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Toledo Ballet is blossoming under the direction of Eric Otto. As they move into a new season, the Ballet has three productions coming up starting October 24 with Sleepy Hollow. Once again, the Toledo Symphony will be accompanying Toledo Ballet and there will be some exciting guest dancers.
A New Season
Toledo City Paper caught up with Otto as he prepares to bring Sleepy Hollow back to the stage. With the seasons’ new budget, he’s hired two more professional dancers from the Fort Wayne Ballet, David Claypoole and Rachel Aron. Both have been principal dancers for a number of years, but Otto was able to bring them to Toledo with his vision of the future and his accomplishments since becoming artistic director in 2022. “They came to Toledo and saw our new facility, which is incredible. It’s next to the Stranahan Theater and is 60,000 square feet with four studios, high ceilings, and new harlequin floors – the same kind Julliard and the San Francisco Ballet have. What was once a good local academy for ballet is turning into a regional ballet company slash academy where we are really starting to elevate our productions. The new facility sets us apart. We can start training at a more professional level and, because we’re under one roof in a state-of-the-art building with the Toledo Symphony, the collaboration is seamless,” says Otto.
Toledo Ballet has been able to grow, adding more classes, and teachers. This is a big year between the ballet’s 85th Nutcracker production in December and having added three professional dancers all year, full time, who are also part of the faculty.
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Sleepy Hollow and The Nutcracker
This year’s Nutcracker will feature a Toledo Ballet alum who is currently a principal dancer in the New York City Ballet, Isabella LaFreniere, and her partner, Ryan Tomash, which is very exciting for everyone. Right now Otto is immersed in the ballet’s newest tradition, Sleepy Hollow, which was a success for Toledo Ballet last year and is less than three weeks away from their 2025 performance. “We got great feedback last year, people loved the music, choreography, and costumes. There were a lot of effects I’m proud of too,” says Otto, “we had a mechanical horse that comes out, and lots of dry ice to set the mood. I’m encouraging people this year to come in costume to the Saturday afternoon show and to really feel a part of it.” The company’s professional dancers include Liza Van Heerden, Rachel Aron, David Claypoole, Ruslan Sprague, and Luciano Perotto in leading roles. Otto is also very excited about guest conductor, Martin West, who is the conductor for the San Francisco Ballet. To have such a prestigious conductor working on the Sleepy Hollow production is a huge feather in the cap of both the Ballet and Symphony.
There will be an added show this year for school kids on Friday morning, October 24, in addition to the opening performance Friday night. Saturday October 25, there will be an afternoon and evening performance.
Looking Forward
There are now three mainstay productions for the ballet, Sleepy Hollow, The Nutcracker, and a rotating spring show, which will be Coppelia, a delightful blend of comedy and classical ballet. It’s the story of clever and curious Swanhilda who unravels the mystery of a beautiful, life-like doll and cleverly outwits the eccentric inventor, Dr. Coppelius, April 23, 25 & 26, 2026. Otto would like to ultimately expand it to eight shows throughout the year.
The 85th anniversary of The Nutcracker will include another guest conductor, Jonathan McPhee, who is a graduate of Julliard, worked with George Balanchine, and was the music director of the Boston Ballet for twenty-five years. Toledo Ballet is becoming a place where students who work hard and dream big can see those dreams become a reality. It certainly happened for Isabella LaFreniere who recently sent Otto a picture from her performance in a party scene of The Nutcracker, when she was a little girl performing with Toledo Ballet.
