{"id":2326227,"date":"2026-03-13T10:13:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2326227"},"modified":"2026-03-13T10:13:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:13:22","slug":"jacob-jonas-stages-his-first-post-cancer-performance-at-broadstage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/jacob-jonas-stages-his-first-post-cancer-performance-at-broadstage\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacob Jonas stages his first post-cancer performance at BroadStage"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cThe work is about healing,\u201d choreographer and cancer survivor Jacob Jonas said.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re sitting against the brick wall of a building with the sun beating down, a few feet from the entrance to the Los Angeles Ballet studio in Sawtelle, where dancers in Jonas\u2019 eponymous company practice for \u201cKeeping Score,\u201d a trilogy by Jonas premiering next week at the BroadStage in Santa Monica. They finish rehearsal by stretching and running through choreography. Music blasts.<\/p>\n

Minutes prior, dancers scattered across the studio, looking at their phones as they tried to pick up dance steps from a video. Incense burned at the front near Jonas\u2019 work station. Dancer Alyse Rockett tossed her phone on the seat next to me, revealing the material for which the troupe has been preparing.<\/p>\n

The three works in \u201cKeeping Score,\u201d titled \u201cProduct of Divorce,\u201d \u201cNature Sounds While the IV Drips\u201d and \u201cRestart,\u201d document Jonas\u2019 evolving relationship to illness following his 2022 diagnosis of Stage 4 lymphoma. The trilogy marks Jonas\u2019 first post-cancer piece, and Jonas reflects on how his environment affected his life before, during and after cancer.<\/p>\n

Coinciding with his recently published<\/u><\/a> memoir, \u201cCemented Beauty,\u201d which includes journal entries and photos from his journey through chemotherapy, Jonas, 33, considers \u201cKeeping Score\u201d the final purge of a chapter that altered his understanding of life, relationships and nature.<\/p>\n

As a recent rehearsal transitioned into a run of \u201cNature Sounds While the IV Drips,\u201d seven dancers separated into two lines. The piece has eight sections, representing eight rounds of chemotherapy. A new performer enters each round. They begin moving, quickly shifting from one pose to the next and slamming their hands and bodies against the ground to create an audible rhythm that cuts through the sounds of rain and wind coming from the speakers \u2014 like IV drips.<\/p>\n

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Dancers with Jacob Jonas the Company practice drills with Jonas\u2019 dog Sam at his dance studio before an upcoming performance at BroadStage.<\/p>\n

(Brian Feinzimer \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cCancer is really beautiful,\u201d Jonas said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of trauma, and there\u2019s a lot of pain, but there\u2019s also a lot of family and beauty along the way. It\u2019s profound to be able to revisit the deepest parts of yourself and humanity in that struggle, and try to make sense of it and organize it in the process of making work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonas\u2019 lymphoma developed as a side effect of the medication he was taking for Crohn\u2019s disease. Looking back, he believes his illness is deeper than that \u2014 tied to his psychology and early childhood experiences. \u201cKeeping Score\u201d is inspired by Bessel van der Kolk\u2019s book, \u201cThe Body Keeps the Score,\u201d which details how trauma manifests in the body through illness. Jonas reflects this thought process in his choreography by unpacking his experience as a child of divorce.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the reason I have disease in my body, in some part, is because of the stresses, traumas and pains that are stored in my body, in large part because of the environment that I was raised in growing up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeeping Score\u201d culminates work developed from three years of workshop material. It began in the summer of 2023 during a residency with Orsolina28 Art Foundation<\/u><\/a> in Italy. Jonas went into remission that April and immediately dove into his creative process, setting \u201cRestart\u201d alongside a previously developed piece titled \u201cMind Cry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRestart\u201d investigates soil and the cycles of Earth\u2019s ecosystems to reflect on what it means to begin again post-cancer. Over the years of creation, Jonas learned to embrace loneliness, something he grew accustomed to during treatment, and the act of continuing.<\/p>\n

