Classic Heat: An Interview with Ballet Vero Beach’s Adam Schnell
Posted October 31, 2024
Tickets for the November 16, 3 p.m. performance are available now.
On Saturday, November 16, 2024, dancers and choreographers from Ballet Vero Beach (BVB) will ignite the VBMA stage with Classic Heat, a collection of works inspired by the Roadside Reverie: Glass Works by John Miller exhibition.
In this interview, Ballet Vero Beach Artistic Director and CEO Adam Schnell shares his perspective on the company’s longstanding collaboration with VBMA and provides insight on Classic Heat.
VBMA—Tell us when and how the Ballet Vero Beach/VBMA partnership originated.
Schnell—During Ballet Vero Beach’s first season, I received a voicemail from a museum staff member asking if I would be interested in discussing an interpretive dance collaboration. For me, interpretive dance had a reputation for being esoteric, unapproachable, and cold—the exact opposite of what we were trying to do with Ballet Vero Beach. Still, I took the meeting. It turns out that VBMA wanted us to interpret some amazing kinetic sculptures they were bringing in, and I jumped at the chance to put a BVB spin on the term “interpretive dance.”
Over the years, we have interpreted so many different exhibitions I have lost count, and we even did a program called Museum in Motion to celebrate VBMA’s 30th Anniversary.
VBMA—For Classic Heat, your dancers and choreographers are creating original works inspired by the glass works of John Miller, currently on view at the Museum. How do they do that?
Schnell—Choreography, like all art creation, is a deeply personal process. Creating works for our partnership with VBMA simplifies this since we don’t have to search for inspiration. As we have expanded our company and staff, I simply put out a call for proposals and try to give as many people the opportunity to create as I can. Choreographers spend time developing ideas, researching music, and creating movement. Then, they get into the studio with their respective casts and put it all together—with a healthy amount of trial and error about what might work and what doesn’t.
It astonishes me how many of the works we have created during this partnership have made it into our permanent repertoire and, in tandem, how many choreographers we work with got their start in this series.
VBMA—The show’s description sounds so joyful: “colors, charisma, and culture of the ‘60s.” What can a ticketholder expect from Classic Heat?
Schnell—From what has been proposed, it seems all the choreographers are interested in taking the flavor and the essence of Miller’s works, Americana in general, and that spirit of freedom that existed in the 1960s and showcasing that in different ways. Some interpretations take an abstract direction with the energy of the movements and colors of the costumes reflecting those characters. Some works are much more literal, with familiar music and movement vocabulary. Work is suitable for all ages, and we often provide context for each work between pieces and allow audiences to ask questions of the choreographers and dancers at the close of the performance.
VBMA—Tell us a little about the choreographers Marlyse Noble and Darien Santos.
Schnell—Marlyse is one of our Fellows, and Darien is one of our professionals. Both have been with us just a year. Both showed their choreographic chops at our annual fundraiser, Ballet Under The Stars, last season. I am excited for them to be able to showcase this side of themselves to a broader audience.
VBMA—Classic Heat will also include a reworked version of your Crimson & Clover, which turns 20 years old this year and has never been seen in Vero Beach. What inspired you to choreograph that piece, and where was it first performed?
Schnell—Twenty years! I can’t even believe that is possible. The work was my first commission for Omaha Theater Ballet in the Spring of 2004. I was really inspired by the music of Tommy James and the Shondells, my new colleagues at Omaha Theater Ballet, and by blending more casual movements with ballet.
VBMA—You say that it will be “reworked.” How so?
Schnell—The structure and the music are the same, but instead of being based around one couple, one soloist, and an ensemble, I swapped some things to have it be based around two couples and an ensemble.
VBMA—Ballet Vero Beach will be back again in February with Joie de Vivre. Can you give us a sneak peek into that production?
Schnell—I look forward to how Joie de Vivre interprets a completely different genre/era/medium of artwork than Classic Heat. Darien Santos will return to choreograph again and will be joined by one of our fellows Abriella Mauldin. Both are planning longer works. I don’t know if that indicates the weight of interpreting masterworks in the French Modern canon, but audiences will see a different structure and energy between the two programs.
