Amy Seiwert’s Imagery Presents:
SKETCH 3: Expectations world premiere ballets by Marc Brew Val Caniparoli Amy Seiwert
July 25–28, 2013
ODC Theater 3153 17th Street San Francisco, CA 94110
All logo and bubble photography by David DeSilva in collaboration with Bubble Master Sterling Johnson Dear Patron:
Thank you so much for choosing to come to Amy Seiwert’s Imagery’s SKETCH 3. By doing so, you have supported Live Arts which, in and of itself, is important. But more than that, you have chosen to participate in a unique program. Each year, Amy identi"es a theme and invites stunning choreographers that she thinks have a pertinent message to create dances for Bay Area audiences — dances and choreographers that we wouldn’t, otherwise, be exposed to.
Last year, she brought in female choreographers to present their individual message, commenting on the lack of female choreographers in the ballet "eld. This year, she has chosen to focus on process, shifting the focus from who makes the ballets, to how ballets are being made, as a theme. To accomplish this she invited a marvelous local choreographer familiar to Bay Area audiences through San Francisco Ballet, Val Caniparoli, as well as a renowned Australian choreographer, Marc Brew. And, we can thrill to a new o#ering by Amy herself. Michael Smuin once introduced Amy’s choreography by saying: “Amy has more originality in 25 seconds of work than most choreographers have in their entire work.”
The SKETCH series is becoming a staple of mid-summer dance in San Francisco... but it won’t be able to continue without your generous support. We thank those of you who were able to support, in any way, SKETCH 3 and ask for your help in beginning to plan SKETCH 4. If you are pleased tonight, tell your friends. To give a donation, visit our website www.ASImagery.org, or talk to a company member.
Thank you for your attention. On behalf of the entire Board, I hope you enjoy this o#ering as much as we have enjoyed presenting it to you.
Niko Mayer, Chairman of the Board Amy Seiwert’s Imagery A CONTEMPORARY BALLET COMPANY
“The vocabulary of ballet never changes, it is only the usage that becomes outmoded.”
—WILLIAM FORSYTHE
Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, a San Francisco-based contemporary ballet company, believes that ballet is an expressive and vital voice relevant to our times. ASI’s artists share the belief that through collaboration and experimentation, vibrant and courageous ideas are expressed. Habitual reactions are discouraged.
ASI’s mission is to expand the de"nition of ballet by exploding preconceptions of what ballet is and can be. Focused on the intersection of genres, its aesthetic de"es classi"cation and re$ects a commitment to create and present work of excellence and in$uence. Our work touches the lives of the contemporary artists whose careers are enhanced through this artistic process, and our dance audiences who have come to expect surprising, meticulous and memorable work.
Imagery Board of Directors Imagery Sta" Niko Kozak Mayer — President Amy Seiwert — Artistic Director Lori Laqua — Treasurer Jane Elin — Project Manager Amy Seiwert — Secretary Joseph Copley — Administrative Coordinator KT Graham Joan Lazarus Company Class Teachers Fred W. Terman Andrea Basile, Laura Rae Bernasconi, Len Weiss Sandra Chinn, Kristine Elliot, James Graham, Amy London, Amy Seiwert, Erik Wagner
Amy Seiwert’s Imagery is a 501(C)3 non-pro"t corporation. All donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. SKETCH 3: Expectations
Triptych Choreography: Val Caniparoli Music: John Tavener, Alexander Balanescu Lighting: Jim French Costumes: Christine Darch Dancers: Full Company Photographer Lalage Snow created a powerful series of Triptychs titled We Are The Not Dead depicting the faces of British servicemen before, during and after their deployment to Afghanistan. The images highlight not only the physical trans- formations but the emotional ones as well.
INTERMISSION
Awkward Beauty Choreography: Marc Brew Music: Dan Wool Lighting: Jim French Costumes: Christine Darch Dancers: Full Company Explores the tenuous foundations we lay to build and construct our lives in an ever changing land- scape.
INTERMISSION
The Devil Ties My Tongue Choreography: Amy Seiwert Music: Ólafur Arnalds Lighting: Jim French Costumes: Christine Darch Dancers: Full Company
The choreographers gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the dancers in the creation of these new works. Our Risks
Since Amy invited me to work with the company about a year ago, I have been looking forward to this opportunity of working with Imagery and the talented, intelligent and committed dancers for a long time. One of the prerequisites Amy clearly stated to me before beginning the process is that she didn’t want me to do what I normally do, or fall into the trap of using the tasks/formulas of choreographing that I am familiar with that I know works. This was an opportunity for me as a choreographer to be supported in taking risks and with an o#er like that, how could I say no? My identi"ed risks would be: 1. Trying new tasks and choreographic material I have not previously tried and tested. 2. Not knowing the answers but asking lots of questions and trying to problem solve as we go along. 3. Going back to my roots in classical ballet and working with dancers on pointe and using ballet technique more. 4. Having a very short creative process to create work and have music composed. —Marc Brew
TutuSchool® .san francisco.marin.tutuschool.com. s k e e W
w e r d n A CELEBRATING OUR 20thXX SEASON
XXTREMES - Oct 4 - 12, 2013 Palace of Fine Arts Between loss and desire lives a paradox of emotion.
