A Shropshire Lad (Leigh Witchel) Dance as Ever September-October, 2000 Pace Downtown Theatre - New York City, NY Dance as Ever is a Manhattan-based ballet company performing the works of its artistic director, Leigh Witchel. A Shropshire Lad was choreographed on New York City Ballet principal dancer Peter Boal. "It was an extraordinarily moving piece, especially the elegiac last song. . .where the effective lighting (by Jeffrey E. Salzberg) seemed both to box the dancer in and to elevate him above all human suffering." READ THE REVIEW EXCERPTS FROM MR. W ITCHEL'S PROGRAM NOTES: (George Butterworth's) song cycle Six Songs from "A Shropshire Lad" takes its lyrics from the poems by A. E. Housman. . . the implicit themes of war and the arbitrariness of those who return and those who do not referred to the Boer War, but gained painful new irony from World War I. Butterworth. . .was killed by a sniper's bullet in 1916. . . . The six sections of the ballet are set in a wide range of seasons and times of day. During the final section the lighting, in the form of leaf projections on the stage floor, was used to progressively limit the amount of space available to the dancer until, by the end, when his character is speaking from the grave, he was confined to a small, rectangular, coffin-like space. While the lighting designer's primary source of inspiration was the choreography (and the dancer's interpretation), several of the poems' images (especially Housman's references to color) were echoed in the lighting. READ THE POEMS Also on the program were Summer Dance, Quodlibet, and Elevator. Some photographs of A Shropshire Lad were taken by Cynthia Thompson. Mixed Repertory AdrienneCelesteFadjoDANCE June, 2007 Abrons Arts Center, Henry Street Settlement - New York City, NY The Earth and Me Shadow Box Theatre (Dance and Puppetry) May, 2006 Symphony Space - NYC, NY The Nutcracker (Hellie Schussler and Robert F. Wesner) Ashland Regional Ballet (Ashland, OH) December, 2006 Renaissance Theatre - Mansfield, OH To Turn Again (Susan Douglas Roberts) Click to see letter of recommendation Contemporary Dance / Fort Worth May, 1997 (excerpts performed in 1994 and 1993) Landreth Auditorium / Scott Theatre - Fort Worth, Texas "...exceedingly clever staging and design... a devastating blend of image and sound. . . ." To Turn Again was the result of a collaboration beginning in 1992 between choreographer Susan Douglas Roberts and composer Blaise Ferrandino, with lighting designer Jeffrey E. Salzberg joining the team in 1993. Based on T. S. Eliot's 6-part poem "Ash Wednesday", the work used unconventional staging to address universal themes of religion, death, and resurrection. To accommodate the unusual staging requirements of To Turn Again, the stage of Ed Landreth Auditorium was extended and several rows of seats were removed to create a dancing area in front of and below the stage. Special lighting positions were erected in order to properly light these areas. Mixed Repertory (Guest Artists: Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra, Miami City Ballet) Peoria Ballet April, 2005 Civic Center - Peoria, IL Moon Reflections (Victoria Loftin) University Dance Theatre University of Houston April, 1994 (Set and Lighting Design) Cullen Performance Hall - Houston, Texas Victoria Loftin's Moon Reflections was inspired by the book "Many Moons" (Diana Brueton), which is subtitled "The Myths, Magic, Fact and Fantasy of our Nearest Heavenly Body". The set piece slowly -- almost imperceptibly -- rose from behind the dancers until, like the full moon itself, it shone from high overhead. The lighting designer's challenge was to balance the effect of the motivational lighting -- the strong backlight, as if coming from the full moon -- while preserving visibility and three-dimensionality and serving the dramatic needs of the piece. Note: Since photographic film cannot capture the same subtlety of detail as can the human eye, some images have been digitally edited in order to present a more accurate depiction of the performance as seen by the live audience. Aubade (Leigh Witchel) Dance as Ever September, 1999 Pace Downtown Theatre - New York City, NY "Never did the low, wide stage of this theatre look better. . . the setting, lighting, and costumes would make any big ballet company proud." Aubade is the French word for "morning song". In this new solo, New York City Ballet principal dancer Charles Askegard danced the part of a suitor romancing his beloved in a quiet courtyard at dawn. Lighting was used to indicate the presence of an unseen balcony down stage right. Also on the program were Armature, Horizon, and Scherzo Fantastique. Photographs of Scherzo Fantastique and Armature are © 1999 Nan Melville. Photograph of Scherzo Fantastique taken from video. Senior Projects (Various professional and student choreographers) Click to see letter of recommendation Purchase College Conservatory of Dance March, 1999 Dance Theater Lab - Purchase, NY Purchase College, just outside New York City, has one of the outstanding dance conservatories in the world. Graduating seniors typically present projects consisting of an original composition (always a group work) and a repertory piece (usually a solo), in which the student performs a dance made by an established choreographer. Purchase seniors have performed works by choreographers such as David Dorfman, Donald Byrd, Bill T. Jones, Neil Greenberg, and George Balanchine. "Jeffrey contributes brilliantly to the artistic excellence of the work." Note: Senior Project images were captured from videotape. Some have been digitally enhanced to more closely resemble the lighting as seen by the naked eye.