Contents WELCOME LETTER
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Amy Seiwert’s Imagery and ODC Theater co-present SKETCH 9 : Perspective Choreography by Amy Seiwert, Stephanie Martinez, Ben Needham-Wood July 17-20, 2019 ODC Theater Contents WELCOME LETTER ................................................................................................................................. 1 PROGRAM INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................... 2 DANCERS /SEKTCH COLLABORATORS: ........................................................................................... 5 CHOREOGRAPHERS ............................................................................................................................... 7 VIDEO ARTISTS ........................................................................................................................................ 9 COLLABORATORS ................................................................................................................................. 10 ABOUT AMY SEIWERT’S IMAGERY ................................................................................................... 11 THANK YOU & DONORS ....................................................................................................................... 13 WELCOME LETTER Thank you All Supporters, Through your contributions and your attendance at our performances, you are making a commitment to growth and innovation in classical ballet - Amy Seiwert’s mission is Contemporary Ballet with risk. Why is it so important that the new Artistic Director of Sacramento Ballet, Amy Seiwert, would like to continue Imagery’s mission in San Francisco? When a choreographer works for a company, she (or he) is often constrained by the Artistic Director of the Company as to the number of dancers, type of music, sets, costumes, length of the piece, and sometimes even the mood of the ballet. The SKETCH series allows Amy and two other choreographers to explore ideas they haven’t 1 had the opportunity to develop for an audience. They give the choreographers a chance to experiment with input from their peers. Afterward, these works are often presented on their own in other venues, they grow into a full-length ballet for another company or have gone on to be performed internationally. Even though these pieces are experiments, they often win awards like the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards. SKETCH is like a playground for the choreographer’s mind. And what better place to experiment? Lucky us. Here in San Francisco. Enjoy tonight and next year with SKETCH 10. Niko Mayer, Chairman of the Board PROGRAM INFORMATION SKETCH 9 : Perspective Ballet 1: Verses Choreography: Amy Seiwert Music: Excerpts from The Chopin Project by Ólafur Arnalds and Alice Sara Lighting: Brian Jones Costumes: Christine Darch Video artist: Olivia Ting Dancers: Full company Years ago, I was studying Terry Riley’s string quartet, Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector. I sat down with the score and hit play on iTunes, but the music coming through my headphones did not match what was on the page in front of me. In 2 confusion, I reached out to my musician then boyfriend/now husband. His comment, “Did you read the instructions?” “Instructions?” There they are, page 2: “There are 24 repeatable modules lettered A to X. All but E, G, T, and X are 14 beats long. However, all modules are some multiple of 7 beats. The quartet players then devise the order for A to X in advance.” Mind blown: what I thought was a thru-composed string quartet was created in a way I had never imaged. In developing Verses, I experimented with creating modular sections of choreography without music that deal with textures, concepts, and varying dynamics. I actively chose spacious music that to me evokes the feel of a walking meditation. This helps in resisting the urge to fill every space, which in turn leaves room for me to treat the projection as another dancer in the process. My hope is that anyone viewing the work sees the whole, that the modules sync together seamlessly, and that the underlying themes construct a narrative open to the viewer’s interpretation. Pause - Ballet 2: Otra vez, Otra vez, Otra vez Choreography: Stephanie Martinez Assistant to the choreographer: Robert Mulvey Music: Capricho Arabe- Francisco Tarrega/ Andrea Vettoretti Castanets Solo - Flamenco Classics/ A-P-M Productions Prelude No. 4 in E minor- Francisco Tarrega/Zane Merritt La Noche de Mi Amor- Chavela Vargas Dos Gardenias-Angel Canales Mi Segundo Amor- Chavela Vargas 3 Lang Lang- Six Pieces for Piano Lighting: Brian Jones Costumes: Christine Darch Video artist: Ben Estabrook Dancers: Full company This work is loosely based off on The Old Guitarist by Picasso. Some think its