Fascinations Merges Art, Music and Dance

This Friday the Youth Orchestra of the Lowcountry, Robert Ivey Ballet and the Charleston Art Outdoor Initiative will present their first collaborative work at the Sotille Theater at the corner of George and King streets.

While dance and music are often collaborative, bringing several musicians or dancers together to create a moving work that is greater than the sum of its parts, visual art is often an individual effort. The new Encorps Arts production Fascinations brings together YOLO, Robery Ivey Ballet and chART to showcase the talents of all three genres.

The project grew out of a few well-timed coincidences and a desire to bring something new to the Holy City.

"After Mr. Ivey passed away and we had been named to take over we were trying to figure out what to do for the upcoming season," Director of Robert Ivey Ballet Michael Wise said. "(YOLO Board President) Kate Mahoney came to our open house and she said we needed to meet Ruben Camacho."

"I asked him why aren't we working together," Wise continued, "and the answer was I don't know."

So Wise, who with his wife Olga took over the leadership of he ballet company following Ivey's death last September, and Camacho, the Musical Director for YOLO, started brainstorming ways for the ballet and the young musicians to collaborate. Meanwhile Mahoney also met chART Founder Geoff Richardson at one of the chARTWalk block parties he organized in Alycia Alley where artists have been painting murals on the back walls of Avondale businesses.

"I was so impressed," Mahoney said. "This is the visual component we needed."

Mahoney said the joint project between the three organizations was a perfect fit because all of them are so heavily involved in the community and in promoting artistic projects and causes in the Charleston Metro area.

Richardson began working with Camacho and Wise to plan an event that would take advantage of the strengths of all three groups and they came up with Fascinations.

"Kate introduced us to Geoff and we sat down and it all clicked," Wise said. "We have the classical arts represented in the music, the physical arts represented in the dancers and the visual arts with chART."

The Robert Ivey Ballet Company dancers will perform seven routines to live music played by YOLO in front of seven different backdrops, each created by a different chARTist.

Richardson, Wise and Camacho all filled separate roles in planning the production but they worked closely together to make sure each of their pieces meshed with the other.

"In regards to the choreography, everyone deferred to me and Olga," Wise said. "When it came time to look at the music I asked Ruben what do you want to play, and he chose it, but we worked together to make sure it wasn't anything that wasn't able to be choreographed, and Geoff chose the artists to create the backdrops."

Richardson said he chose the chARTists for the project based on their styles and the music that would be heard while their work is on stage. Once he approached the artists about the project and they agreed to create a piece for it he gave them recordings of the pieces to listen to along with interviews he did with Camacho and Wise about the pieces and sent them off to start painting.

Since only the finished product from the visual arts side will be on display in the production Richardson also produced videos of each artist creating their pieces for the show with time lapse photography of the work in progress spliced with interviews with the chARTists, so that the audience would be able to see what went into the creation of the backdrops.

"I selected the artists specific to the songs," Richardson said. "Ben Sellers does a lot of trees so he's doing a Vienna Waltz titled 'Into the Woods,' Sean Williams is doing Bacchanale from 'Samson and Delilah' and it's very whirling dervish."

Mahoney said it has been wonderful to watch the musicians, dancers and visual artists work together and learn from each other.

Wise agreed.

"I feel like a kid in a candy store," he said. "You never have an opportunity to continuously rehears with a live symphony."

Fascinations will run for two shows. Opening night on Friday, March 2 is a "dress to impress" black-tie gala affair starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are $45. Tickets for the Fascinations premier at 8 p.m. Saturday are $15-$30. Tickets to both shows are available here.