Coffee with Creatives: Kim Popa
Cincinnati native and movement artist Kim Popa made the trek to Hellmann Creative Center to talk all things Pones Inc., social justice dance, accessibility in the arts, and creativity for all. We cannot wait to share her words of wisdom, inspiration, and future endeavors with you.
Self-described as a “naturally curious” person, Kim Popa finds a zest for life in continually creating. She cannot remember a time when she wasn’t dancing throughout her life. However, as she got older, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Initially deciding to go to the DAAP program at the University of Cincinnati for graphic design, Kim quickly learned that forcing herself into a more accepted career field, although creative, was not where she wanted to move forward. After a year and a half of trying, her father encouraged her to study dance, and she transferred to Northern Kentucky University where the inspiration for Pones, Inc. struck.
After learning all about the theatre of the oppressed from Dr. Daryl Harris, Kim, alongside one of her peers, decided to co-found a dance collective focused on social justice in 2008. By combining their last names, they gave their organization the name Pones, Inc. Today, this group has a robust group of dancers performing across the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area in community dance pieces, fringe shows, art exhibits, films, and more. Additionally, they provide dance classes highlighting the joy of movement and its healing properties for after-school programs, cancer support groups, memory care facilities, and more. Their MOVE program supports the work of independent artists of color via funding and facilitation. You may have seen Pones’ work at the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Art After Dark, in a Good Sam hospital, at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, in Walk the Moon’s music video for their song Anna Sun, or even in a flash mob proposal at Fountain Square. Kim reminisced with us about Pones collaborating with the Center for Great Neighborhoods to create a project in our very own Hellmann Creative Center when it was an abandoned lumber mill. To know Pones, Inc. is to know the work of Kim Popa, the collective of artists she has cultivated, their joined talents, and their impact on the Greater Cincinnati area.
In the Pones’ beginning stages, Kim described their quest to ask people why they do or do not dance. Most said they don’t know how, so they aren’t interested in participating. However, when asked about their first memories of dance, so many individuals expressed the joy of dancing on their father’s toes or creating routines with friends. Kim explained this disconnect as a “nurturing of dance and music in kids” but we are told to put that away as adults. With a husband in the sciences, Kim has been able to realize just how similar the scientific process is to the creative process. Yet, society uplifts one as more valuable than the other. Evident in her own journey from dance to graphic design and back to dance, Kim hopes that through her creativity, she can encourage folks to dance to express that creativity in the body. So much that cannot be said through language, can be uplifted through dance. Pones, from its inception, strives to highlight the voices of those who are often missing from the room. Social-emotional learning, social justice, healing, and connection are all facets that Kim focuses on and supports in dance and creativity in general. Through the same philosophy of Art Equals, Kim Popa and Pones, Inc. strive for the accessibility of dance by offering classes geared toward the exposure and joy of dance to communities where dance classes may not be as possible to attend due to challenges of the financial, physical, geographical and more. Covington, the Greater Cincinnati area, and the world of creators overall are lucky to have Kim Popa and her work through Pones for all that she inspires, facilitates, and creates.
Interested in what Kim and Pones, Inc. are up to next? Follow @ponesinc on Instagram or visit their website at pones.org. Also, check out their exciting new piece Deaf Republic: A Shadow Interpreted Visual Presentation which brings a collection of poems by Ilya Kaminsky to life via spoken word, dance, and ASL with shadow interpretation. It opens THIS THURSDAY, February 22, 2024 at 7:30 PM at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. For more information about the performance and to secure your tickets, visit https://ponesdeafrepublic.eventbrite.com.