Amy Seiwert was the founder and Artistic Director of the San Francisco-based contemporary ballet company Amy Seiwert’s Imagery from 2011-2024. The company made the decision to sunset following the announcement of Seiwert’s appointment as Smuin Ballet’s Associate Artistic Director.
Imager dancers Katherine Wells and Ben Needham Wood, Photo by David DeSilva
Imager dancers Sarah Cecilia and James Gilmer, Photo by David DeSilva
About Imagery
Amy Seiwert started Imagery in 1999 to change the world of ballet. She believed ballet could be more than sylphs and swans, and this art form could be relevant to our current time, speaking to contemporary sensibilities.
Firmly believing there is no progress without experimentation and no experimentation without failure, SKETCH launched in 2011, providing a creative lab for choreographers and dance artists to push their creative habits. In 2018, ASI launched our Artistic Fellowship program, serving the field by fostering the next generation of arts leaders, offering both artistic and administrative mentorship.
Vision
To explode preconceptions of what ballet is and can be.
Mission
To influence and reimagine the field of contemporary ballet through collaboration, experimentation, and risk-taking in a responsible and inclusive environment.
Imagery has put together a PDF summary of its 13-year history, which includes a list of the works created during SKETCH and details about the many creative collaborators involved.
Imagery created a “Writing on Dance” blog to influence healthy dance environments and to nurture feature leaders in the field. From 2020-2023, many contributions to this blog were written by long-time Imagery collaborator Sarah Cecilia Bukowski. An archive of this blog is available here.
“For 13 years, Imagery celebrated creative risk-taking and innovation through the SKETCH series. We premiered 37 new works, 27 created by women, worked with 47 SKETCH dancers and dozens of creative collaborators, and performed for over 7,000 people. To say that we were lucky is an understatement.”
— Amy Seiwert
Amy Seiwert’s "By Any Other Name" during SKETCH 11 featuring Imagery dancers Matisse D’Aloisio and Maxwell Simoes. Costumes by Susan Roemer, S-Curve Apparel & Design. Lighting by Jim French. Photo credit: David DeSilva
Amy Seiwert’s "The Devil Ties My Tongue" during SKETCH 3 featuring Imagery dancers. Costumes by Christine Darch. Lighting by Jim French. Photo credit: David DeSilva
Amy Seiwert’s "Verses" during SKETCH 9 featuring Imagery dancers Austin Meiteen and Shania Rasmussen. Costumes by Christine Darch. Lighting by Brian Jones. Projection Design by Olivia Ting. Photo credit: David DeSilva
Amy Seiwert’s "The Devil Ties My Tongue" during SKETCH 3 featuring Imagery dancers Weston Krukow, Annali Rose, and James Gilmer. Costumes by Christine Darch. Lighting by Jim French. Photo credit: David DeSilva
Amy Seiwert’s "Traveling Alone" during SKETCH 5 featuring Imagery dancers Sarah Cecilia and James Gilmer. Costumes by Christine Darch. Lighting by Jim French. Photo credit: David DeSilva
Amy Seiwert’s "Tides" during SKETCH 12 featuring Imagery dancers Jenna Marie, Joseph A. Hernandez and James Gilmer. Costumes by Susan Roemer, S-Curve Apparel and Design. Lighting by Brian Jones. Photo credit: David DeSilva
Amy Seiwert’s "Wandering" during SKETCH 7 featuring Imagery dancers Shania Rasmussen, Gabriel Gaffney-Smith, Ben Needham-Wood, Jackie Nash and Alysia Chang. Costumes by Susan Roemer, S-Curve Apparel and Design. Lighting by Brian Jones. Photo credit: Chris Hardy
Amy Seiwert’s "Traveling Alone" during SKETCH 5 featuring Imagery dancers Dana Benton and Brandon Freeman. Costumes by Christine Darch. Lighting by Jim French. Photo credit: David DeSilva
Amy Seiwert’s "Wandering" during SKETCH 7 featuring Imagery dancers Tina Laforgia Morse, Gabriel Gaffney-Smith, Ben Needham-Wood and Anthony Cannarella. Costumes by Susan Roemer, S-Curve Apparel and Design. Lighting by Brian Jones. Photo credit: Chris Hardy
Special thanks to Imagery’s artistic collaborators:
Julia Adam • Natasha Adorlee • Brandon Alexander • Mario Alonzo • Matthew Antaky • Vivian Aragon • Jennifer Archibald • Marc Bamuthi Joseph • David Barocio • Peta Barrett • Brandon Barthel • Kishi Bashi • Andrea Basile • Isaac Bates-Vinueza • Danielle Bausinger • Dana Benton-Robertson • Dean Berdusis • Daniel Bernard Roumain • Thomas Bowersox • Corey Brady • Marc Brew • Brook Broughton • Sarah Cecilia Bukowski • Val Caniparoli • Anthony Cannarela • Andrew Cashin • Alysia Chang • Vincent Chavez • Peng-Yu Chen • Brett Conway • Cara Cooper • Joseph Copley • Robin Cornwell • Chris Correa • Matisse D’Aloisio • R. Colby Damon • Christine Darch • Kevin Delany • David DeSilva • Aidan DeYoung • Matthew Doolin • Jamielyn Duggan • Ben Estabrook • Brian Fisher • Justin Flores • David Fonnegra • Jennifer Mae Foster-Drake • Peter Franc • Brandon “Private” Freeman • Jim French • Liang Fu • Rachel Furst • Pedro Gamino • James Gilmer • Ilana Goldman • Jay Goodlett • Scot Goodman • KT Graham • John Haptas • Chris Hardy • JD (Johnathon) Hart • Nicole Haskins • Joseph A. Hernandez • Charlie Hodges • Emily Hope Price • Robert Howard • Adam Hougland • Kaleena Hulbert • Antoine Hunter • Phaedra Jarrett • Jenna Johnson • Darren Johnston • Brian Jones • Kevin Keller • Maurya Kerr • Alex Ketley • Aaron Kierbel • Weston Krukow • Koichi Kubo • Sharon Kung • Peter Kurta • Tina LaForgia Morse • Gabrielle Lamb • Amber Lew • Christen Lien • Matthew Linzer • Rachel Little • Pat Mahoney • Jenna Marie • Scott Marlowe • Carol Martin • Stephanie Martinez • Kathi Martuza • Beth Ann Maslinoff • Jenna McClintock • Kelsey McFalls • Trey McIntyre • Matthew McKee • Austin Meiteen • Pascal Molat • Marc Morozumi • Travis Morrison • Constanza Murphy • Keisuke Nakagoshi • Jackie Nash • Ben Needham-Wood • Matthew Neenan • KT Nelson • Jonathan Norton • Laura O’Malley • Gina Patterson • Beau Pearson • Joshua L. Peugh • Austin Powers • Grace-Anne Powers • Alison Ramoran • Shania Rasmussen • Wendy Rein • Susan Roemer • Annali Rose • Kristine Samuelson • Michael Separovich • Andre Silva • Maxwell Simoes • Hélène Simoneau • Gabriel Smith • Ryan T. Smith • James Sofranko • John Speed-Orr • Jim Strong • Robert Suguitan • Tricia Sundbeck • Vanessa Thiessen • Olivia Ting • Jessica Touchet • Lynlee Towne • Tristan Toy • Isabella Velasquez • Carlos Venturo • Jessica Wagner • Jammie Walker • Richard Walters • Ben Wardell • Sharon Wehner • Frieder Weiss • Katherine Wells • Ethan White • Nikki Trerise White • Gabriel Williams • Sarah Barber Wilson • Erin Yarbrough • Kevin Yee-Chan