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Jacob Jonas works with members of his eponymous dance company. His newest trilogy, premiering at BroadStage, explores his cancer diagnosis and recovery.<\/p>\n

(Brian Feinzimer \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cIn watching waves crash in the ocean, it never stops,\u201d Jonas said. \u201cThe tides shift, the force of the waves changes, but it always continues. I look at my relationship to my work the same. It\u2019s always just continuing to happen, and if I wanted to stop or run away, the stresses of life wouldn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years, Jonas developed a movement language called \u201cThe System\u201d that aims to release pain and trauma in the body through physical expression and an attempt to release energy into the universe. This results in percussive sounds of body parts clapping against one another and the ground. The System is inspired by randomness within nature and the somatic elements of breakdancing, which Jonas grew up doing in Venice Beach. His practice can be intentionally repetitive, reflecting the monotony of cancer treatment, and inspires viewers to meditate with the movement.<\/p>\n

His dancers find inspiration in the patterns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI move from a feelings type of place, but in this environment, you have to forget feelings sometimes,\u201d Rockett said. \u201cI feel like heavy machinery, where you just have to press the button and the machine comes on. It challenges me to arrive and go and not rely so much on my feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t do something like that before,\u201d dancer Marco Palomino added. \u201cYou [usually] have to find the feeling within the movement; [here] the movement creates the feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in the rehearsal room, Jonas focuses on laying out the structure before he stitches the pieces together into a cohesive trilogy. This is one rehearsal of many as the troupe plans to meet for eight hours, five days a week, leading up to the final show.<\/p>\n

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Jacob Jonas with members of his dance company, as well as his dog. The troupe is performing a new trilogy at BroadStage in Santa Monica.<\/p>\n

(Brian Feinzimer \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cThis process is refreshing because we\u2019ve come very prepared with a lot of systems and techniques and group behaviors,\u201d dancer Emma Rosenzweig-Bock said.<\/p>\n

Jonas\u2019 cancer experience impacted his relationships and his sense of what movement can communicate, separating his life into before and after illness.<\/p>\n

In 2020 Jonas received backlash for an Instagram post<\/u><\/a> he made in solidarity with Black Americans following the murder of George Floyd, amid growing Black Lives Matter protests. A picture he posted of a Black dancer being supported by a white police officer was considered by some to have missed the mark. That was a difficult moment for Jonas, who says the harsh response involved untrue statements about his character and intentions, \u201cI have always stood for community,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Today Jonas feels grounded and at peace. He watches as his dancers parse through a section in the studio, repeating a phrase until they are in unison. Standing in a line, they fall into syncopated steps, slowly coming together for a single breath and hunch. He explained that cancer doesn\u2019t just affect the one person going through treatment, but everyone around them. \u201cKeeping Score\u201d is an act of exposing the deepest and darkest sides of him for all to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is in pain, and everyone needs love,\u201d Jonas said. \u201cI think it\u2019s really that simple. The more we protect our vulnerabilities, the less access we have to connect. I think the more we share what\u2019s really going on, even if it\u2019s uncomfortable for those listening, it gives us all a deeper understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The upcoming Broad performances are a homecoming of sorts. Jonas grew up on 11th Street in Santa Monica near the BroadStage, and always skated close to the theater. He received his cancer treatments at the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center. This geographical footprint is important to him as he punctuates this chapter.<\/p>\n

Jonas looks around, taking in every detail of the trees, sky and gravel. Dancers periodically interrupt our chat, waving and hugging Jonas as they leave. The sun slowly moves against our skin. At the end of the interview, he smiles and closes his eyes.<\/p>\n

Following a moment of silence, listening to the wind and rustling leaves, he says, \u201cThe sun is healing us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jacob Jonas the Company, “Keeping Score”<\/p>\n

Where:<\/b> BroadStage, 1310 11th Street, Santa Monica<\/p>\n

When:<\/b> 7:30 p.m. March 19 and 20; and 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. March 22. <\/p>\n

Ticket:<\/b> Start at $35<\/p>\n

Contact:<\/b> (310) 434-3200 or broadstage.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n