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DDP Talks To

"The Devil Ties My Tongue" by Amy Seiwert performed for the SKETCH Series, 2013. Photo by David DeSilva. Courtesy of Amy Seiwert's Imagery

Up to date announcements of company seasons, featured artists and special programming as well as grant of awards such as Princess Grace, or artistic appointments

The Times Online: Scott Tady: Blackhawk grad featured in empowering dance show

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By Scott Tady

28 April 2019

Dancers will celebrate fearless femininity Saturday in a touring show that brings a 1998 Blackhawk High grad back to her old stomping grounds.

“Elevate: A Triple Bill of Female Choreographers” features dance companies from New York, Pittsburgh and New Jersey, the latter one run by Erin Carlisle Norton who grew up in Patterson Heights.

Each dance company will perform a signature piece Saturday at Point Park University’s George Rowland White Performance Center in downtown Pittsburgh.

Norton’s all-female dance group, the Moving Architects, call their work “COUP,” and say it’s about power: Who has it, what it looks like, how it feels and why we live in reaction or agreement with its subliminal and prominent presence.

Norton elaborates in an email: “The dancers reveal themselves as incredible performers, showcasing their physical strength through intense movement and partnering, as well as through their vulnerability and compassion.”

They depict power via choreographed military formations, leadership roles, gossip and cliques.

“Tension heightens throughout the work with the use of a 6-foot banging wooden stick and a driving digital sound score, culminating in a fight scene to decide who ultimately has the power,” Norton said.

Sounds powerful indeed.

Read the full article in the Times Online.

Smuin Contemporary Ballet / Photo by Chris Hardy

Smuin Ballet Artistic Director Celia Fushille and Amy Seiwert Team Up + Video

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Great things and amazing art happen when women collaborate. Smuin Ballet’s latest tour, which includes a world premiere by Sacramento Ballet artistic director Amy Seiwert, highlights Smuin’s dancers and Seiwert’s lyricism.

Amy Seiwert choreographing for Smuin Ballet. Smuin Contemporary Ballet / Photo by Chris Hardy

Dance Series 02, the touring production, will also include works of Michael Smuin, the late founder of the company, alongside Renaissance, Seiwert’s premiere set to music from Kitka, a woman’s chorus.

The piece is inspired by the Indian “women’s wall” protests, during which women have formed a 620 km human chain and given new hope to women’s rights in India.

Watch the company’s promotional video for Renaissance here:

Charlotte Ballet/Jeff Cravotta

Helen Pickett’s The Crucible Premiere Announced in the UK – DDP Founder to Meet Pickett in Charlotte, NC

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Broadway World: Scottish Ballet And Ballet Black To Collaborate On The World Premiere Of THE CRUCIBLE

25 April 2019

Scottish Ballet has announced that the company will be joined by Senior Guest Artist Cira Robinson for the world premiere of Helen Pickett‘s The Crucible. The first major commission of Scottish Ballet’s 50th anniversary year, the production will open the dance programme at the Edinburgh International Festival, 3-5 August 2019.

As part of a longstanding collaboration between the two companies, Ballet Black’s Senior Artist Cira Robinson will join Scottish Ballet to dance the role of Tituba. Bringing a breadth of experience, Cira will play a vital role in developing this rich and complex character in Arthur Miller‘s drama of power and persecution. A story as relevant today as when it was first written, Miller’s 1953 masterpiece explores the impact of the 17th-century Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts.

Ballet Black is the UK’s professional ballet company for international dancers of black and Asian descent. Their goal is to see a fundamental change in the number of black and Asian dancers in UK ballet companies. By creating a central black female character, rarely seen in the UK outside of Ballet Black repertoire, the two companies aim to openly address the challenges of diverse representation in UK ballet (on and off stage), and particularly the lack of black British female ballet dancers.

Read the full article on Broadway World.

Photo by Liza Voll. Courtesy of Boston Ballet.

