ConverseNation - Pones. Inc.

For Pones Inc. it’s never enough to just make a dance.

They do dance, mind you. But these performers are as committed to probing social issues as they are demonstrating their virtuoso chops as dancers.

During last summer’s Cincinnati Fringe Festival, for instance, they created a dark and disturbing work called Traffick that focused on human trafficking.

Now, Pones is back with ConverseNation, which explores the “dynamics of wealth and poverty in Cincinnati,” according to Kim Popa, the group’s co-founder and executive director.

“This is actually a piece that we took to Italy in August,” says Popa. “It was performed as part of the CrisisART Festival in Arezzo. But we always knew that we want to remount the piece and perform it here.”

On the one hand, it’s a walking tour of Over the Rhine. But other than its starting and ending points – Washington Park and the Arts Academy – this is not a sightseer’s tour of OTR hot spots.

There are no hot dogs at Senate or doughnuts at Holtman’s. Rather, this is a trip to out-of-the-way  places – a tiny park at Race and 14^th, “the big green building next to Kroger’s” on Vine Street, a nondescript spot on Republic Street, where the 14 dancers will perform a brief collaborative work with Queen City Flash, the theater group responsible for last summer’s The Complete Tom: 1 Adventures.

There are live musicians, too, and videos documenting the more than 30 interviews company members did with OTR residents.

While ConverseNation is all about wealth and poverty, though, Popa is determined not to politicize the material.

“The goal isn’t to ostracize people,” says Popa. “We don’t want to villainize the wealthy and glorify poverty. That happens a lot.”

But there is a measure of inequality and injustice that live side by side in OTR. And it is that that Popa wanted to explore.

“In one case, we interviewed a woman living in extreme poverty. And then the next person we spoke to was a woman living in a dream house – a beautiful, pristine townhouse next door. They’re right next to each other.”

Even so, Popa is adamant that Pones isn’t taking sides.

“There really isn’t a simple answer. If there were, someone would have come up with it long before now. We don’t have the answers. We just want to make sure that people have the conversation.”

Performances: 7-8:30 p.m. Friday-Sunday, Oct. 10-12.

Tickets: $12. Make reservations here, then pay at the show with cash, check or credit card.