While the company's next mainstage performance isn't until Momentum: A Mixed Bill on February 21 and 22, we're also hard at work preparing for a special performance with our friends at Full Circle Dance Company. On Sunday, February 2nd, we will perform Ground and Sky together at the Gordon Center in Owings Mills.
This is our second season of collaborating with Full Circle, and it's been enjoyable watching the relationship between our two companies grow. Full Circle's Artistic Director Donna L. Jacobs has described it this way: "These companies work so well together. There is such generosity of spirit and mutual respect among our dancers, and they are always ready for a challenge." Each time we collaborate, we love seeing what Full Circle has been working on.
This year's performance will feature a collaborative work, Ground and Sky, using dancers from both companies as well as students from our respective schools. In addition, both BTM and Full Circle will bring works from our own repertory. Check out our Ground and Sky performance page to grab your tickets.
Dancing Together: Ground and Sky
The collaborative work Ground and Sky will premiere for this occasion. As dancers from Ballet Theatre of Maryland and Full Circle Dance Company share the stage, we'll perform with live accompaniment from violinist Melissa Hullman and percussionist Christopher Payne. Their original composition will respond to the semi-improvisational nature of our movement.
About the Artists
Baltimore-based violinist Melissa Hullman has been invited to share the stage at such diverse venues as the Kennedy Center, Canadian Music Week, the World Bank, Bethlehem Musikfest, Maryland Artscape, and Brooklyn's Jalopy Theatre. At home playing notes on the page or off the cuff, her musical collaborations range from classical solo, chamber, and orchestral playing to tango, jazz, folk, free improv, and Balkan, African, and Indian music.
Her ongoing solo project series VIO/LUMINA plays on the edge of possibility by using improvised and composed solo works to illuminate the current state of violin playing as an art form, fusing the depth and breadth of music now with the brilliance of the classical tradition.
Multi-faceted drummer and percussionist Christopher Payne fuses ethnic hand percussion, orchestral percussion, and drum set to create soundscapes across a multitude of musical genres. He has performed with jazz luminaries Charlie Haden, Bob Sheppard, and Slide Hampton, as well as rock legend Mike Garson (David Bowie, Smashing Pumpkins), and has toured with the Grammy nominated band DeVotchka, the ska-punk band Streetlight Manifesto, and the Arabic orchestra MESTO.
Christopher was a faculty accompanist at The Colburn School, The California Institute of the Arts, and Los Angeles City College, and has worked with an array of choreographers, including Holly Farmer, Julie Bour, Heidi Duckler, John Pennington, and Jessica Kondrath.
A special component of the Ground and Sky collaboration will be the performance of students from our two schools. While these BTM Conservatory dancers have performed with our company many times, this is a unique experience for them! It's an exciting opportunity to work with students outside of our immediate dance family, and it helps to build skills in artistic cooperation and innovation for both sets of students. The shared vocabulary of steps they're using demonstrates the universal language that exists within the dance world. We're looking forward to experiencing that alongside these talented young dancers.
Ballet Theatre of Maryland's Works
Into the Light by Ashley Taylor
Into the Light, a five-movement work by guest choreographer Ashley Taylor, was an audience favorite in 2024. Taylor explains:
"The piece could be summed up in this sentence: 'I longed to be known, but I was afraid of being seen as I really was—and terrified of the possibility that, once seen, I might be loved.' It portrays a group pretending to have it all together, afraid to show their struggles, moving into confronting their brokenness and learning to present themselves as they are—frailty, flaws, and beautiful humanity."
It is set to the music of Bryan Teoh, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Rafael Krux.
Piccola Danza Strofica by Isaac Martinez
Pictured above at Ballet on the Beach in 2024, Isaac Martinez's Piccola Danza Strofica was first created for the Maryland Municipal League's conference. It was among the BTM works that preceded Governor Wes Moore's Keynote Speech.
With a cast of five dancers, Piccola Danza Strofica is inspired by aristocratic dances. As the name translates, it is a small dance with a strophic pattern. Usually applied to vocal music, strophic form refers to when each verse is sung to the same music. Martinez draws out this musical form by weaving choreographic strophes into different pieces of music.
From Full Circle Dance Company
Crash by Allison Powell
This piece explores the dancers’ physical response to intense sounds, from chaotic car crashes to rhythmic pulses, channeling the raw power of the music into bold, striking movement.
1868: Liberation and the Ever Lashing by Hope B. Byers
Award-winning choreographer Hope B. Byers delves into the complex and often disregarded Reconstruction era when formerly enslaved Black Americans made extraordinary strides toward freedom and equality. Byers explores how the notion of a true interracial democracy gave rise to profound hope, simultaneously evoked violent resistance, and ultimately led to abandonment of this attempt to truly evolve as a nation.
From the Source of Our Power by Donna L. Jacobs
As creative beings, we sometimes ask ourselves where, when, and why were we so lucky to be granted such a gift. Does it derive from seeds planted within us long ago? What is the power that drives and compels us to keep moving forward? Where does it come from and how does it manifest?
We hope that you'll join us on Sunday, February 2nd for Ground and Sky at the Gorden Center. Tickets are on sale now!