Broadway World: Boston Ballet School Presents 10th Annual Next Generation Performance

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17 April 2019

Boston Ballet School (BBS) presents the 10th annual Next Generation performance showcasing elite young dancers of Boston Ballet II and Boston Ballet School with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. The program includes a new work by Principal Dancer Lia Cirio, Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, Konservatoriet and William Tell pas de deux by August Bournonville. Les Passages opens the program, choreographed by BBS Faculty, showcasing the Pre-Professional Program. The one-night-only performance takes place May 22 at the Citizens Bank Opera House.

“The 10th anniversary of Next Generation is a huge milestone for Boston Ballet School,” said Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen. “These students truly are the next generation of ballet and it puts a spotlight on the quality training the students receive at Boston Ballet School.”

Boston Ballet School’s Pre-Professional program trains top talent to prepare them for professional careers with Boston Ballet and other major companies. Currently, more than 20 percent of Boston Ballet’s dancers are graduates of the Pre-Professional program, and 95 percent of Trainee graduates secure jobs with professional ballet companies.

Read the full article on Broadway World.

A Note from DDP:

Liza Yntema, Founder and President of DDP, is Lead Individual Sponsor of Boston Ballet’s ChoreograpHER initiative, which gave Principal Dancer Lia Cirio time and space to choreograph her new work featured in the Next Generation performance.

Smuin Contemporary Ballet / Photo by Chris Hardy

The Mercury News: Smuin Ballet tours with greatest hits, new work from Amy Seiwert

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By Randy McMullen

Smuin Contemporary Ballet is headed out on the road beginning this weekend, with a goodie bag stuffed with fan favorites and a new work by an old friend.

In a touring program titled “Dance Series 02,” the company, noting its 25th season, is reviving several longtime favorites from company founder Michael Smuin, who died in 2007. Among these are “Unforgettable,” “Fever” “Carmina Burana,” “Frankie and Johnny” and “Dancin’ with Gershwin” — all works that helped define the troup’s endearing blend of sumptuous choreography and vibrant personality.

The new work comes from former company dancer and choreographer-in-residence Amy Seiwert, who’s now artistic director at Sacramento Ballet. Titled “Renaissance,” the work was inspired by the famed 385-mile “Women’s Wall” protest over gender inequality in India earlier this year, and is set to an a capella score performed by East Bay women’s chorus Kitka.

Details: April 26-May 5 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; May 17-18 at the Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, May 23-26 at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, May 31-June 1 at Sunset Center, Carmel; $25-$81; www.smuinballet.org.

Read the full article in The Mercury News.


Courtesy of Cincinnati Ballet/Photo by Peter Mueller

Morgan Shows Us All the Way: Anything is Possible

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During a visit to Cincinnati Ballet, DDP founder Liza Yntema filmed a moment of rehearsal. Victoria Morgan was coaching Principal Melissa Gelfin for an upcoming production: Bold Moves. Morgan’s new Dancing to Oz is a feature of the triple bill, and is based on The Wizard of Oz. The video shows the great amount of trust, joy, and collaboration that goes into this process between two women.

The journey of Dorothy is a familiar one. Gelfin must embody an independent girl, journeying to a new land (though the story begins in the studio) and defying all odds. In the novel, the villain is a woman (The Wicked Witch of the West); the hero is a woman (Dorothy); the comfort of home is represented by a woman (Aunt Em); and the primary aid of the hero is a woman (Glinda). The predominant role of women remains in Cincinnati Ballet’s Oz.

Victoria Morgan certainly has women on her mind. The artistic director is outspoken when it comes to women’s roles in dance. The Cincinnati Business Courier recently highlighted this, examining Morgan’s rare opportunity as a woman leading a significant ballet company in America. “Now in her 22nd season with Cincinnati Ballet, the Covington resident is one of just three female artistic directors of American ballet companies with budgets of more than $10 million. Despite avenues that have opened for women in other industries, it is still unusual for a woman to hold a leadership role in dance.” Janelle Gelfand then quoted Morgan, who said, “’It is rare, and it was rare when I became the artistic director. I just assumed that things would change…I think it’s a little bit better – there are women at the head of Washington Ballet and Miami City Ballet. But of companies with an operating budget of $10 million and above, there’s just the three of us. In those top-tier companies in the upper echelon, it’s all men.’”

