Press

James Sewell's 'In the Shadows' brings together Frankenstein, zombies, Poe and ballet

Review: The dance company takes a curated approach in the supernatural-themed works at O'Shaughnessy.

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In another shift, JSB is trying out a new model for pulling a show together, one that is particularly artist-driven. Rather than composer Timothy C. Takach and choreographer Penelope Freeh receiving commissioning funds from JSB, they sought funding as individual artists. The dance company is then producing the work and paying the dancers' wages and paying MPLS (imPulse) choral ensemble to perform live.

"This was something that I just knew I wanted to make," Takach said. His wife, who is also a composer, encouraged him to do what he wanted to do as an artist and figure out the rest later.

Initially, Takach received two grants through the Central Minnesota Arts Board, which paid for two sets of workshops used to initially develop the work with the JSB dancers. Takach and Freeh also received additional funding through a family fund from the Minneapolis Foundation, using JSB as their fiscal sponsor.

"We're feeling very supported, yet we're upending the model at the same time," said Freeh, who danced with the company for 17 years and served as artistic associate between 2007 and 2011.

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Recent Past Mentions

JSB announces Da’Rius Malone as Resident Choreographer for the 2021-2022 season.
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Malone has been with the company for the past four seasons and will hold prominent roles in upcoming performances, including the 30th Anniversary Retrospective (Oct 16-17, Cowles Center) and Earth Tomes (March 2022).

“Da’Rius has great creativity and passion as a dancer,” said Eve Schulte, executive director of James Sewell Ballet. “He embodies the company’s signature style of combining dynamic power with whimsy in a way the audience doesn’t expect. ”

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Dancer with James Sewell Ballet steps into a new role – executive director
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Eve Schulte, a longtime dancer for James Sewell Ballet, assumes a new role as the company’s executive director.

Co-founder James Sewell remains as artistic director, while former executive director George Sutton remains on the company’s board.

“George has been mentoring me through this, as has Tom McNamee, our development director,” Schulte said. “I’ve just got a wonderful rapport built with both of them. And I think James and I have already been fostering that more partner relationship rather than a hierarchy situation the last few years. So it’s not such a new thing.”

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A "Fresh Take" on Ballet
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James Sewell Ballet's spring program interpreted ballet through boxing and the polar vortex, with the help of local musician Martin Dosh and the choreographer Gabrielle Lamb.

During this weekend's "Fresh Take" performances at the Cowles Center, James Sewell and guest choreographers showed that when it comes to ballet, it's not all leotards, pirouettes and classical music. The pieces in the spring program proved that inspiration can strike anywhere and develop into divergent works.

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“Sewell has created a fanciful world onstage with elements seemingly drawn from ‘Fantasia’æ[a] hypnotic arrangement of ideas that haunts you for the rest of the evening, just like a strange but memorable dream.” Ribcage Premiere Fall 2014

— Caroline Palmer, StarTribune, Minneapolis, MN

"A polished gem of a chamber dance troupe from Minnesota…Mr. Sewell is…one of American ballet's most inventive choreographers…Different and unpredictable, this is the company to see."

— Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times

"Sewell has perfected his unique approach to contemporary ballet, a choreographic technique he calls 'multiple coordination.' The evidence is 'Schoenberg Serenade,' the…fantastic nine-part work, commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra."


— Camille LeFevre, Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN

"[Sewell's] work may not be trendy, but it's musical, well made, often witty, and varied in terms of subject matter…This year's Joyce program focused more on dancing to music, which this choreographer manages adroitly."

— Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice

"The James Sewell Ballet kicked off its season at the Guthrie — the first dance performance to grace that newly minted bastion of theater…This is a company well worth catching, It wears its charms with a difference."

— Clive Barnes, New York Post

"Sewell is daring and original, with a broad grounding in classical ballet and modern dance…[willing] to unearth genuine emotions and grapple seriously with how ballet relates to more organic styles of movement."


— Jennifer Homans, The New Republic

"At the end of a weekend full of Wheeldon and Sewell, Sewell shows me more sculpture, more play, more movement, and cooler men."

— Anna McDonald

"Forget about the cliché idea of a night at the ballet; think; attitude, wit, and startling imagery. Think; smart, contemporary haircuts, an array of unexpected and evocative costumes, and a smattering of tattoos."

— Susan Anderson, Daily Journal, Fergus Falls, MN

"A packed-to-the-rafters audience at Schein Hall greeted the triumphant return (for a third appearance) of The James Sewell Ballet…This stunningly inventive chamber dance company is fun, sophisticated and dazzling entertainment."

— Sanibel Captiva Islander, FL

"Not your grandma's ballet company…A fresh way of putting the standard vocabulary together into sparkling dances that pique your emotions as much as they delight your eye."


— Gus Solomons, Jr., Gay City News NY

"Since leaving Manhattan…in 1993, the company has been thriving rather than just surviving: presenting dozens of new works, building a fanatically devoted audience and keeping the red ink away."


— Rick Nelson, Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN

"Sewell's work is different from everyone else's: it's energetic, direct and full of musical zest; its movement vocabulary is ballet as it could be performed on the playing fields."

— Francis Mason, WQXR 96.3FM The Classical Station, New York, NY