Get your tickets now for next production in GHDT’s Mélange Series

Submitted

Mélange: concoction, mixture, combination.

This is your last opportunity of the season to experience The Mélange. In this series of performances brought to you by Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre (GHDT), audiences experience art coming to life in front of their eyes in an intimate theatrical setting. Each series features three unique and talented artists of different genres. Together they create art at The Florence in a collaborative and organic manner.

This Mélange Series features a vocalist, a dancer, and a visual artist. The dancer creates spontaneous movement inspired by the singer or vocalist, as the visual artist creates spontaneous art inspired by the dancer and the music. Audiences will experience live art in a new manner, bringing groundbreaking and creative art to central Indiana.

Audiences love the interactive nature of the Mélange performances. The artwork created during the performances is auctioned to audience members at the end of the performance.

The next production of the Mélange series features the vocal stylings of Angela Manlove, the stunning visuals of artist Debbie Slack, and the dynamic artistry of dancer Olivia Wells Payton.

The performances are set for 5 p.m. Saturday, May 16 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 17 at The Florence, 329 Gradle Drive, Carmel. Tickets are $25 for general admission seating and can be purchased at this link.

Vocalist: Angela Manlove

Angela Manlove says she is thrilled to join Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre’s Mélange Series, her first appearance with the company.

You may have recently seen her onstage in Caroline, or Change (The Moon, 2025); Next to Normal (Diana, 2025); The Bodyguard (Rachel Marron, 2023); or Ragtime (Sarah, 2019 & 2018). Other favorite past roles include Cathy in The Last Five Years (2013), TiMoune in Once On This Island (2008), Maria in West Side Story (2008) and Aida (2007).

By day, Manlove is a data analyst at an education nonprofit; by night she’s a wife and proud mom of two, juggling homework help with impromptu kitchen karaoke.

Dancer: Olivia Wells Payton

Olivia Wells Payton started training with The Academy of Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre in 2011.

In 2014, she joined the pre-professional company, G2, and will forever cherish her six seasons spent dancing alongside the other student dancers. In the summer of 2018, she attended Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s Summer Intensive on a full scholarship. She was the first recipient of the Florence Marie Hancock Memorial Scholarship in 2014 and is grateful to have received the scholarship again in 2019.

In 2020, she joined GHDT as a company dancer. She has had the pleasure to perform in the original casts of There’s No Place Like Home, Antony & Cleopatra, Golem, and Don’t Sit at the Corner of the Table. Her most memorable roles include The Chosen in Exodus and The Showgirl in The Black Dahlia.

Wells Payton is passionate about fitness and is a coach at [solidcore] in Carmel. She also loves teaching modern and jazz at The Academy of GHDT. She says she is thrilled to be dancing with the rest of the talented GHDT dancers and thanks Mr. Hancock for all the opportunities she has received. She thanks her mother for her endless support.

Visual Artist: Debbie Slack

Deb Slack is a longtime Carmel resident and graduate of Indiana university. She began painting in 2010 after a career in social work. She paints primarily with oils, creating a soft, impressionistic style with a focus on color and light. Her favorite subjects include landscapes, seascapes, florals, and anything else that reflects the beauty of creation.

Slack has a studio in downtown Carmel where she continues to study her craft and strives to grow as an artist. Her work can be found there, at Art on Main in the Arts and Design District, and online. She hopes her art brings the same joy to others that she gets from creating it.

The Mélange Series at The Florence has been created by GHDT Executive Artistic Director Gregory Glade Hancock and is presented by Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre.