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Toledo Ballet’s Artistic Director Eric Otto touts
It’s October and Toledo Ballet is back with its annual performance of Sleepy Hollow at the Valentine, October 23 and 24. The Ballet’s Artistic Director, Eric Otto, has been working tirelessly to not only make the ballet a Halloween tradition but to build a company as well as expand the school’s offerings. So far his efforts have shown impressive results. Otto was excited to talk with the paper about new ballets, a burgeoning company, and the ballet’s future.
The Company
“Thing are going really well,” says Eric Otto, Toledo Ballet’s Artistic Director., referring to the local ballet company. “The ballet now has seven company dancers plus three apprentices. Those three apprentices are products directly from our school. I’ve been here almost five years and I’m so thrilled with everything that’s been happening. We have two boys, age 17 & 16, and the third is a nineteen-year-old female dancer. Having more dancers lets me do a lot more.
Not only are we doing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (in October), The Nutcracker (In December) and Don Quixote (in the spring), but we have a Winter Works Choreographic Competition coming up.” Otto explains that this is a leveling up of the program from last year. Two emerging choreographers will come to Toledo in January to create a 10 – 15 minute piece for our 10 professional dancers. The Ballet will house them and they’ll be mentored by Otto himself. It’s important, he says, to get the experience of producing a show from both the choreography side as well as the director’s side.
The final performance will be on Saturday, February 13, in the ballet’s performance space culminating in two awards. The first, Artistic Choice, is voted on by Otto and the faculty, resulting in a $500 prize plus the ability to perform their works with Toledo Ballet as well as other companies. The second award, Audience Choice, has the audience voting for their favorite. The ballet received more than forty applications before the entry deadline.
New Shows & Special Events
For next year’s Halloween show, Otto wants to up the stakes and trade Sleepy Hollow for Dracula. “I want to do something a little darker, more PG13,” he explains. On Friday, November 20, Toledo Ballet will collaborate with the Toledo Symphony for a reconstruction of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. This will be a performance with a company which different from the school. Auditions last year for professional dancers drew a large turnout and the company expanded its members from three to ten. “I think ten is a good number for right now,” says Otto, “maybe down the road we can have between ten and sixteen. They aren’t just ballet dancers whose function begins and ends with a show, they will also work as faculty and participate in community outreach, as ambassadors for everything we’re doing here. We still have advanced students that I want to showcase, because they need that opportunity.”
Live Performances, Shared Experiences
Otto wants to increase the number of Toledoan’s who experience the ballet through performances like Winter Works, as well as Toledo Ballet’s official season. In the age of AI, he knows that seeing a ballet in person is important. Nothing can ever take the place of seeing live performers in a theater — a shared experience under the magic spell of the ballet.
For tickets to any of the ballet’s upcoming performances go to https://liveartstoledo.com/events/toledo-ballet/