RETURN TO A STRANGE LAND CARMINA BURANA DEAR MISS CLINE BY JI Í KYLIÁN BY MICHAEL SMUIN BY AMY SEIWERT
XXMAS - Dec 18 - 28, 2013 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Photo by Patrick Fraser, Dancer: Terez Dean Between traditional and radical blooms a Smuin Dance classic.
XXCENTRIC - May 2 - 11, 2014 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Between avant-garde and showbiz comes entertaining eccentricity.
WORLD PREMIERE BY AMY SEIWERT DANCIN’ WITH GERSHWIN BY MICHAEL SMUIN
smuinballet.org S M U I N 415.912.1899 B A L L E T No matter how much experience I have as a choreographer, I welcome any opportunity to CELEBRATING learn and expand my horizons. So I jumped at the invitation from Amy Seiwert to create a new work for her SKETCH 3: EXPECTATIONS project. Because of the theme of the project she encouraged me to work outside my comfort zone, and that’s how it turned out. I rarely OUR 20th SEASON address politics, war or religion explicitly in my work, and I consciously skirt hotbutton topics. XX But I was very much taken by photographer Lalage Snow’s series of triptychs, “We Are The Not Dead”, presenting the faces of British soldiers before, during, and after their deployment to Afghanistan. To explore this topic with the dancers—which we did by looking at the photos for inspiration, discussing them and then improvising—was eye opening for me. And freeing. In light of the topic, I chose to work o# pointe. It’s something I rarely have the opportunity to do, as I’m almost always expected to create works on pointe in commissions for classical companies. My collaboration with Amy Seiwert’s Imagery was incredibly satisfying from a choreographic perspective, due in large measure to the intense investment of the dancers.
—Val Caniparoli
My work is usually based on images I see when listening to music I love. These are abstract, and this is how I am most comfortable creating. For “The Devil Ties My Tongue,” my starting point was text, speci"cally Leonard Cohen’s poem S.O.S. Now the images were coming from a literal place. I worked with creating images from the words, writing the words with the body, and matching the rhythmic syllables. This starting point for creation $uctuated between being wonderfully liberating to maddeningly constraining. I also experimented with letting go of my urge to control every moment of creation, instead putting faith in these XXTREMES - Oct 4 - 12, 2013 Palace of Fine Arts beautiful dancers to make choices. Between loss and desire lives a paradox of emotion. —Amy Seiwert
RETURN TO A STRANGE LAND CARMINA BURANA DEAR MISS CLINE Take a long time with your anger, Pleased with the better deal? to turn away from alarming you. BY JI Í KYLIÁN BY MICHAEL SMUIN BY AMY SEIWERT sleepy head. You are clamped down. So I must say it quickly. Don’t waste it in riots. You are being bred for pain. Whoever is in your life, XXMAS - Dec 18 - 28, 2013 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Photo by Patrick Fraser, Dancer: Terez Dean Don’t tangle it with ideas. The Devil ties my tongue. those who harm you, Between traditional and radical blooms a Smuin Dance classic. The Devil won’t let me speak, I’m speaking to you, those who help you; will only let me hint ‘friend of my scribbled life’. those whom you know XXCENTRIC - May 2 - 11, 2014 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts that you are a slave, You have been conquered by those and those whom you do not know your misery a deliberate policy who know how to conquer invisibly. let them o" the hook, Between avant-garde and showbiz comes entertaining eccentricity. of those in whose thrall you su"er, The curtains move so beautifully, help them o" the hook. WORLD PREMIERE BY AMY SEIWERT DANCIN’ WITH GERSHWIN BY MICHAEL SMUIN and who are sustained lace curtains of some Recognize the hook. by your misfortune. sweet old intrigue: You are listening to The atrocities over there, The Devil tempting me Radio Resistance. the interior paralysis over here. smuinballet.org S M U I N 415.912.1899 —LEONARD COHEN, S.O.S. (1995) B A L L E T About the Artists
AMY SEIWERT serves as the Artistic Director and primary choreographer of Imagery. Her collab- orations with artists of other disciplines and commitment to experimental work from a classical base make her a unique voice in the Bay Area dance community. As Rita Felciano wrote in the SF Bay Guardian: “She quite possibly is the Bay Area’s most original dance thinker, taking what some consider a dead language and using it as a 21st century lingo to tell us something about who we are. “ She was named one of “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine, one of the “Hot 20 Under 40” by 7x7 Magazine, and was honored with a “Goldie” award from the Guardian. Twice her choreography has been listed in the “Top 10” dance events of the year by the SF Chronicle, and twice she has worked with dancers from the New York City Ballet, participating in the New York Choreography Institute at the invitation of Peter Martins. She has had the pleasure of participating in the CHIME (Choreographers in Mentorship Exchange) Program both as a mentee in 2007 with Julia Adam, and mentor in 2013 with Tanya Bello. In addition to creating for Imagery, her creations are in the repertory of Ballet Austin, Ballet Met (Columbus), Atlanta, Smuin, Washington, Cincinnati, Sacramento, Colorado, Louisville and American Repertory Ballets as well as Robert Moses KIN and Alaska Dance Theater. Future projects include upcoming commissions for Smuin and Milwaukee Ballets. She is