BroadStage presents the world premiere of Keeping Score by Jacob Jonas- March 29-22, 2026- Preview, Tickets

A Groundbreaking Dance Theater Trilogy on Trauma, Healing, and the Body’s Memory

Jacob Jonas: Choreographer, Innovator, and Visionary of Movement as Medicine

BroadStage presents the world premiere of Keeping Score, an ambitious, deeply personal dance trilogy from acclaimed movement artist Jacob Jonas to be performed across three days on March 19, 20, and 22, integrating dance with health and community engagement.

Described by Jonas as his most introspective and expansive work to date, Keeping Score intersects contemporary dance, performance art, musical composition, and theatrical storytelling to explore how early life trauma, illness, and resilience are encoded in the body. As a stage four cancer survivor, Jonas draws on personal vulnerability to explore the body as both a site of conflict and renewal. The trilogy is a journey to understanding illness—before, during, and after — exploring the vulnerabilities of being human.

Drawing inspiration from the bestselling trauma literature The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, this performance trilogy is structured as three distinct yet interwoven works:

• Product of Divorce: examining childhood environments shaped by instability and emotional fracture.

• Nature Sounds While the IV Drips: reflecting on the randomness and rhythm of cancer and recovery.

• Restart: a meditation on reactivation, the ongoing questions of existence, and life after trauma.

Born and raised in Santa Monica, Jonas’s personal history is embedded in the trilogy. After street-performing on Venice Beach and Third Street Promenade in his teens, he pursued formal movement training as a young adult and co-founded Jacob Jonas The Company at age 21. Now in its 12th year, the company has developed a global reputation for adventurous work that transcends genre, blurring lines between concert dance, theatrical presence, and immersive experience.

“This piece is not about answers,” Jonas explains. “It’s about the questions of why we hurt, why we heal, why we keep going. What I hope audiences take away is a sense of acceptance, curiosity, and connection.”

Keeping Score is presented in two main performance blocks, with an all day journey that expands the experience beyond the theater with an afternoon showing of Parts I and II, curated film installations from films.dance projected on loop in the BroadStage plaza, a short walk or shuttle ride to UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center for a free public guided meditation session and a panel conversation with Jonas, and a concluding evening performance of Part III.

One poignant, theatrical element of the performance will feature his grandmother, whose bedtime readings of the children’s story Babar in his childhood helped shape the emotional arc of the work, may appear on stage as part of the performance, blending memoir with mythic presence. Elephants, family symbolism, and the phrase “the elephant in the room” resonate throughout the trilogy as metaphors for memory and the unseen impacts of life experience.

Performance dates and times:

• Thursday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m.: RESTART

• Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m.: NATURE SOUNDS WHILE THE IV DRIPS/ PRODUCT OF DIVORCE

• Sunday, March 22 at 2 p.m.: PRODUCT OF DIVORCE / NATURE SOUNDS WHILE THE IV DRIPS

• Sunday, March 22 at 6 p.m.: RESTART

Original music composed for the work incorporates nature soundscapes and binaural sound elements that support meditative states, enhancing the sensory texture of each piece and inviting audiences into embodied reflection.

About the Dance Theater Trilogy

KEEPING SCORE

THE DUST OF OUR PAST. RELEASING SELF OF THE TRAUMAS THAT EMERGED INTO ILLNESS. ALLOWING MOTHER NATURE TO SURRENDER TO INTERCONNECTION. MYCORRHIZA- INTERWOVEN BEINGS BETWEEN PLANT, ANIMAL AND FUNGI. AN ORGANIZATION TO HEAL THE INNER CHILD.

I PRODUCT OF DIVORCE FT ANTONIO SANCHEZ
ENVIRONMENT. THE FALSITY OF TRUE COMPANIONSHIP. THE CHILD’S NERVOUS SYSTEM MUST BE NURTURED, FOR IF NOT, ITS CELLULAR INTELLIGENCE WILL BE DAMAGED.

II NATURE SOUNDS WHILE THE IV DRIPS
WAR. MANS NATURE AGAINST CHEMOTHERAPY. SONIC COMPANIONSHIP TO MEDITATE. EIGHT MOVEMENTS- EACH PORTRAYING A TREATMENT CYCLE.

III RESTART

SOIL. AN ECOSYSTEM OF EARTH’S CRUST. FOUND IN PLACE OF CONSTRUCTION, BURIAL, OR GARDENING. SHE MUST GUIDE HIM, AND HE WILL BE OKAY. WAVES CONTINUE TO CRASH. THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE.

CAUTION:

DARKNESS, LIGHT AND VULNERABILITY ARE ON DISPLAY. WITNESS THIS WORK WITH CARE, EMPATHY, AND COURAGE.

NOTE FROM JACOB: THIS IS MY FIRST POST-CANCER WORK. INSPIRED BY BESSEL VAN DER KOLK’S THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE. THIS TRILOGY IS A JOURNEY TO UNDERSTANDING ILLNESS. BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER. ALL THREE WORKS WILL BE PRESENTED OVER THREE DAYS AS AN IMMERSIVE FULL-BODIED DANCE THEATER EXPERIENCE.

Keeping Score exemplifies BroadStage’s commitment to presenting work that is intellectually rigorous, emotionally rich, and resonant with both local and international audiences, positioning the venue as a site where performance, community, and inquiry intersect.

About BroadStage

Founded in 2008, BroadStage is a contemporary performing arts presenter in Santa Monica that energizes audiences through bold and outstanding performances, personal connection, immersive experiences, and interactive educational programs. A proud partner of Santa Monica College, BroadStage’s primary venue is the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, which includes three venues: The Eli & Edythe Broad Stage, a 535-seat venue combining the warmth of a small theater with the acoustics and staging of a grand hall, The Edye, an intimate black box space, and The Plaza an indoor/outdoor space perfect for live music, dancing, and community building. Under the leadership of Artistic & Executive Director Rob Bailis, BroadStage is broadening its impact through a new artistic vision and expanded venue footprint, celebrating our shared humanity and expanding the role the arts play in the vitality of our diverse community. To learn more about BroadStage visit www.BroadStage.org.

Editors, please note: BroadStage (a single word) is the name of the arts presenting body of The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage. The organization is named after the venue. Please do not confuse BroadStage with The Broad (two words) which is the contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles.