Ballet Idaho pivots to all-digital 2020-21 season with new work, interviews, perks
The emergence of the coronavirus in March threw the Idaho arts community into a black hole, hamstringing creative momentum and dashing plans, forcing groups to adapt— and do it quickly.
“This is perhaps the greatest challenge our industry has seen or will see in our lifetimes,” said Ballet Idaho Artistic Director Garrett Anderson in an email interview. He was in the middle of his second season with the company when Boise and then Idaho shut down.
Ballet Idaho was poised that first weekend to put its winter concert “Light/Dark” on the Morrison Center stage. Instead, Anderson pivoted and collaborated with FrontRunner Films to capture the performance on video, quickly edited it, and made the 12 camera-angle final product available to subscribers and ticket holders online.
It wasn’t perfect, and the company learned a lot in the process. As it became clear that the rest of the season probably would not happen, Anderson and his team began shifting their expectations and ambitions in a different direction.
So the 2020-21 Ballet Idaho season will be like no other.
Digital dance
Partnering with FrontRunner, the company will pivot away from traditional on-stage performances and focus on digital presentations of current, past and new work, including several world premieres.
So, yes, that means no performance of its newly retooled production of “The Nutcracker,” a holiday tradition in the Treasure Valley, and a company staple, for more than 30 years.
Because the annual holiday ballet not only features the full company, but more than 100 community children in roles, “there’s just no way to do it safely,” said Ballet Idaho marketing director Alanna Love.
The group also canceled its other story ballet, “The Beauty and The Beast.”
Now, with dancers taking class in their homes and backyards via Zoom, trying to stay healthy and in shape, the company’s thinking is taking a new turn. Its five stage performances will be replaced with five online performances, titled Movements. These will bring you into the rehearsal studio and the artistic processes at Ballet Idaho.
Each installment will be like a miniseries that features behind-the-scene interviews with dancers, choreographers and other artists, archival footage, glimpses of rehearsals, and, of course, new work.
Subscriptions will run Ballet Idaho’s soon-to-be-launched streaming platform, on which you can access the videos. You’ll be able select specifically which features you want to view from rehearsal footage to performance.
The season:
Movement 1: Rowe & Davidson, November: This will focus on the work of Australian choreographers Danielle Rowe and Craig Davidson. Both have created original work at Ballet Idaho, including Rowe’s dark, moody “Dreamland” in 2018 and Davidson’s “Ghost Light,” which premiered in 2020’s “Light/Dark.”
You’ll be getting interviews with each choreographer about their process, with footage of past pieces, and a world premiere of Rowe’s new ballet of Sainte-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals,” as well as a new piece by Davidson.
Movement 2: Celebrations, December: Films will focus on interviews and archival footage with former Artistic Director Peter Anastos, who retired in 2018, about his lush production of “The Nutcracker” that premiered in 2019. There will be “fireside chat” interviews with Anastos, the dancers and artists, and the staging of some of your favorite scenes.
You’ll also be treated to a world premiere of a new holiday ballet from Anne Mueller, featuring a score by local musicians.
Movement 3: LED & Ballet Idaho, February 2021: This collaboration with Boise-based multimedia dance company LED’s artistic director, Lauren Edson, will feature a look at the creative process for her company’s original ballet “Jabberwock.” There also will be an exploration of her piece “Song and Dance (But Not at the Same Time),“ which she created on Ballet Idaho in 2018.
And there will be a world premiere of a new work, created by Edson for Ballet Idaho.
Movement 4: NewDance, March 2021: Ballet Idaho will take its signature NewDance series and offer its dancers and choreographer a new platform on which to create. You’ll find new work by Ashley Baker, Cydney Covert, Antonio Carnell and Daniel Ojeda, along with Los Angeles-based guest choreographer Yusha-Marie Sorzano.
Movement 5: Williams & Saunders, April 2021: Ballet Idaho will feature interviews and process videos of choreographers Robyn Mineko Williams’ and Penny Saunders’ individual works from 2018 and 2019.
Both choreographers will create world premiere pieces with the company dancers.
Digital subscriptions are $200 and go on sale Friday, July 31, at BalletIdaho.org.
Fast-track digital transformation
This plan is ambitious, Anderson admits, and it requires some heavy lifting, an 11 on the scale of one to 10, he said. But adding this digital shift to the company’s mix has been in Anderson’s mind awhile and was on track to happen as an evolution over the next few years.
It’s accelerated now because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’ve always had an interest in film. When I began dancing, I purchased one of the first compact digital video cameras — one that used small digital tapes, before memory cards. I used to bring it with me on tour,” he said. “I feel dance is such a natural thing to combine with film with its inherent focus on movement, timing, music and storytelling.”
Ballet Idaho is in a unique position to make this leap. It’s large enough to have the resources to pull this off; small enough to be nimble and make significant changes as the artists think outside the box. Anderson sees this also as an opportunity to offer the company’s work on a broader, regional scale to embrace a new audience.
“Many of our choreographers have already been experimenting with film and utilizing remote tools to interact with dancers from a distance and choreograph in unconventional spaces. Our process and our goals are transforming as we open up to new possibilities of how we create and share our work,” he said.
Financially, it’s a major challenge, Anderson said.
“But we wouldn’t be here without the incredible support of our community, the talent and creativity of our artists, and the excellent teamwork that happens behind the scenes, from our amazing staff to our rock-solid board of directors,” Anderson said. “Philanthropy will be more important than it has ever been.”
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 8:00 AM.
