Age: 21 • Home: Rocky River • Dances: GroundWorks DanceTheater
By Amanda Koehn
When Ahna Bonnette was 9 years old, it first clicked that dancing professionally could be a real option. After years of training hard, in 2022 that became a reality when she joined GroundWorks DanceTheater – a company unusually good in terms of its comfortable environment and opportunities to work with choreographers from around the world, she says. It’s all kept her “happy ever since.”
Bonnette describes her style as contemporary, but notes her “secret little love” for ballet also plays a role.
“I really like taking classical structures of dance and distorting them and contorting them … kind of breaking the structure and the mold a little bit,” she says.
Growing up in Scottsdale, Ariz., Bonnette’s mother, a former NFL cheerleader for the Philadelphia Eagles, started her in ballet classes at 2 years old.
“Honestly since that day, I don’t think a day has gone by in my life that I haven’t danced,” Bonnette says.
At age 9, she met her mentor, dancer and artistic director Peter Chu. That’s also when she first got into contemporary dance, enjoying its lack of rules compared to ballet or jazz, she says.
Coming up in a generation where competitive dance is often the main route to good training, Bonnette says she struggled with finding good teachers and with the ultra-competitive nature of the system. She also graduated high school at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic – another challenge, as the world shut down just as she was auditioning for dance schools. She worried about having to hide her facial expressions behind a mask during auditions. While her studio was closed, she worked out and did ballet in her living room, but it was different and she felt a “big impact” dancing again after.
“I had to kind of get my head back on straight and be like, maybe my body doesn’t feel the same as it did before the pandemic, but this is just something new that we’re going to have to adjust to,” she says. “And I had to kind of be like, no negative judgment on myself.”
Bonnette was accepted to State University of New York at Purchase to pursue a BFA in dance, but stayed only one year – it didn’t feel right at the time, she says. Instead, she joined Chu touring the country. They also spent a month-and-a-half in Germany with the Augsburg Ballet.
From there, she began auditioning for professional companies, including GroundWorks, which is based in the Shaker Square neighborhood of Cleveland and performs on stages throughout Northeast Ohio.
“I ended up falling in love with the company the second I got here,” she says, adding she was surprised to find she loved Cleveland too, noting the city’s underrated charm.
After signing her first professional contract with GroundWorks in June 2022, she just signed onto her second year. Bonnette is one of five dancers in the company, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary season.
“It felt homey, and it didn’t feel like it was a competition,” she says of her audition for GroundWorks. “It’s a special environment … I’ve never been to an audition like that in my life. All the other ones felt very cutthroat.”
She describes Founding Artistic Director David Shimotakahara as “the most caring, loving, thoughtful boss and director, and brings in the most amazing choreographers,” to work with. Also noting its educational outreach – GroundWorks works with public schools to teach and perform for students – she says the company is a special place altogether.
One of her favorite performances was her first with GroundWorks, a work by Rena Butler at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights in summer 2022.
“It was a kind of a creepy piece,” Bonnette says. “It was a little bit darker and we got to play a lot of characters, and playing a dark character on that stage at night was just so much fun.”
Looking ahead, Bonnette says she wants “to stay on the stage for as long as I can.” Also interested in choreographing and behind-the-scenes aspects like costume design – opportunities she gets to try at GroundWorks – she’s in the right place.
“I love being on the artistic side of the dance as well as being the body and the dancer,” she says.
“Ahna has a remarkable physical range and theatrical sense that captivates audiences. As a creative collaborator, I find she is compassionate and aware in ways beyond her years.”
David Shimotakahara, Founding Artistic Director, GroundWorks DanceTheater
On View
Fall Performance Series:
• Playhouse Square’s Allen Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13-14;
1407 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. Info and tickets at groundworksdance.org
• The Knight Stage at Akron Civic Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3-4;
182 S. Main St., Akron. Info and tickets at groundworksdance.org
