Presents
WELCOME Wormfarm Institute and our farm hosts, the Enge family, are delighted you’ve joined us for this extraordinary variation on the final hay harvest of 2026. The Enges have been dairy farming in Wisconsin since the 1850s. Today, four generations—ranging in age from ten to ninety-five— live and work on Enge Farms in Sauk County, where they care for milking cows and sustainably produce hay as the principal forage crop for their herd. Today’s performances unfold within two of their active alfalfa fields. The Hay Rake Ballet takes place in concert with the fourth and final cutting of the season. Throughout the planning process, the Enge family worked closely with our creative team—and consulted with their agronomist—to ensure the fields remain productive and the soil healthy considering the increased wheel traffic and other unique conditions required for the performance. Thank you for being here, and for celebrating the harvest with us.
Cover: Cricket Design Works | Interior: Adunate Word & Design
WORMFARM INSTITUTE proudly presents
MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES Featuring
HAY RAKE BALLET An original performance created by Sarah Gordon Butler in collaboration with 18 farmers, 18 tractors, 12 implements, 15 musicians, 19 acres of alfalfa and Mother Nature Opening Performance
WILD SPACE DANCE COMPANY There will be no intermission. Please silence cell phones and other electronic devices.
Following Hay Rake Ballet, we invite you to meet the cast, buy cool stuff, and continue the conversation in the “Lobby” field.
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HAY RAKE BALLET SARAH GORDON BUTLER, Choreography & Creative Direction ANDY ENGE, Production & Community Relations JULIA EICHTEN, Assistant Choreography
ACT I: OVERTURE
Full Cast, featuring Tony Grauvogl 1966 Farmall 656 Chad Grauvogl 1953 Farmall Super C Randy Hager 1951 Farmall M Jim Langdon 1947 Farmall M Matt Slotty 1940 Farmall C Darin Rosenbaum New Holland H8080
ACT II: TEDDERS
Brain Markley Dean Gasser Emily Gasser Mike Hehenberger
Oliver 1655 Ferguson 30 Ford 3600 Oliver 1655
Andy Enge Michael Niemann Billy Pagel Darin Rosenbaum Fritz Wyttenbach
John Deere 4020 John Deere 4020 John Deere 3010 John Deere 4020 John Deere 2520
Brent Cook William Gasser Taiten Rosenbaum
Farmall 806 New Holland 310 White 2-70 John Deere 328 International 686 New Holland 276
ACT III: RAKES
Massey Ferguson TD524 Massey Ferguson TD252 Massey Ferguson TD252 Massey Ferguson TD524
Vermeer VR1224 Vermeer VR1224 Kuhn SR112 Vermeer VR1224 Kuhn SR112
ACT IV: BALERS
ACT V: INTERLUDE
Sarah Brailey & Wild Space Dance Company
ACT VI: FINALE Full Cast
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See bios on pages 16-19
MUSIC PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Selections from The Sleeping Beauty (Op. 66) SCOTT GENDEL, Musical Arrangement KATRIN TALBOT, Orchestral Direction
ENSEMBLE
SCOTT GENDEL, Conductor Suzanne Beia, violin, concertmaster Katrin Talbot, viola Carl Davick, double bass Laura Medisky, oboe Sarah Ellenbecker, bassoon Linda Kimball, French horn Greg Riss, timpani
Maynie Bradley, violin Perry Karp, cello Dawn Lawler, flute Bethany Schultz, clarinet Matthew Onstad, trumpet Benjamin Skroch, trombone Fiona Hunt, harp
Special Appearance by Sarah Brailey, voice/soprano
A NOTE ON THE MUSIC
Growing up as a ballet dancer, Sarah Gordon Butler felt Tchaikovsky was the pinnacle of classical story ballet—music rich with drama, romance, humor, and sweeping grandeur that elevates movement without ever overshadowing it. In this production, selections from The Sleeping Beauty provide a classical ballet frame through which a fleet of farm machinery becomes a “corps de ballet,” inviting audiences to discover the parallels between the movement of tractors and implements and the choreography they inspire. To bring this monumental score into an outdoor setting, composer Scott Gendel has reimagined Tchaikovsky’s orchestration for an ensemble of 14 musicians. Individual musical voices emerge with unusual clarity, allowing each performer to contribute a distinct dramatic presence. The result distills The Sleeping Beauty to its most potent essence, ready to burst forth vigorously into fields of hay. Hay Rake Ballet Creative Production: Sarah Gordon Butler, Julia Eichten, Andy Enge
