Movement Stylization.” Evans apprenticed with Sean Curran Company in New York City in 2012.
