Dramaturgy, Choreography and Performance that Speak of Today: Our Fairy Tales, our Demons, our Changing World
My choreography and performance is not meant to display virtuosity, but to open a window where a door was closed, a window to explore through ballet subjects which are contemporary to us. We, self-made ballerinas, are passed the myths of nymphs. We are concerned with our current personal and professional predicaments within the ballet and performing arts industry. We speak of our roles in our relationships and in the workforce. With our work we stand against human dynamics that contribute to corrupt eachother rather than uplift and honor eachoter. This is the artistic work of Worrior-Ballerinas who get ahead by walking on their own down the path of spiritual realization through yoga. We might never be virtuosos; we don’t seek to be. Our purpose is bigger than us. In essence, we don’t even count, except for the legacy we leave behind: spiritual virtuosity in the performing arts.
Dramaturgy
I have worked as an actor under Sylvia’s direction and creative guidance since 2010. The plays I have had the good fortune to have been in, under her direction, all were original works, enabling her perspective and creativity to meet and enhance the playwright’s work, culminating in something truly new, quite beyond just “staging” the script. Sylvia has consistently drawn forth a full array of my skills and gifts, something I have enjoyed tremendously. She sets a high bar, but never harangues or berates—her challenges are always with the actors’ talent in mind, in terms of the creative process, and the adapting and modifying wind up enabling me, at least, to feel totally at home, owning, and feeling strong in, the performance, while knowing I have indeed used myself more, and more fully, than I likely would have under another director. Sylvia’s inventive artistic vision includes additions, modifications, and significant conceptual expansions on the original scripts. Notably, I will say that our process of Celebration was done 100% remotely. We rehearsed via zoom meetings, while she coached and coordinated the creative elaborations of the script and my relation to it, to best meet the potential she saw in both my capacities as a performer and the play’s possibilities as a more robustly theatrical piece. Her remoteness didn’t stop her clarity of direction, and ability to hold me and the play right through its successful launch: audiences consistently were very moved by, engaged in, and stirred up by the piece.
Choreography
Suite in Blue
Pulling Strings (Monastery, Corigliano, performed by Emily Ondracek-Peterson)
Masked Ballerina (Piano Concerto #1, Rodion Shchedrin. Performed by Maxim Anikushin)
Lockdown Ballerina (Humoresque, Rodion Shchedrin, performed by Maxim Anikushin)
Prelude to a Summer Day (Prelude, J.S. Bach) and Tutu Blues (Tocata and Fugue in D Minor, J.S. Bach)
Contemporary Etude 1 (Scherzo in C Minor, Brahms) and Contemporary Etude 2 (Milonguera, Alex DeGrassi and Quique Cruz)
Scapegoats (Meditation, Jules Massenet), Yo Soy la Locura (La Folia, Du Bally) Chacarera (Chacarera del Violin, Nestor Garnica)
Otherwordly (Spiegel im Spiegel, Arvo Pärt) and Lady McBeth Meets Mother Mary (Prokofief, Romeo and Juliet)
Balleteuille (Libertango, Astor Piazzola) Saxophonist: Dave Barrows. Bridge Over Nevertheless (Rozalina Gutman, pianist)
Waltz of the Flowers, Sugar Plum variation & Pas de Deux, Spanish. The Nutcracker.
Suite in Blue (Sonata Pathètique, Beethoven). and Mediterranean Café. (Sonata for Arpeggione, Franz Schubert.)
Faceless Women (Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra, Max Bruch.) and Dance Alone (Soundtrack: The Civil War),
Chopin Waltzes. (Opus 64, No.2, Opus 9, No 2, Opus 34, No. 1), Sextet. (Concerto for violin in E major, J.S. Bach.)
Performance
Yoga Ballet Suite
Lady Macbeth Meets Mother Mary and Otherwordly, Frances Cabrini Shrine, New York City.
The Embroiderer. American Swiss Ballet, New York City.
Habanera, La Morte de Nikiya, Swanilda and Friends, Ballet Arts, New York City.
Aida, San Francisco Lyric Opera. San Francisco, California.
Bridge Over Nevertheless. Rozalina Gutman, pianist, and Libertango, Dave Barrows, saxophonist. Mission Performing Dance Center. San Francisco, California,
Sunset, Octet by Xinge Lin. Berkeley Ballet Theater, Berkeley, California.
The Nutcracker. Montana Ballet. Bozeman, Montana.
Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Springfield, Missouri.
Don Giovanni. Southern Illinois University, Opera Dept. Carbondale, IL
Website designed by Fernanda Castillo www.web-newyork.com
Pulling Strings (Monastery, Corigliano, performed by Emily Ondracek-Peterson)
Masked Ballerina (Piano Concerto #1, Rodion Shchedrin. Performed by Maxim Anikushin)
Lockdown Ballerina (Humoresque, Rodion Shchedrin, performed by Maxim Anikushin)
Prelude to a Summer Day (Prelude, J.S. Bach) and Tutu Blues (Tocata and Fugue in D Minor, J.S. Bach)
Contemporary Etude 1 (Scherzo in C Minor, Brahms) and Contemporary Etude 2 (Milonguera, Alex DeGrassi and Quique Cruz)
Scapegoats (Meditation, Jules Massenet), Yo Soy la Locura (La Folia, Du Bally) Chacarera (Chacarera del Violin, Nestor Garnica)
Otherwordly (Spiegel im Spiegel, Arvo Pärt) and Lady McBeth Meets Mother Mary (Prokofief, Romeo and Juliet)
Balleteuille (Libertango, Astor Piazzola) Saxophonist: Dave Barrows. Bridge Over Nevertheless (Rozalina Gutman, pianist)
Waltz of the Flowers, Sugar Plum variation & Pas de Deux, Spanish. The Nutcracker.
Suite in Blue (Sonata Pathètique, Beethoven). and Mediterranean Café. (Sonata for Arpeggione, Franz Schubert.)
Faceless Women (Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra, Max Bruch.) and Dance Alone (Soundtrack: The Civil War),
Chopin Waltzes. (Opus 64, No.2, Opus 9, No 2, Opus 34, No. 1), Sextet. (Concerto for violin in E major, J.S. Bach.)
Performance
Yoga Ballet Suite
Lady Macbeth Meets Mother Mary and Otherwordly, Frances Cabrini Shrine, New York City.
The Embroiderer. American Swiss Ballet, New York City.
Habanera, La Morte de Nikiya, Swanilda and Friends, Ballet Arts, New York City.
Aida, San Francisco Lyric Opera. San Francisco, California.
Bridge Over Nevertheless. Rozalina Gutman, pianist, and Libertango, Dave Barrows, saxophonist. Mission Performing Dance Center. San Francisco, California,
Sunset, Octet by Xinge Lin. Berkeley Ballet Theater, Berkeley, California.
The Nutcracker. Montana Ballet. Bozeman, Montana.
Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Springfield, Missouri.
Don Giovanni. Southern Illinois University, Opera Dept. Carbondale, IL
Website designed by Fernanda Castillo www.web-newyork.com
Photography: Alena Urevna