music has this big change, and very often
in that moment someone comes out and
saves her. In my version, no one comes to
her rescue, and she sits on the ground and
she cries for a little while, and then she
stands up and she moves on. … If you look
at this ballet, it had all traditional ballet
steps, it had traditional ballet costumes,
it had traditional ballet music. But I think
we can tell the stories with a contemporary
mindset to what we’re trying to say.
Tell me about the importance of “Beer
and Ballet” in terms of cultivating the
next generation of talent?
It is truly an investment in fostering new
choreographic voices, and they are the
future of our artform, so I’d say this is in-
credibly important. This was a program
that was started by Ron Cunningham and
Carinne Binda about 25 years ago — I was
a choreographer in the very first one. It’s a
workshop, which means the pieces are all
created by our dancers. This year, we have
10 pieces. There is one young man, he’s 19,
and this is the first piece he has ever made.
When they are choreographing, they pick
their music, they decide their intention or
the story they are telling, they work with
our lighting designer, they work with our
costume department. The thing I always
think is most important is they are tasked,
as the leader of the room, to foster the en-
tire environment of the room. It’s so im-
portant and it takes practice. When you’re
a dancer, you are receiving the informa-
tion, interpreting it and putting it back
out. When you’re in the front of the room
[as the choreographer], what you learn is
incredibly valuable, and then you go back
to being a dancer and receiving the infor-
mation with what you just learned, and
you become a better performing artist. So
even if someone tries choreography and
says they never want to do it again, they
are now a better performing artist for that
experience. Choreographic workshops are
so important; they’re also really rare. Be-
cause they cost resources and we are, of
course, a nonprofit and being able to in-
vest in that development is a challenge. n
Sena Christian is the managing editor of
Comstock’s. On Twitter @SenaCChristian
or senachristian.com.
For an extended interview
with Amy Seiwert, visit
www.comstocksmag.com
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