By James Sofranko, Artistic Director
“The game is en pointe, Watson!” This was the opening line of the Washington Post’s preview of our upcoming world premiere of Penny Saunders’ Sherlock. I was contacted by the journalist about a month before publication for more information about the production, and she was very interested to know if there were any dancers on pointe (there are). I think I now know why she was so keen to know!
Sherlock has been receiving a lot of national attention (Washington Post, Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine), as we are closing in on our premiere performances, Oct 24-26 and Nov 1. We are no strangers to multi-tasking however, because in October, we also have our Black and White Gala and Soirée Noir performance (Oct 10th) at St Cecelia Music Center, as well as a tour of Trey McIntyre’s Be Here Now to Traverse City as a part the new Northern Michigan Dance Festival (Oct 11th and 12th), alongside dancers from Miami City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Joffrey Ballet.
Sherlock is unlike anything I’ve ever produced before. Featuring a unique partnership between three companies (Grand Rapids Ballet, Ballet Idaho, and Nashville Ballet), it has required a new level of communication and coordination across the country. The idea was born in Penny’s head, and she brought it to me and the two other artistic directors, hoping to be able to create something larger and more theatrical than a typical 20-minute ballet with minimal sets and costumes. Together the three companies are equally funding a production with a budget of roughly $100,000 that gets funneled to set design and build, costume design and build, sound design, dramaturgy, music licensing, trucking, choreography, and travel. Two of our dancers, Yuka Oba-Muschiana and Nigel Tau, travelled this summer for two weeks to Boise to workshop the ballet with Penny and other artists from Ballet Idaho and Nashville Ballet. This funding model is one that opera companies have used more frequently in the past, as well as larger ballet companies. In fact, one of the first ballets I ever performed at San Francisco Ballet in 2000 was a full-length Othello from choreographer Lar Lubovitch (Concerto 622), in partnership with American Ballet Theater. This was in part an effort from Michael Kaiser, then ABT’s executive director, to raise the profile of that company, and we performed the ballet around the country, as well as for Great Performances on PBS. (Side note: Michael Kaiser is currently leading our organization-wide strategic planning process through the DeVos Capacity Building program.) Although we exist on a smaller scale than ABT and SFB, we have garnered national attention and we will end up owning a production (three-ways) that we can rent out to other interested ballet companies in the future.
The production itself is shaping up to be just as unique as the Sherlock Holmes characters themselves. Penny is a dancemaker that was raised in the world of classical ballet, but her artistry was honed in the contemporary dance space. She has created many abstract dances, many of them right here at GRB, but she has recently tackled more concrete subjects and characters. Two recent examples are Jumpcut, which received its world premiere at GRB in April 2023 and An American in Paris for the Ruth Theater in Salt Lake City this past summer. I see Penny finding a new excitement and inspiration for character and story, as well as methods of engaging the audience in ways not typically familiar to concert dance audiences. For instance, our dancers are not only hard at work rehearsing the steps for the ballet, but also the script! Using Sir Conan Doyle’s words and authentic radio recordings from the 1940’s many of the dancers lip-sync the characters’ lines, and sometimes even speak (or scream) out loud. The whole cast must also sing the opening number (not usually a dancers’ preferred method of communication!)
Through Sherlock, Penny also finds a way to comment on the important role that art has in our society. I love that Penny has taken inspiration from Sir Conan Doyle’s creativity, riffed on it, and made it her own. In much the same way that Rachmaninoff at one time composed on a theme of Paganini, or Charlie Kaufmann wrote the screenplay for Adaptation based on a novel by Susan Orleans, the result is a new, enjoyable, surprising, and thought-provoking piece of art that you, our audience, has the proud distinction of having helped bring into the world.
I look forward to welcoming you to Sherlock and all of our upcoming productions of the 25/26 season. Thank you for your support and attendance, we would not exist without you!
