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Toledo Ballet’s three company dancers – Liza Van Heerden, David Claypoole, and Rachel Aron – have been hard at work choreographing, planning, and rehearsing a new performance titled “Winter Works,” which will take place at 4 p.m. on March 8. The performance will be held in the Toledo Center for Live Arts, a new facility that houses Toledo Ballet, the Toledo Symphony, and the Toledo Jazz Orchestra – who are all collaborating in this performance.
Eric Otto, Toledo Ballet’s Artistic Director and Head of Curriculum, had the idea to make a new performance that focused on highlighting these three professional dancers, all of whom have joined Toledo ballet in the past two years under Otto’s leadership. Otto entrusted the performance to the dancers, who in addition to choreographing the dances, have been meeting with the lighting crew, the marketing team, the musicians, and more, to ensure that every detail is taken care of.
“He wanted to give us the opportunity to learn new or different skills in producing a production,” said Aron. “…Not just being the people that show up onstage.”
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“Winter Works” will consist of five different pieces, each one choreographed by a different person. Unlike a typical storybook ballet that follows one storyline all the way through, each piece will have its own distinct style showcasing different types of movement, alongside live music by Toledo Symphony and Toledo Jazz Orchestra.
“Live music is a huge privilege that not many dancers or dance companies are able to work with, just financially and situationally, so that is a big draw for us,” said Van Heerden. “You feel it when you are performing to it, it is a lot more special.”
We sat down with these three dancers to learn a little bit more about them, what brought them to Toledo, and what they have enjoyed about working on this performance. The dancers will also host a Q&A after Winter Works, where they will answer questions from the audience.
(Responses have been edited for length and clarity.)
Liza Van Heerden
Where are you originally from?
South Africa – I’m a long way from home!
How did you get started with ballet?
I was super sporty when I was younger and then all the other sports kind of fell away and I focused more on dance because I was a lot more passionate about it. When I was 15 I came to a really intense boarding school in the states and my dance journey took off from there.
Prior to coming here, what were some highlights of other performances you’ve been in?
At my previous company, we did this piece to the music of An American in Paris, which is a very famous Broadway show. It was just a lot of fun to do with my friends. It wasn’t necessarily the pristine classical ballet. It was a little more loose and fun. I love the classics and the super, super classical ballet, and I always get pinned as the classical dancer, but I love to also be able to let loose and do something different.
What have been some of the highlights since you joined Toledo Ballet last season?
My first performance was Nutcracker, so that was very special to me. I hear that music now and I see that tutu and it is a very special thing, because before coming here I kind of considered quitting dance, so it was kind of a saving grace coming here. It has given me so much opportunity.
What have been some of your favorite parts of working on this performance?
For me it is the music. I am using the music from the famous opera Carmen. I just feel a lot of raw emotion when I hear that music, so that choreography feels very natural to me. At my boarding school we did very intense classic character dance, so I kind of feel like this piece is a bit of a nod to that. [It] was something that resparked that joy in dance for me, and that passion.
David Claypoole
Where are you originally from?
Richmond, Virginia
How did you get started with ballet?
My mom showed me a lot of 50’s musicals, so that got me interested in dance. Once I had gotten to start doing dance at a studio, have competition dance, try jazz, tap, the whole nine yards, I really got hooked on how hard ballet was. It was really difficult to do, but it was a great challenge. I loved the physicality of it. I loved what you could express with it. The fact that both ballet and acting go hand and hand was a really big draw for me. I loved acting in high school and having that be able to be expressed within ballet in just physical movement was something that I loved about it.
What were some notable things that you did before coming here?
Before coming here I really had a great time being in Richmond Ballet’s Second Company. At the time we got exposed to a lot of great works by Val Caniparoli. Having a company that was attached that had a ton of great dancers was awesome to look up to. Then going to Fort Wayne Ballet I had an awesome opportunity to do works by Jerome Robbins (Fancy Free), George Balanchine (Serenade), then another work by Val Caniparoli. It was great to work with the company for about nine years. Now this is an awesome opportunity to come to Toledo and to grow a company as well. When I went to Fort Wayne there were only about nine dancers there, and it grew as well. So I would love coming here and getting the company to expand here too. I love helping places to grow.
What has been your favorite part of working on this performance?
My favorite part has really been learning about myself, what my choreographic process is. It has changed for each challenge. I am doing two pieces, one is more modern dance and one is neoclassical. So it is interesting to see how my approach shifted for each piece . . . It will also be a fun opportunity for collaborating with the musicians later on. One of the pieces is to Take Five, which is a jazz piece with a lot of improvisation.
Rachel Aron
Where are you originally from?
Atlanta, Georgia
How did you get started with ballet?
I started when I was four, as a lot of children do, except I am still here. I left home to train at 17, so I went into a high school program with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater for my senior year of high school.
What are some of the biggest highlights of your career before coming here?
With David (at Fort Wayne Ballet), we got to work with a lot of very cool repetiteurs and trusts, like The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The George Balanchine Trust, and The Gerald Arpino Foundation. I got to work closely with the people who work with those organizations for those specialty type pieces.
What has been your favorite part of this performance?
I’ve never actually choreographed before. This is my first time choreographing other than your rogue high school project. But for me, like Liza, the music was really the pull and I just wanted to do something very dramatic, so it has been interesting to become a choreographer since it is kind of new to me.
How would you describe the piece that you’ve choreographed?
Mine is sort of based on the story of the Labyrinth in Greek mythology. My piece is actually the three of us. Liza and I kind of play the same character. She in the first section realizes that she is lost or trapped in the labyrinth, somewhere dark and scary, and a monster has trapped her in there, kind of takes her away. I’m in the second part. I’m her after she has lost her mind a bit being down there for a while. It is a pretty straightforward storyline but it is just showcasing a very different side of ballet-based movement. It is not in point shoes, not in ballet shoes, but it is still very balletic and athletic movement to some very dramatic classical music.