The women leading in and out of the studio should be empowered to use their voice and be heard. DDP hears Morgan loud and clear.

Watch Morgan and Gelfin rehearse below:

Melissa Gelfin and Victoria Morgan rehearse Dancing to Oz for Cincinnati Ballet’s Bold Moves.

Read the Cincinnati Business Courier feature here.

Seattle Times: Dance Theatre of Harlem, formed when ballet companies weren’t hiring dancers of color, celebrates 50 years with a Seattle tour stop

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By Moria MacDonald

19 April 2019

“The first company was made up of people who had all been said no to,” said Virginia Johnson, a founding member and current artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH). The company and its school, created by legendary New York City Ballet (NYCB) dancer Arthur Mitchell, arose at the height of the civil-rights movement in America, as a place where dancers of all colors could train, perform and excel in the world of classical ballet.

Dance Theatre of Harlem, which visits Seattle April 27-28 as part of its 50thanniversary tour, was born in a Harlem church basement. Mitchell, who became the first black principal dancer at NYCB in 1955, began teaching classes in 1968, wanting to make a difference in his community. The classically trained Johnson went on leave from New York University to join Mitchell’s fledgling company of 24 dancers — which soon left that basement and moved to a nearby garage.

“From the beginning it was a great success,” Johnson remembered. “People were excited and interested in it, or outraged and impatient to see it fail.”

Read the full article in The Seattle Times.

Charlotte Ballet/Chris Record

When Will Women Get to Tell Women’s Stories?

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In 2018, Les Ballets Canadiens de Montréal were heavily criticized after artistic director Ivan Cavallari announced Femmes, a program with women as the theme. The triple-bill, which DDP also called out, had a roster of three male choreographers to explore women, their lives, thoughts, roles, etc. The program was rebranded, later entitled Parlami d’Amore, which means “talk to me about love,” after men and women all over the dance world expressed their distaste for a male-led company telling women’s stories based on the male choreographer’s imagination.

This was not the first – nor has it been the last- time the female experience has been portrayed by a male. Every classical ballet centers on a female character. In Giselle, women are wronged and take nasty revenge. In Don Quixote, they are the subject of whimsical dreams. Recently, there has been a trending storyline of rape and violence against women. Odessa, set on New York City Ballet by Alexei Ratmansky, was criticized in a 2017 New York Times article for displaying aggression against women, or as Siobhan Burke called it, gang rape. Joffrey Ballet presented The Miraculous Mandarin in 2016, in which, Timothy Robson writes for Backtrack, “The Young Woman (Victoria Jaiani) lures men to her room so that the three thugs (Raúl Casasola, Paulo Rodrigues and Joan Sebastián Zamora) can rob them.” The Royal Ballet, too, has faced backlash for The Wind, Arthur Pita’s piece that includes yet another scene of female abuse (read about that here). For The Guardian, Luke Jennings heavily critiqued the company’s repertoire beyond The Wind, writing:

There is an increasingly acute issue surrounding women’s roles in ballet. In the last few seasons the Royal Ballet stage has seen record numbers of female characters brutalised and killed. Emily, Mary-Jane, and Annie eviscerated in Sweet Violets, Justine hanged and Elizabeth murdered in Frankenstein, Stephanie raped and Mary shot in Mayerling, the girl raped in The Invitation, the youngest sister hanged in Las Hermanas, and the woman raped and murdered in The Judas Tree. Consider this body-count alongside the number of recent abstract works in which women are split, splayed and otherwise manhandled, and certain embedded attitudes reveal themselves.

In 2019, the controversy is not over. Ballets with sometimes questionable storylines and female experiences staged by men are still commissioned or restaged.

