| By Marc Lefkowitz CLEVELAND, OH (November 26, 2021) FEAST: a ballet — a production that uncovers the disturbing history of human consumption — marks the one-year anniversary of its premiere online performance with the announcement that the ballet will be staged live in the Cleveland area on the evening of March 25, 2022. Ticketing information and details, including Presenting Partner, coming soon. The online premiere of FEAST was produced in collaboration with Wasted Talent Media, a local film company, and was attended by more than 100 paid ticket-holders on November 27, 2020. The video production of FEAST has garnered international attention, winning the Gold Award at Virgin Spring Cinefest in India. It was also an Official Selection at the GINDIE Film Fest in Australia, the Cinema Soup Film Festival in England, and Flicks Monthly Film Fest. The Plain Dealer, in its 2020 preview of FEAST: a ballet, wrote: “It’s a portrait of consumerism, rampant development, and ceaseless material one-upmanship, with the planet and the underprivileged paying the price.”FEAST: a ballet was produced by the Creative Destruction Collective which includes Northeast Ohio artists, dancers, writers, and academics who worked across disciplines to develop the narrative and concept for the project. The Collective consists of: visual artist Corrie Slawson, dancers and choreographers Christina Lindhout and Kelly Korfhage, law professor Dr. Dalindyebo Shabalala, and sustainability journalist Marc Lefkowitz. On a lavish set composed of over 500 objects created by visual artist Corrie Slawson, choreographers Christina Lindhout and Kelly Korfhage immerse nine dancers in a 32-minute performance that conveys the complex narratives of six commodities: Sugar, Bananas, Coffee, Timber, Oil & Minerals, and Beef. FEAST deconstructs the world of hidden supply chains and the pleasure and pain it produces. A 2021 recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize, Corrie Slawson is a contemporary artist whose work merges layers of printmaking, drawing and painting. Slawson’s work has been exhibited in the U.S. and internationally, including at MOCA Cleveland, The Toledo Museum of Art, Akron Art Museum, Centro Cultural Tijuana, SPACES, the Massillon Museum, and Zygote Press. The theme of FEAST derives from Slawson’s “Let Them Eat Steak” an installation of over 365 hand-cast plaster steaks, some gilded, some marbled and a dozen trompe l’oeil painted in oil that appeared in the exhibit “Artifice and Persuasion” at American Greetings Gallery in 2018. Slawson also designed and printed all of the costumes and set pieces used in the ballet. Both professional dancers, Lindhout and Korfhage choreographed, produced, and directed the ballet which was recorded at Verb Ballets’ studios in September 2020. Lindhout performed with Verb Ballets from 2014 to 2020 including on several international tours. In addition to performing and choreographing, Lindhout directs the school at Verb Ballets Center for Dance, and is an Adjunct Dance Faculty member at Baldwin Wallace University. Kelly Korfhage has danced with Verb Ballets since 2016 and teaches regionally. She is also a Russian Pointe Brand Ambassador. Lindhout and Korfhage were the recipients of a 2020 Akron Soul Train Fellowship award in support of the choreography for FEAST. The project was also funded in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts through SPACES Satellite Fund. FEAST features locally recorded music — selections from Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata, Piano Trio and String Quartets — performed by Cleveland Institute of Music graduates. The narrative for FEAST is a group effort with special expertise provided by Dr. Dalindyebo Shabalala, University of Dayton Associate Professor of Law and UN Presenter on Climate Change and Human Rights, as well as Marc Lefkowitz, who served as Director of the GreenCityBlueLake Institute at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. More information about FEAST: a ballet can be found at www.feastballet.com |
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