Why a Small Dance Company?

Many people are familiar with either large, institutional ballet companies or small, choreographer-driven modern companies. Dance as Ever is a small, choreographer-driven ballet company with an institutional outlook, and you may not have supported or even seen such an animal before. We've put together some answers to questions you may have to help explain why we're out there, and why we'd like you to support us.

What is Dance as Ever?

Dance as Ever is a small ballet company based in Manhattan. We were founded in 1993 by Leigh Witchel, who is the company's Choreographer and Artistic Director. Since then, we've produced eight concerts and twenty five new ballets and Mr. Witchel and the company have won honors including a Choo-San Goh award for choreography and Guggenheim Fellowship.

Why ballet? Why not just dance?

Because this is what we love and this is the language we speak. Ballet presents an ideal vision of humanity at its most graceful, elegant and humane. It is a classical language that says in structure and movement things too subtle to be said in words. It is also the company's native tongue and we feel no need to change this. Our work with classical forms has shown us that experimentation is not only at the edges of your craft, often it is about coming to the deepest understanding of its heart. We feel as daring in our unfashionable but steadfastly essential commitment to classical ballet as those working in the most experimental aspects of dance.

Why another ballet company? What makes Dance as Ever unique?

It's understandable to wonder why our work is in any way unique and whether this task is being fulfilled by any of a number of ballet companies in the country. We believe that it is not. George Balanchine's model of a choreographer that makes repertory, ballets as diverse as Agon and Stars and Stripes in the same season, is both elusive and expensive.

Dance as Ever operates on the concept of repertory, both in the immediate and in greater scale, and this makes it unique among the few small, independent ballet companies in existence. A concert program is conceived as a whole, and each work is created not only individually, but to be part of a program of varied works designed intentionally to explore and encompass as many aspects of the classical ballet repertory as possible.
We believe that the function of repertory is not merely to provide novelty, but to provide substance to the art. Our goal is institutional in nature. We want to produce ballet repertory that will be a strong link from those who came before and valuable to those who will come after.

Why a small ballet company?

In a time when large administrative and labor costs are sinking arts organizations, small is beautiful. Small is adaptable. Small is portable. Small provides clarity and focus. We believe our size makes us financially nimble and efficient in both good and bad times, and gives us a singular artistic vision and environment for creativity.

Why not just choreograph for larger companies?

When I began Dance as Ever, I did at first think of it as a vehicle to get a career in larger company, first as a choreographer, then as a director. I gradually realized I had accidentally created a more artistically fulfilling situation than I could attain anywhere else. To be able to create the ballet I need to make, with sufficient rehearsal, with dancers and designers I have a continued relationship with means work that's better than I've ever made in any freelance situation. It went from being a showcase to being a company.

So, do you do Swan Lake?

No. Classical ballet on that scale is more properly the function of a larger municipal company, not a small choreographer-driven one.

Do you do any story ballets?

Narrative works require a lot of resources, and one of ballet's great beauties is its ability to make abstraction emotionally compelling. We do not rule out narrative works, but we have not done them to date.

What are the company's goals?

Our long term goal is for Dance as Ever to grow and stabilize until it is a company offering regular employment and training to a group of dancers and can do its work to enlarge, enrich and preserve the classical ballet repertory. Our goal in all our work is to inform people not what to think, but how, as the craft of thought, extended communicative and discourse skills become lost in the era of the sound bite and the music video. Dance, like all art, is communicative, whether in the vanguard, the middle or the rearguard. It preserves the history of our thought, and extends it into the future. We aim to build on and continue harnessing the classical form and vocabulary to expressive purpose. This ideal has been our aim since the company was founded.

Finally, how did the company get its name?

When I founded the company, I wanted a part of myself in the name, without the egotism of putting my name in the company name. I signed my letters "As ever, " and there was a certain rhythm to those words. Personally, there was also significance in the fact that that I had learnt that sign-off from my Uncle. I felt it fit with the goals of the company for the name to be handed down.

Other Frequently Asked Questions

I want to dance for your company, how can I audition?

We don't really have good news for you. Because we're such a small company, we do not hold auditions, and generally hire dancers through referrals only. These referrals come from company members and colleagues; an unsolicited referral from someone we don't know won't be of much help. You have a better chance of consideration if the reason you are contacting us is because you are familiar with the company and its work. The only situation in which we hire dancers without a great deal of professional experience is when Mr. Witchel knows them personally.

If you would like to send us materials nonetheless, you may do so, but we regret that we do not have the staff to acknowledge receipt, respond to your inquiries or return your materials. We will only contact you if we are interested in further information.

I want to study at your school.

Unfortunately, Dance as Ever does not have a school.

Can you send me general information about ballet?

We regret that Dance as Ever does not have the staff to acknowledge or respond to such requests. However, there are many websites which contain a wealth of information about ballet. You can find links to them on our Related Websites page. We suggest balletalert.com and Tom Parsons' Ballet - Modern FAQ: Guide as good starting points.

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