honored to be the Choreographer in Residence for Smuin Ballet as well as an Artist in Residence at the ODC Theater. www.ASImagery.org Award-winning international choreographer MARC BREW has been working in the UK and internationally for the past 18 years as a dancer, choreographer, teacher and speaker; with the Australian Ballet Company, PACT Ballet South Africa, In"nity Dance Theatre, CandoCo Dance Company and was Associate Director with Scottish Dance Theatre. Marc has since been dedicating time to his own choreography with Marc Brew Company. His new work Fusional Fragments is a unique collaboration between world-renowned percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and was commissioned by the Unlimited Programme as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. RECENT COMMISSIONS INCLUDE: AXIS Dance Company, Ballet Cymru and GDance production Stuck in the Mud, Candoco Dance Company, Touch Compass, DadaFest International Festival, Velcro Dance Company, Scottish Dance Theatre, Without Walls Consortium, Greenwich and Docklands International Festival, Liberty Festival, East London Dance and new choreographies for youth dance companies Project Y, Ydance, Cando2, and Shift at The Place. www.marcbrew.com VAL CANIPAROLI’S versatility has made him one of the most sought-after choreographers in the United States and abroad. Although San Francisco Ballet has been his artistic home for more than 41 years, Caniparoli has also contributed to the repertories of more than 40 companies, including; Jo#rey Ballet, Boston Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Paci"c Northwest Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre, Pennsylvania Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Ballet West, Washington Ballet, Israel Ballet, Smuin Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Atlanta Ballet, State Theatre Ballet of South Africa, Louisville Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Richmond Ballet and Tulsa Ballet. Caniparoli has also choreographed for the Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. He has worked on several occasions with the San Francisco Symphony, most memorably on the Rimsky-Korsakov opera-ballet Mlada, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. Caniparoli has received ten grants for choreography from the National Endowment for the Arts, an artist fellowship from the California Arts Council, and two awards from the Choo-San Goh and H. Robert Magee Foundation. His work with A.C.T. includes the staging and creation (with Carey Perlo# ) of Tosca Cafe and choreography for A Doll’s House, A Christmas Carol, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Arcadia. www.valcaniparoli.com KT GRAHAM (Production Stage Manager) Kathryn T Graham is currently Production Director & Stage Manager for Smuin Ballet and PSM for Amy Seiwert’s Imagery. Previous positions include PSM and Lighting Designer for Lewitzky Dance Company, Technical & Lighting Director for Washington Ballet, PSM and a Lighting Designer for WestWave Dance Festival, PSM for the performances for Dance/USA’s 2012 National Conference, Production Manager for Gay Games IV Cultural Festival in NYC, and also for the NGO Forum – United Nations World Conference on Women in China. She loves drawing, creating, and walking labyrinths, and is an avid knitter, reader, and diarist. CHRISTINE DARCH (Costumes) Christine Darch designs for choreographers Julia Adam, Robert Dekkers, Jodie Gates, Edwaard Liang, Jae Man Joo, James Kudelka, Matthew Neenan, David Palmer, Gina Patterson, Brian Reeder, Dwight Rhoden, Amy Seiwert, and Merian Soto. She has been commissioned by Ballet Arizona, Atlanta Ballet, Axis, Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Complexions, Diablo Ballet, Houston Ballet, Imagery, Marin Ballet, Ballet Memphis, North Carolina Dance Theater, Oregon Ballet Theater, Pennsylvania Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Smuin Ballet, and Washington Ballet. This is her "rst collaboration with Marc Brew and Val Caniparoli, and eighth with Ms. Seiwert. She has been nominated twice and in 2011 received the Isadora Duncan Award for visual design for Amy Seiwert’s ballet, White Noise. JIM FRENCH (Lighting) Jim French is thrilled to be collaborating on another SKETCH. Other lighting designs for dance include; Adele Myers, Ballet San Jose, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Company C Ballet, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Joe Goode Performance Group, LevyDance, Project Bandaloop, Richmond Ballet, Rioult Dance NY, and Twyla Tharp Dance. Jim has toured the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America with the companies of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Martha Graham, Pascal Rioult, and Twyla Tharp. www.jimfrenchld.com DAN WOOL (Composer for Awkward Beauty) Dan Wool is a San Francisco based composer who has worked in New York, Los Angeles, London and Mexico City creating scores for more than 45 feature "lm and broadcast television projects, including seven "lms for celebrated cult "lmmaker Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy). Dan has worked extensively creating sound and music for advertising and also as sound-designer for short "lms and documentaries. As a music producer, and engineer, Dan has collaborated with international artists such as Bernie Worrell (Parliament-Funkadelic), Philip Chevron and James Fearnley (The Pogues); Debra Harry (Blondie); and many Bay Area artists, including All My Pretty Ones, Essence, The Mermen and Kally Price.