autobiographical painting of himself... What if he came out of the picture? The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. Populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries, and inherited craziness... A story about lives we never knew existed in which we might appear only once. -Intermission - Ballet 3: All I Ever Knew Choreography: Ben Needham-Wood Music: Kishi Bashi "151a" (album) Lighting: Brian Jones Costumes: Christine Darch Video artist: Chris Correa Dancers: Full company Sometimes the most challenging thing is to understand someone else's perspective. This work was inspired by a moment where two people experienced something life- changing and worked to understand one another. This creative process has been uniquely challenging, compelling me to fuse a narrative approach I'm familiar with in concert dance with that of a film-making perspective. I've learned a lot and am so grateful for Amy Seiwert and the Imagery family for supporting me in this process. 4 DANCERS /SEKTCH COLLABORATORS: Isaac Bates-Vinueza was born in New York City and educated in Boulder, CO. He studied at Boulder Ballet School and at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, where he was a 2016 recipient of the Flemming Halby Exchange with the Royal Danish Ballet School. His teachers include Ana Claire, Becky Jancosko, Katie Elliot, Peter Boal, Le Yin, and Eva Stone. Now in his fourth season with Sacramento Ballet, he has performed leading roles in works by Ron Cunningham, Septime Webre, George Balanchine, and Amy Seiwert, and originated leading roles in works by Penny Saunders and Darrell Grand Moultrie. Isaac has also enjoyed choreographing for Sacramento Ballet’s annual Beer and Ballet program since 2017. This is his first SKETCH. Alysia Chang, born in Berkeley, CA, is a freelance dancer in the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance and a Minor in Arts Management (magna cum laude). She has danced with Sacramento Ballet, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular in New York and toured through China with Ziru Dance. Locally she has danced for Smuin Contemporary Ballet, The San Francisco Opera Ballet, Oakland Ballet, DawsonDanceSF, SFDanceworks, and Red Brick Company. Alysia has originated featured roles in new works by Amy Seiwert Helen Pickett, Gabrielle Lamb, Val Caniparoli, Jennifer Archibald, Yannis Adoniou, Melissa Barak, Graham Lustig, and Janice Garrett/Charles Moulton to name a few. Her repertoire includes works by Ron Cunningham, Lila York, Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, and George Balanchine. Alysia is excited to rejoin the SKETCH family this Summer! Joseph A. Hernandez, a Chicago native, studied at Western Michigan University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Dance. Professionally, Joseph has 5 danced with The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Lyric Opera of Chicago, ODC/Dance, LED Boise, Kate Weare Company, and River North Dance Chicago among others. He was most recently seen in the Broadway production of West Side Story at Lyric Opera of Chicago. In addition to performing, Joseph is also a passionate educator and choreographer, with recent creations for Hot Crowd Dance and DanceWorks Chicago. Joseph is thrilled to be joining SKETCH again this year. www.josephahernandez.com Peter Kurta is from Syracuse, NY. Over his career, he has had the opportunity of working for Tulsa Ballet, Dayton Ballet, BalletMet and is currently working with Smuin Ballet. Peter has had the pleasure of performing repertoire by George Balanchine, Edwaard Liang, James Kudelka, Amy Seiwert, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, and Jessica Lang, amongst many others. Outside of dance, Peter is an Onboarding coordinator at CorePower Yoga, as well as a dog walker for "Wag!". This will be his first season with Sketch, and he is ecstatic about the opportunity. Austin Meiteen, originally from Austin, Texas, began his training at Interlochen Arts Academy and continued at Houston Ballet Academy in the Professional Division. After graduating in 2017, Austin joined Kansas City Ballet II, where he had many opportunities to perform with KCB. In 2018, Austin participated in “SKETCH 8: Origin Stories” and performed in Jacob’s Pillow’s Inside/Out Festival. In 2019, Austin joined the Sacramento Ballet as a company dancer. He has been fortunate to perform works by Amy Seiwert, Septime Webre, George Balanchine, Stanton Welch, Jennifer Archibald, Stephen Mills, Gabrielle Lamb, Devon Carney, and Didy Veldman. In August, Austin will begin dancing for Nederlands Dans Theater 2. This is Austin’s second summer with Imagery, and he is beyond excited to be dancing with his SKETCH family again. Kelsey McFalls is from Syracuse, NY. She has been fortunate to have worked with the Sacramento Ballet,