Louisville, Kentucky
About the Louisville Regional NACHMO Hub
NACHMO Louisville was established in 2021 and held its inaugural showing virtually. Since then, the hub has hosted in-person showings each year at the Kentucky NACHMO Dance Festival, the only dance festival of its kind in the state!
The NACHMO Louisville hub is presented by Ambo Dance Theatre, Directed by Amberly Simpson. Their annual showings feature works from Ambo Dance Theatre artists and local creatives from in and around Kentucky.
Contact: Amberly M. Simpson of Ambo Dance Theatre, ambodancetheatre@gmail.com
2024 Showing Information
Date: Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23 at 7:00pm
Location: Commonwealth Theatre Center (1923 Payne Street, Louisville, KY 40206)
About the Show: The 4th Annual Kentucky NACHMO Dance Festival will feature works of 15 choreographers with many pieces having a collaborative creative process. Doors to each show will open an hour in advance to feature a silent auction perform performances begin.
Cost: Pay what you can! ($20 recommended)
Partners: Ambo Dance Theatre
Styles of Dance: Modern, contemporary, improvisational scores, tap, nontraditional partnering, and post-modern.
NACHMO Louisville Showing Process and Details
PARTICIPATING AS A PERFORMER
Ambo Dance Theatre welcomes dancers of all backgrounds, experiences, and abilities to audition and participate in The Kentucky NACHMO Dance Festival. Auditions typically take place at the end of December and/or start of January.
PARTICIPATING AS A CHOREOGRAPHER
There are an infinite number of ways you can participate in NACHMO. You can simply do the prompts for your own enjoyment and artistic enlightenment, or you can go full force and use the NACHMO prompts to create a new experimental work! If the latter is something you’re interested in, then you may want to consider participating in the Kentucky Hub, and performing as part of The Kentucky NACHMO Dance Festival!
By participating in the Kentucky NACHMO Hub, you’ll have the opportunity to perform your work for a live audience. Works can be both live or film-based, highly traditional, or wildly experimental in nature. There are no limits!
Family-friendly content is preferred as we do have young people (12+) who participate in the NACHMO experience, but accommodations can be made for the performance as we are able.
Performance Requirements
Register to participate in the January Challenge through NACHMO’s National Hub.
Complete the January Challenge and use the prompts to guide the creation of a new experimental work.
Turn in your production fee.
$100 production fee that covers theatre space use during shows and tech rehearsals, lighting, and photography and videography of your work.
Financial assistance is available (contact Ambo Dance Theatre directly).
Submit progress videos of your work to Amberly M. Simpson/Ambo Dance Theatre on the designated dates (timelines vary each year).
Attend tech week rehearsals.
Perform in the show!
2024 Production Timeline
January 1-31: choreographers participate in the NACHMO January Challenge daily prompts (about 5-15 minutes per day).
January 1-March: rehearsal timeframe
Choreographers set your own rehearsal schedule. Ambo has limited capacity to provide rehearsal space at their studio.
February 18: progress video #1 and production fee due.
March 10: final progress video due.
March 20: in studio run-through.
Lighting designer present to take notes; photos taken for program.
March 21: tech and dress rehearsal in theatre.
March 22 and 23: performances!
Email ambodancetheatre@gmail.com to officially sign up to participate!
Hub Leaders
Amberly M. Simpson
Photography: Headshot by Larry Green ; Dance shot by Chris Kasari
Amberly M. Simpson (she/they) is a Choreographer, Dancer, and Dance Educator/Advocate originally from Glendale, California. She specializes in Modern, Post-Modern, and Contemporary Dance forms, creating work that is often interdisciplinary in nature to provide commentary on social issues and the human condition. By day, she is the Dance Director and Musical Theatre Co-Director at Noe Middle School, but by night she serves as the Artistic Director of Ambo Dance Theatre. Amberly's work with Ambo Dance Theatre has been presented at venues such as the American Dance Festival Movies by Movers, Brighton Dance Festival, the Going Dutch Festival, the Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival, the Elgin Fringe Festival, and Princeton Research Day where her collaboration with Dr. David Vartanyan received the Impact Award. In 2019, she was honored as one of the Hadley Creatives through the Community Foundation of Louisville, and in 2022 she worked alongside her Dance colleagues in the Jefferson County Public Schools to launch the first ever All County Dance program for the state of Kentucky. In her spare time, Amberly volunteers her time as a reviewer for Arts-Louisville, providing commentary and critique on professional dance productions in the greater Louisville area.
Ambo Dance Theatre
Logo by Joe Welsh
Ambo Dance Theatre (Louisville, KY) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dance company and arts organization dedicated to furthering the artistry, accessibility, and professional opportunities within modern and contemporary dance. Their work is often interdisciplinary in nature, combining elements from theatre, film, photography, and visual arts to create works that touch on social issues and the human condition. Using a collaborative model for creation, Ambo Dance Theatre not only presents the unique voice of the choreographer, but also the direct input and movement vocabulary of the dancers themselves to create innovative, integrative, and original modern dance works that unify a variety of perspectives on complex topics.