Wood Work

An earthy, rugged, jaunty microcosm of dance, Wood Work encapsulates verve and joy, grief and exuberance, rambunctiousness and elegance. Ten individual dancers work together to elicit a sense of healing, celebration, and most of all, connection.

“Stiefel interweaves his quirky movements with standard phrases of classical ballet.”

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Choreographer | Ethan Stiefel

Ethan Stiefel is an internationally recognized artist, educator, and leader in the performing arts. After serving as American Repertory Ballet’s Artistic Director for over three years, he is currently The Nora C. Orphanides Artist in Residence. Stiefel was the Principal Guest Instructor at American Ballet Theatre (ABT) from 2016-2021 and the Artistic Director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) from 2011-2014. Just before being appointed the RNZB’s Artistic Director, he served as Dean of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) from 2007-2011.

Stiefel began his professional career at age 16 with the New York City Ballet where he quickly rose to the rank of Principal Dancer. He was also a Principal Dancer with Ballett Zürich and joined American Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer in 1997. 

During his career, Stiefel performed leading roles in all of the full-length classics and danced in an extensive range of shorter works created by the industry’s foremost classical, modern and contemporary choreographers. Read more about Ethan Stiefel here.

Music | Danish String Quartet

The Danish String Quartet continues to assert its preeminence among the world’s finest string quartets. Formed when they were in their teens, they are renowned for impeccable musicianship, sophisticated artistry, exquisite clarity of ensemble, and, above all, and an unmatched ability to play as one. Performances are characterized by a rare musical spontaneity, giving audiences the sense of hearing even treasured canon repertoire as if for the first time. They exude a palpable joy in music-making that has made them one of today’s most highly acclaimed and in-demand classical quartets, performing sold-out concert halls around the world. Their inventive and intriguing programming and repertoire choices have produced critically acclaimed original projects and commissions as well as popular arrangements of Scandinavian folk music.

Costume Design | Derek Nye Lockwood

Derek Nye Lockwood is a New York City based costume designer originally from Ojai, Ca. Derek is the in-house designer for White Horse Theatre and currently designing costumes for their latest production of Thistles at the 59E59 Theaters. In addition to Costume Designing, Derek designs, tailors, and styles for private and celebrity clients. Other notable credits include designing the costumes for Legally Blonde, the international tour and White Christmas (directed by Randy Skinner), at the Westchester Broadway Theater.

Lighting Design | Joseph R. Walls

Joseph R. Walls designed the 2023 world premiere of Orlando Ballet’s The Nutcracker. He has worked with numerous choreographers on their new works, including Ricardo Amarante, Gemma Bond, Dana Genshaft, John Heginbotham, Sophie Laplane, Jessica Lang, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Trey McIntyre, Andrea Miller, Yoshiaki Nakano, Juliano Nunes, Helen Pickett, Ethan Stiefel, Desmond Richardson, Dwight Rhoden, and Yury Yanowsky. Walls also designed the weeklong celebration–The World Youth Day with Pope Francis in Panama. Upcoming productions include the world premiere of Johan Kobborg’s Lucile with the National Ballet of Cuba.  www.jwallsdesign.com

Staging | Gillian Murphy

Gillian Murphy is currently celebrating her twentieth year as a principal ballerina with American Ballet Theatre (ABT), and her repertoire includes leading roles in all of ABT’s current full-length classics and in shorter works by luminary choreographers of the past and present. As a teenager, Gillian was awarded the Prix de Lausanne Espoir, and she joined American Ballet Theatre in 1996. After being honored with a Princess Grace Foundation Award, Gillian was promoted to Soloist in 1999 and to Principal Dancer in 2002. She starred as Odette/Odile in ABT’s PBS television production of Swan Lake and as Giselle in the New Zealand Film Commission’s movie of Stiefel and Kobborg’s production of Giselle at the Royal New Zealand Ballet, where she was a Principal Guest Artist for three years. Gillian has danced as a guest artist throughout the world, performing with the Mariinsky Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Staatsballett Berlin, the Kiev Ballet, the Australian Ballet, as a ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera, and in numerous other international engagements and galas. In recent years, she has received a Princess Grace Statue Award and an honorary doctorate from her high school alma mater, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. In 2018, Murphy graduated summa cum laude from St. Mary’s College of California with a Bachelor of Arts, and she completed the Harvard Business School’s “Crossover into Business” program.

Photos by Eduardo Patino, NYC.

Video editing by Michelle Quiner

Runtime

24 minutes, 10 seconds

Number of performers

10 dancers

Tech Rider

Available upon request

Link to full performance video

Available upon request