James Sewell visited the KOOL Morning show this morning and we talked about the interesting brand of dance coming to Mitchell Auditorium this Friday. James began by telling us about his career, starting in Minneapolis, then made the big trip to New York.

 

As per his profile, He has choreographed more than 70 ballets for companies in the United States and around the world. Projects include the New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, the New York State Council on the Arts grant to create “Independence In Dependence” for Feld Ballets/NY; “Aida” (1998) for the Minnesota Opera and 11 other opera companies, and a long list for other ballets.

Mr. Sewell received a Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship (2002), a Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography from the Choo-San Goh & H. Robert Magee Foundation (2006), and a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Choreography (2007). He is a past trustee of Dance/USA and a past director of the American Composer’s Forum.

I asked him if he has seen a change in dance over the years, to which he replied yes. He said that more people are exposed to dance in various forms on tv but it doesn't translate totally to ballet.You can hear more of his thoughts in the interview.

We talked about his performance this Friday at Mitchell Auditorium and he talked about incorporating your moves into the performance. How does he do it? Listen to the interview and find out. He invites everyone to come and see what ballet can be, and how much fun it can be. I agree that ballet has taken a bad rap over the years being something for people with large amounts of money or for the old people. Dance and specifically ballet has grown and become something no one imagined. Mr. Sewell will do his part to present an entertaining show as always, you just have to be there to see it.

My thanks to Mr. James Sewell for the great interview. Find out more at jsballet.org and for the show this Friday Click here

Here's the Interview

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