Dancing Dark Ballets

Lieneke Matte is from the Bronx and has danced with Verb Ballets since 2013. She was featured in the documentary No Dominion: The Ian Horvath Story and danced the led in Romeo and Juliet for the Cleveland Havana Ballet Project in Cuba. Lieneke has been a part of every Verb collaboration with Neil Zaza to date! We asked her about what it is like to be in a rock production.

Rock and ballet seem like an unlikely pairing. What is it like dancing to rock music? It is exciting and refreshing! It is wonderful to perform with music that has so much energy. It is hard not to perform your best when there is an awesome guitar riff! I also enjoy introducing a different audience to ballet.

What do you want the audience to know about this collaborative work? I want audience members to know how much the artists in the production truly admire one another! While the dancers are amazed by the musicians’ virtuosity, the musicians enjoy having their work brought to life in a new way by the dancers.

Has anything surprised you about working on One Dark Night? I am certainly in awe of all the various elements that go into putting on a show like One Dark Night. The lights, costumes, and props all make it a truly immersive experience.

Have you learned anything about yourself from the experience? I have learned how much I love performing in nontraditional environments! Experiences like this make me appreciate the variety of opportunities that we have at Verb. I have also realized how much I enjoy collaborating with different kinds of individuals to create something new. It encourages all who are involved to think differently about their craft!

What types of challenges have you dealt with in One Dark Night? One challenge has been show-casing ourselves [as dancers] without pulling too much attention away from Neil. The choreography plays a major role in determining the viewer’s focus. The choreographer had to think about that during the rehearsal process.

This collaboration returns to the Akron Civic Theatre on Friday, October 29, 2021. Tickets are on sale only through the Box Office at 330-253-2488 or Ticketmaster. Tickets start at $25.

Photo: Kolman Rosenberg