This spring, on its tour to Sadler’s Wells in London, San Francisco Ballet’s Programme D will present yet another male triple-bill. The work includes David Dawson’s Anima Animus, which “draws on the theme of gender and the roles of male and female, and how they view each other,” according to Rhinegold Publishing. A piece explores gender roles and how they view each other…without headlining female input.

San Francisco Ballet tour is publicized as tackling “modern-day issues,” and artistic director Helgi Tomasson told Rhinegold, “‘Dance has the power to reflect social issues in our world today.'” Sadly, once again, we see women’s perspectives and imaginations excluded from the essential dialogue of social issues.

Read Rhinegold Publishing’s article about the San Francisco Ballet tour here.

Modern Day Male Issues Only – Rhinegold Publishing: San Francisco Ballet takes on modern day issues at Sadler’s Wells

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By Melissa Bradshaw

16 April 2019

Dance choreographers are meeting some of the world’s most prevalent social issues head-on in works created for San Francisco Ballet, which makes its long-awaited return to Sadler’s Wells, London, from 29 May – 8 June 2019.

In works commissioned for the company last year that will see their UK premieres in London, British choreographers Christopher Wheeldon and David Dawson, and American Trey McIntyre, explore ways in which smart phone obsession shields us from real life; how male and female personas are defined; and how dementia can be seen as a completion of life’s cycle.

Bound To is Christopher Wheeldon’s ninth work for SF Ballet – a quirky and pertinent piece with a warning to millennials that technological connectivity is no replacement for social interaction and relationships. Your Flesh Shall Be a Great Poem, the second work for SF Ballet by Trey McIntyre, is a lyrical tribute to a grandfather he never knew, underpinned by themes of loss, death, dementia and rememberance. In the same programme (Programme D on 6 & 7 June), David Dawson’s Anima Animus draws on the theme of gender and the roles of male and female, and how they view each other.

‘Dance has the power to reflect social issues in our world today,’ comments SF Ballet artistic director Helgi Tomasson. ‘Choreographers can choose to explore aspects of our emotional, psychological and physical being – a meaningful way to explore topics, experiences and connect with our audiences.’

Read the full article in Rhinegold Publishing.

Pittsburgh Current: Point Park Conservatory Dance Company Set To Close Out 2018-19 Season

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By Steve Sucato

16 April 2019

Point Park’s student Conservatory Dance Company closes out its dynamic 2018-19 celebrating the opening of the University’s new 60 million dollar Pittsburgh Playhouse at Fourth and Forbes Avenues with its Spring Dance Concert, April 18-21 at the Playhouse’s PNC Theatre.  

Following in the footsteps of prior programs on the season, the Spring Dance Concert is a mixed repertory program featuring works by high profile choreographic names and Point Park alumni.

One of the biggest names in dance, Christopher Wheeldon, the 2015 Tony Award-winning choreographer for An American in Parisand artistic associate of The Royal Ballet, puts CDC’s dancers to the test in his ballet “The American.”  

Premiered by Carolina Ballet in 2001, the 26-minute ballet derives its title from and is set to Antonin Dvorak’s “String Quartet in F Major Op. 96 (American Quartet)”.  Says former New York City Ballet dancer Michele Gifford who staged the ballet on a dozen (six male/female couples) of CDC’s dancers, it gets its inspiration from “America’s topography and skylines”.

One of two works on program by former Point Park students, visiting teaching artist in Jazz and 1999 graduate Kiki Lucas’ “The Vessel” has had several iterations since its premiere by Houston Metropolitan Dance Company in 2013 that featured male soloist and fellow Point Park faculty member Jason McDole. For this latest incarnation, Lucas has set three sections of the original 35-minute work on CDC’s dancers that she felt were the most dynamic.  

Danced to original music by Ben Doyle and the United Kingdom’s Matthew Barnes (a.k.a. Forest Swords), the 11-minute excerpt for nine women and six men takes its inspiration from research Lucas did on “the learning patterns and trials and tribulations of kids with cochlear implants,” she says.

Read the full article in the Pittsburgh Current.