Date
March 10-18, 2023
Location
Davidson Theatre, Columbus, OH

Three World Premieres by gifted choreographers Leiland Charles, Dana Genshaft and Amy Seiwert

Each of these artists continue to push the boundaries of classical ballet choreography

These original pieces highlight the extraordinary versatility of BalletMet’s world-class artists

BalletMet dancers on stage in shadows
BalletMet dancers on stage in shadows

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

Show Details

Notes Elements of every production such as show length, casting, dates, times, and entry policies are subject to change.
Elements of every production such as show length, casting, dates, times, and entry policies are subject to change.
Run Time Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes
Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes

This is a mixed-rep ballet. Mixed-rep ballets are several unrelated short ballets with intermissions, similar to a collection of short stories.

Choreographer Dana Genshaft
Dana Genshaft

 

Genshaft offers an effervescent, high-energy work, reveling in the fast-paced rhythmic score by composer Mason Bates that showcases the artistic and technical brilliance of the dancers. Genshaft’s first work for BalletMet, The Awakening, is a celebration of the language of classic ballet rooted within the vibrant auditory landscape of Bates’ Garages of the Valley, a musical homage to the trailblazing, entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley. The non-narrative journey of the work conjures an emotional arc of spiritual awakening and playful, youthful exuberance.

Dana Genshaft was born in Moscow, where she began her early dance training. Upon moving to New York City with her family in 1989, Dana continued her studies at the School of American Ballet, Kirov Academy of Ballet, and finally the Paris Opera Ballet School. She joined the San Francisco Ballet in 2000 and was promoted to soloist in 2008. Dana’s repertory includes classical and contemporary works by Marius Petipa, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, John Cranko, Frederick Ashton, John Neumeier, William Forsythe, Yuri Possokhov, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, Wayne McGregor, Christopher Wheeldon, and Edwaard Liang.

In 2015, Dana joined the faculty of the San Francisco Ballet School under Patrick Armand, where she began teaching a wide array of classes such as ballet, contemporary, and improvisation. She also supported the development of several choreographic workshop initiatives. Dana was selected to participate in the 2016 NY Choreographic Institute, jumpstarting her choreographic career. That same year Dana joined SFDanceworks’ inaugural season. There, she performed works by Alejandro Cerrudo and Penny Saunders as well as choreographing a solo work titled Portrait, which has since then been adapted to film and screened in festivals globally including SFDanceFilmFestival, Paris Independent Film Festival, Montreal Independent Film Festival, Prague International Indie Film Festival, and Berlin International Art Film Festival. Notably her choreography is featured in George Harrison’s official music video for What is Life.

She has been commissioned by Washington Ballet, BalletMet, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet Idaho, SFBallet Training Program, and ABT Studio Company. Her works have been seen at ‘Fall For Dance’ in NYC, Guggenheim Works and Process, and Marquee TV. Dana was the recipient of the 2018 Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award. In October of 2021, Dana was appointed Interim Artistic Director for SFDanceworks’ 2022 performance season, and Artistic Director beginning Fall 2022. She continues to mentor, educate, and choreograph.

 

Choreographer Amy Seiwert
Amy Seiwert

Artistic Director of San Francisco’s Imagery remixes and revisits former selves to create a space for love, life, and compassion to flourish in her piece entitled The Catch. A curiosity of experience and an understanding of the power of vulnerability grow throughout the piece, costumed by frequent collaborator Susan Roemer.

Amy Seiwert enjoyed a nineteen-year performing career dancing with Smuin, Los Angeles Chamber, and Sacramento Ballets. As a dancer with Smuin Contemporary Ballet, she became involved with the “Protégé Program,” where her choreography was mentored by the late Michael Smuin. She was Choreographer in Residence there upon her retirement from dancing in 2008 until 2018.

She is the recipient of numerous choreographic awards, including a “Goldie” award from the San Francisco Bay Guardian, which described Seiwert as the Bay Area’s most original dance thinker, “taking what some consider a dead language and using it with a 21st-century lingo to tell us something about who we are.” She has been named “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine, and her first full evening of choreography was recognized as one of the “Top 10” dance events of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle. Twice she has worked with dancers from New York City Ballet, participating in the New York Choreography Institute. Seiwert’s ballets are in the repertories of companies from coast to coast and her works have been supported by the Joyce Theater, the Kennedy Center, and the National Endowment of the Arts. Seiwert currently serves as Artistic Director of Imagery, a contemporary ballet company in San Francisco.

Choreographer Leiland Charles
Leiland Charles

With an abstract base that pulls inspiration from The Butterfly Effect and Chaos Theory, Leiland’s Decisions, Decisions explores ideas of the nonlinearity of life’s trajectory, as well as how small flutters in space can have unpredictable effects on a larger complex system. The entropy of life unfolds alongside excerpts of Vivaldi concertos, displaying the beauty that occurs when random events come briefly into alignment.


Read Leiland’s bio here.

 

CASTING Casting and dates are subject to change.
Casting and dates are subject to change.

Please click HERE for the full casting list.

Davidson Theatre

Get Directions

FAQ

Where do I park?

There are parking garages near the Ohio and the Capitol theatres, as well as limited metered street parking (most of which is free after 6 pm and on Sundays).

Ohio Statehouse Parking Garage
$5 during events
Enter from westbound Broad Street or Third Street.

Riffe Center Parking Garage
$5 during events
Enter from Front Street. Take the elevators to the third floor and proceed along the hall to the Davidson Theatre. (For the Box Office or Will Call, descend the escalators to the first floor.)

Downtown traffic can be heavy, so please plan ahead. We recommend arriving 20-30 minutes early to park, find your seat, explore the program and relax before the performance. Audience members who arrive late may not be seated until intermission.

What do I wear?

This is our most-asked question, and the answer is: You probably won’t feel out of place no matter what you wear. If you want to wear jeans, go for it—we promise you won’t be alone. If you want to dress up, feel free. Many others do, too. We don’t see as much formal-wear in the theater as we once did, though it wouldn’t be unusual to see a tux or a gown at a performance. Basically, anything goes.

Do the dancers talk?

No, dancers express the story or meaning through the movement. In some story ballets, dancers will use pantomime (exaggerated movements) to help you understand what’s happening. If you see a ballet with pantomime, head to the lobby, where we’ll have more information and guidance. If you ever struggle to follow along, feel free to chat with a BalletMet staff member in the lobby who will happily answer any questions you have.

When do I clap?

If you are wowed by something you just saw, please do applaud. At BalletMet, we love to hear clapping. It’s uplifting to those performing, as they can often feel your excitement and energy on stage. So applaud whenever you see fit! Note: Not every ballet company feels this way, so keep that in mind if you happen to be at another company’s performance.