Wood Work

Wood Work inspires a sense of joy and healing through seeking unique and individual paths, while feeling connected to one another.

“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. 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, originally from Ojai CA, has a BFA in theater from the California Institute of the Arts, with an emphasis in Costume Design. He now lives in New York, and has a work studio on 39th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenues), in the heart of the Garment District. In his free time, he works on his family’s avocado ranch in Ojai. He is currently designing costumes for the White Horse Theater’s production of Eyes For Consuela, and just finished supervising the Broadway tour of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas at Madison Square Garden. A recent career highlight was designing the costumes for Joy Franz in Night Mother. Some of his other credits include costumes for South Pacific, Mary Poppins, Titanic, Guys and Dolls, Kiss Me Kate, and White Christmas (directed by Randy Skinner), all at the Westchester Broadway Theater.

Lighting Design | Joseph R. Walls

Walls has created designs for The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Calgary’s The High Performance Rodeo, Washington D.C.’s Inter-American Development Bank. The New York Musical Festival, Washington DC Fringe Festival, The New York International Fringe Festival, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, The National Theatre of Panamá, Panamá’s Theatro Anayansi, The Figali Convention Center of Panamá, and New York City’s Fall for Dance Festival.

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