vildwerk.
“vildverk” is Dutch for wild works. Celebrated choreographers Christopher Wheeldon, Henning Rübsam, Gianna Reisen, Briana Reed, Mara Galeazzi, Jacqulyn Buglisi, and Joshua Beamish and renowned dancers Preston Chamblee and Unity Phelan (New York City Ballet), Benjamin Freemantle (San Francisco Ballet), Jason Kittleberger (L.A. Dance Project), Lloyd Knight (Martha Graham Dance Company), Fernando Montaño (Cuban National Ballet), Luciana Paris (ABT), among others got wild for the inaugural dance season of vildwerk. The New York City based nonprofit vildwerk.’s mission is to protect and preserve our beautiful planet by inspiring and educating through the performing arts to save, rewild, and restore biodiversity locally and globally.
The eight ballets reimagined ecological crises, including animal extinction/trafficking, butterfly migration, and climate change, for the theme’s opening night, Time to Protect Our Planet, on Tuesday evening, October 15, 2024, at El Museo Del Barrio Theater in Manhattan.
“Every day, there are little stories happening all around our planet — like a nearly extinct pink caterpillar in the Amazon, or the endangered macaw.” said founder Chiara Gorodesky, “vildwerk. is a group of dancers, choreographers, visual artists, musicians, and composers, bringing these stories to life. Art inspires us to take action. It’s time to protect our planet.”
The two-day ballet performance cast dancers from the Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Buglisi Dance Theater, Complexions, and LA Dance Project.
Ara means “macaw” in the Brazilian Tupi language. Joshua Beamish’s work draws attention to the migration of species in the rainforest, performed by Benjamin Freemantle, Luciana Paris, and Lloyd Knight in collaboration with Nature and Culture International.
Network was a contemporary dance piece and artistic collaboration with David K. Israel, who performed his score live. Gianna Reisen’s choreography explores mycorrhizal fungi and their relationship to plant life with performers Jonathan Fahoury, Vinicius Silva, Peter Mazurowski, and Alyssa Rose Bulin. Samantha Bass provided visuals with photo documentation by Stephanie Diani. The Mycorrhizal Fund supports the work.
Toujours was a dramatic tour de force by Mara Galeazzi, whose choreography and dance — alongside Jason Kittelberger — was an unforgettable work about the extinction and loss of species.
Monarcas was inspired by a bus ride in Mexico to a butterfly sanctuary. Henning Rübsam’s choreography is dedicated to butterfly migration, performed by Luciana Paris, Fernando Montano, and Eriko Sugimura in honor of philanthropist Barbara Tober.
Moss Anthology: Variation #5 (2024) was choreographer Jacqulyn Buglisi’s work was specially created for vildwerk in support of its conservation initiatives performed by the Buglisi Dance Theatre.
The haunting and sensual choreography of Christopher Wheeldon’s pas de deux with dancers Unity Phelan and Preston Chamblee was a dream. This Bitter Earth was a breathtaking and poetic dance set to a remix of Dinah Washington’s soulful rendition of This Bitter Earth and Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight.
The Golden Turtle is about trafficked and abused turtles, performed by Mara Galeazzi, with music by Felipe Perez Santiago, in collaboration with Re:Wild and Turtle Conservancy. Joshua Beamish’s choreography explores the inner turmoil of species experiencing habitat devastation and poaching as part of the illegal turtle trade through the performance.
Climate change was the highlight of Divinity in Paradox’s exuberant and sexy choreography of Briana Reed’s work inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:13 (And now these three things remain: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love), with performers Fernando Montano, Luciana Paris, Eriko Sugimura, Amar Ramasar, Gabi Roller, Erin Gonzales, Sydney Williams, and Jacob Rodriguez.
When vildwerk. founder Chiara Gorodesky envisioned combining her two loves, ballet and turtles for the first season, she dedicated to #TheRubyInitiative: a conservation effort to restore populations of the endangered Burmese Roofed Turtle. An accompanying photo exhibition by award-winning photographers Samantha Bass, Martin Broen, and Stephanie Diani narrated the journey of Ruby, who was rescued from 20 years of abuse.
Said President of Nature and Culture International, Matthew Clark, “We are here to celebrate this beautiful, fragile planet that we are privileged to have inherited, and to also recognize that we are in danger of throwing away this inheritance.” Ruby now serves as a beacon of hope for one of the rarest turtle species in the world.
Post-performance reception at the El Museo del Barrio followed the entrancing performances of the dancers who mingled with artists, patrons, wildlife and nature conservationists, writers, thought-leaders, key influencers, business people and philanthropists Michele Cohen, Sharon King Hoge, Era Jouravlev, Lola Koch, Consul General of Mexico Jorge Islas López, Emily Reifel, Ted Taylor, Barbara Tober, Damian Woetzel among them.
Cueing the music for ballets about the climate crisis vildwerk. allowed the dazzled audience to reflect on doing our small part in practical ways with ethical and social responsibility.
