Amy Seiwert is an American

contemporary ballet Contemporary ballet is a dance genre that incorporates elements of classical ballet and modern dance. It employs classical ballet technique and in many cases classical pointe technique as well, but allows a greater range of movement of the upper ...

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

and

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

. She was the founder of Imagery, a contemporary ballet company in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and currently directs Smuin Contemporary Ballet.

Biography

Born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Amy Seiwert had a nineteen year performance career dancing with

Smuin Ballet Smuin Contemporary Ballet, formerly known as Smuin Ballet,

, Los Angeles Chamber Ballet and Sacramento Ballet. During Seiwert's time dancing with

Smuin Ballet Smuin Contemporary Ballet, formerly known as Smuin Ballet,

, she became involved with the “Protégé Program” where her choreography was mentored by the late

Michael Smuin Michael Smuin (October 13, 1938 – April 23, 2007) was an American ballet dancer, choreographer and theatre director. He was co-founder and director of his own dance company, the Smuin Ballet in San Francisco. Biography Born in Missoula, Montan ...

. Seiwert was Smuin Ballet's "Choreographer in Residence" from 2008-2018. From 2013-2015, Seiwert was

Artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

at ODC Theater and in 2017 she was named the first National Artist-in-Residence with the

Joyce Theater The Joyce Theatre Foundation is a leading presenter of dance in New York City and nationally. It is runs, in part, from the Joyce Theater, a 472-seat dance performance venue located in the Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in ...

. Her work can be found in the repertories of

Ballet Austin Ballet Austin is the 12th largest classical ballet company in the US, and also operates the largest combined training facility associated with a professional ballet company in the United States. Each year the Ballet Austin company performs ball ...

BalletMet BalletMet is an American ballet company and training program based in Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 U ...

Smuin Ballet Smuin Contemporary Ballet, formerly known as Smuin Ballet,

Washington Ballet The Washington Ballet (TWB) is an ensemble of professional ballet dancers based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1976 by Mary Day and has been directed by Edwaard Liang since 2024. The Mary Day years (1976–99) Mary Day ''(née'' Mary H ...

Atlanta Ballet Atlanta Ballet is a ballet company, located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the longest continuously performing ballet company in the United States and the State Ballet of Georgia. History Atlanta Ballet was founded in 1929 by Dorothy Alexander as ...

Oakland Ballet The Oakland Ballet Company is a non-profit ballet company based in Oakland, California. OBC was founded in 1965 by Ronn Guidi, an Oakland native, and gained recognition through its historical reconstructions of ballets from the Ballets Russes of ...

, Sacramento Ballet,

Colorado Ballet Colorado Ballet encompasses a 40-member professional performing ballet company, a studio company for advanced dance students, an academy, and an education and outreach department. Based in downtown Denver, Colorado, Colorado Ballet serves more th ...

Louisville Ballet The Louisville Ballet is a ballet school and professional ballet company based in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the official state ballet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Ballet was established in 1952 and currently employs 25 professional danc ...

Cincinnati Ballet The Cincinnati Ballet is a professional ballet company founded as Cincinnati Civic Ballet in 1958, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. After being registered as a company, it had its first performance in 1964. Founding Organizing founde ...

Carolina Ballet Carolina Ballet is one of America's arts organizations, programming traditional ballets and new works by contemporary choreographers. The Ballet was launched as a professional company in 1998 under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Rober ...

Oklahoma City Ballet The Oklahoma City Ballet is a professional dance company and school located in Oklahoma City. The company began under the artistic direction of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dancers Yvonne Chouteau and Miguel Terekhov in the Science and Arts Foun ...

, Dayton Ballet,

Milwaukee Ballet The Milwaukee Ballet is a professional ballet company founded by Roberta Boorse of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is located in Milwaukee, and is currently run by Michael Pink, the artistic director. History The Milwaukee Ballet was fou ...

American Repertory Ballet The American Repertory Ballet (ARB) is an American ballet company based in New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the Unit ...

, an
BalletX
as well as AXIS Dance and Robert Moses' KIN. Seiwert has collaborated with visual designer
Marc Morozumi
an
Matthew Antaky
composers

Daniel Bernard Roumain Daniel Bernard Roumain (; known by his initials, DBR; born 1970) is a composer, performer, violinist, and band-leader, whose work combines classical music with jazz, hip-hop and rock. Composer In September 2010, ''Dancers, Dreamers, and Presiden ...

Christen Lien
and Kevin Keller, media designer Frieder Weiss and spoken-word artist

Marc Bamuthi Joseph Marc Bamuthi Joseph (born 1975) is a spoken-word poet, dancer, playwright, and actor who frequently directs stand-alone hip-hop theater plays. Early life Joseph was born to Haitian immigrant parents and grew up in Laurelton, Queens, New Yor ...

. From July 2018 to July 2020, Seiwert was

of the Sacramento Ballet. In April 2023, Seiwert was named Associate Artistic Director of

Smuin Ballet Smuin Contemporary Ballet, formerly known as Smuin Ballet,

and became Artistic Director for the company's 31st Season in Fall 2024, following the retirement of Celia Fushille. Seiwert's compan
Amy Seiwert's Imagery
will close in Spring 2024.

Choreographic style

Amy Seiwert is known for her willingness to take creative risks to innovate classical ballet choreography. Seiwert incorporates contemporary themes, narratives, music, and collaborators. Rita Felciano of the

San Francisco Bay Guardian The ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'' was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. Parts of the paper were relaunched online in February 2016. History The ''Bay Guar ...

has said Seiwert, "...quite possibly is the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

’s most original dance thinker, taking what some consider a dead language and using it as a 21st-century lingo to tell us something about who we are.”

Awards and recognition

* 1999 Winner
Le Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur
Choreography Competition *2000 Choreographer in Residence, Le Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur *2005 Dance Magazine: "25 to Watch" *2006, 2009 Invited to

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

's Choreographic Institute * 2007, 2010, 2015, 2016,

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

: "Top 10 Dance Events" * 2010

: "Goldie" *2011 Nominee, Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Choreography for ''White Noise'' *2012 Nominee, Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Choreography for ''Requiem'' *2012 Nominee, Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Choreography for ''When It Frays'' *2014 Nominee, Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Choreography for ''Devil Ties My Tongue'' *2015 Second Place, McCallum Theater Choreography Festival *2015 Winner, Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Choreography for ''Back To'' *2020 Nominee, Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Choreography for ''Renaissance'' *2021 "Office Hours" Artist Residency at the Kennedy Center's The REACH *2023 Winner, Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Revival, ''Dear Miss Cline,'' Smuin Ballet

Support

Amy Seiwert's work has been supported by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Kenneth Rainin Foundation,

California Arts Council The California Arts Council functions as a state agency headquartered in Sacramento, California. Its board comprises eight council members who receive appointments from both the Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and ...

, Fleishhacker Foundation,

New Music USA New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media progra ...

, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

References

External links

Amy Seiwert's Imagery

Amy Seiwert's Vimeo Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seiwert, Amy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Cincinnati