Artwork entitled "Love" by Carolyn Crotty
Love is a Many Varied Thing brings together five choreographers to explore the many facets of love. The scope of the show includes Eros (romantic love) in several forms but also love between friends, love of community, and familial love—expanding and validating all forms of love.
Meet the Choreographers
Guest Choreographer from Ballez Company
Ballez Creator Katy Pyle is a genderqueer lesbian dancer and choreographer who began Ballez in 2011 to explore their complicated relationship to the cishetero patriarchal form of ballet, and to make space for their own, and their communities’, presence within it. They are bring pieces of Firebird, A Ballez to Vermont this February. The Firebird, a Ballez is a Ballez version of Mikhail Fokine and Igor Stravinsky's eponymous 1910 ballet. Pyle introduces a yearning Lesbian Princess and a Tranimal (part bird, part Prince) as they seek liberation in a magically perverse landscape of Polyamorous Princes and their Magical Sorceress. Using Fokine's journals to shape their narrative structure and aesthetic choices, Pyle found themself moved by his idea that "each ballet's movements should be specific to the culture it represents."
Ballez Creator Katy Pyle is a genderqueer lesbian dancer and choreographer who began Ballez in 2011 to explore their complicated relationship to the cishetero patriarchal form of ballet, and to make space for their own, and their communities’, presence within it. They are bring pieces of Firebird, A Ballez to Vermont this February. The Firebird, a Ballez is a Ballez version of Mikhail Fokine and Igor Stravinsky's eponymous 1910 ballet. Pyle introduces a yearning Lesbian Princess and a Tranimal (part bird, part Prince) as they seek liberation in a magically perverse landscape of Polyamorous Princes and their Magical Sorceress. Using Fokine's journals to shape their narrative structure and aesthetic choices, Pyle found themself moved by his idea that "each ballet's movements should be specific to the culture it represents."
Read more about Katy's work:
"This LGBTQ ‘Giselle’ celebrates individuality, putting a spotlight on non-inclusiveness in classical ballet"- The Washington Post
"Ballez Founder Katy Pyle Is Creating Space for Students to Reclaim Ballet on Their Own Terms"- Dance Teacher Magazine
"Inside the Movement to Make Ballet a More LGBTQ-Inclusive Space: - Cosmopolitan
"Katy Pyle Is Queering Up the Ballet Canon with (T)He(i)r Ballez"- Dance Magazine
"This LGBTQ Dance Company wants to change how we think about gender in ballet"- NBC Left Field
"This LGBTQ ‘Giselle’ celebrates individuality, putting a spotlight on non-inclusiveness in classical ballet"- The Washington Post
"Ballez Founder Katy Pyle Is Creating Space for Students to Reclaim Ballet on Their Own Terms"- Dance Teacher Magazine
"Inside the Movement to Make Ballet a More LGBTQ-Inclusive Space: - Cosmopolitan
"Katy Pyle Is Queering Up the Ballet Canon with (T)He(i)r Ballez"- Dance Magazine
"This LGBTQ Dance Company wants to change how we think about gender in ballet"- NBC Left Field
Guest Choreographer
After teaching at and managing Dance Space Center in New York, Michele moved to Seattle to join the Pat Graney Company in 1992. One of the original founders of Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, Michele is currently Professor Emeritus at Cornish College of the Arts, having taught in the Dance Department for 25 years. She ran SHIFT Movement and Healing Arts with her partner Heather Coyle, and was the Artistic Director of Catapult Dance, a company of eight fierce women dancers and collaborators. The onset of COVID created the opportunity to advance plans to move to Vermont. So happy to be living in Craftsbury Common, Michele still teaches 13 classes a week on Zoom, and currently teaches in-person Pilates Mat at the Open Space in Hardwick, Taiji at River Arts Center in Morrisville, and private Pilates sessions on the apparatus at Whetstone Wellness in Craftsbury. She is looking forward to beginning to teach dance in an actual studio again as soon as she figures out where to do it! Grateful for all the wonderful, welcoming folks she has met since moving to Vermont, Michele is excited to dive in to this new relationship with Ballet Vermont.
After teaching at and managing Dance Space Center in New York, Michele moved to Seattle to join the Pat Graney Company in 1992. One of the original founders of Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, Michele is currently Professor Emeritus at Cornish College of the Arts, having taught in the Dance Department for 25 years. She ran SHIFT Movement and Healing Arts with her partner Heather Coyle, and was the Artistic Director of Catapult Dance, a company of eight fierce women dancers and collaborators. The onset of COVID created the opportunity to advance plans to move to Vermont. So happy to be living in Craftsbury Common, Michele still teaches 13 classes a week on Zoom, and currently teaches in-person Pilates Mat at the Open Space in Hardwick, Taiji at River Arts Center in Morrisville, and private Pilates sessions on the apparatus at Whetstone Wellness in Craftsbury. She is looking forward to beginning to teach dance in an actual studio again as soon as she figures out where to do it! Grateful for all the wonderful, welcoming folks she has met since moving to Vermont, Michele is excited to dive in to this new relationship with Ballet Vermont.
Artistic Director, Ballet Vermont
Chatch steps away from the classical ballet and leans into more contemporary choreography in this production. His piece, Love Agape, is a personal journey through romance, friends and family, who form the pillars to love.
Chatch steps away from the classical ballet and leans into more contemporary choreography in this production. His piece, Love Agape, is a personal journey through romance, friends and family, who form the pillars to love.
Ballet Mistress, Ballet Vermont
After years of sharing her dancing, teaching and expertise with the dancers of Ballet Vermont, we are pleased to have Avi add choreographer to her list of contributions!
After years of sharing her dancing, teaching and expertise with the dancers of Ballet Vermont, we are pleased to have Avi add choreographer to her list of contributions!