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3 YEARS OF HAY RAKE BALLET —Sarah Gordon Butler Before beginning work on this project three years ago, I’m not sure I could’ve told you the first thing about alfalfa. Growing up in dance, I spent most of my time in studios rather than farm fields. I had never been around tractors—let alone operated one —and certainly didn’t know the difference between a wheel rake and a tedder. So it’s safe to say I could never have imagined my most valued project to date would involve sitting in the bucket of a fork-lift thirty feet in the air, calling cues via walkie talkie to a dance company of eighteen farmers. And even now it’s difficult to explain how this scenario, arguably odd from afar, makes so much sense from the inside.
Giving ourselves Six years ago when Donna first mentioned the concept to me, I was permission to imagine already sold. The project premiered something might be in 2024 as a test plot of three farmers and recorded music. In the first year, possible is the first step recruiting farmers proved difficult, to making it possible. but once I met Andy and he agreed to drive his rake in the show: an “étoile” was born. We managed a lot with a little—and even then, the scale of the machinery, breadth of the landscape, community involvement: it all carried so much potential. So we continued. Many seemingly unrelated images began to connect. Lifting a rake into transport mode became the iconic Romantic era “port de bras” from Les Sylphides. Tractors turning in unison: Balanchine dancers from Valse Fantasie. Bales soaring through the air: so clearly the Nutcracker Cavalier’s allegro variation. Now three years later, when I see a “corps de ballet” of eighteen local farmers with machinery executing choreography while actively harvesting alfalfa to a live orchestra, and I reflect on all the relationships forged and effort invested to pull this off, I honestly could cry.
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It is incredible to witness what becomes possible when people work together. Giving ourselves permission to imagine something might be possible is the first step to making it possible. And when we allow ourselves to imagine together, all bets are off. The way the community has come together around this project has been deeply inspiring. With a hand on my heart, it has been such an honor to be trusted with this. So thank you for joining us today, for celebrating this farming community, and for witnessing the beauty, grit, and good old fashioned hard work that is Hay Rake Ballet.
Sarah Gordon Butler with Brian Markley, Darin Rosenbaum, and Andy Enge in 2024.
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MAKIN’ HAY These implements are pulled by tractors and perform the following functions after mowing.
Tedder: Lifts and fluffs cut hay to speed the drying process.
Illustrations by Katie Schofield
Hay Rake: Collects and rakes hay into rows.
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Baler: Compresses cut and raked hay into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport, and store. wormfarminstitute.org
THE LIFE OF A HAYFIELD —Katie Schofield
“The Life Cycle of a Sauk County Hayfield” first appeared in the 2018 Farm/Art DTour Guide. Katie is an artist and library worker, living on a farm outside of Mount Horeb, WI. She enjoys fermenting, growing and foraging food, and using her creativity to help build a thriving world for all.
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WILD SPACE DANCE COMPANY Exploring diverse cultural landscapes DAN SCHUCHART, Choreography, in collaboration with the dancers ALLEN RUSSELL, Music
DANCERS
Katelyn Altmann Ashley Ray Garcia Nicole Spence Elisabeth Roskopf
Cuauhtli Castro Ramirez Angela Frederick Jessica Lueck Zoe Glise
Founded in 1986 by Debra Loewen, and now under the direction of Dan Schuchart, Wild Space Dance Company is known for site-specific works and artistic collaborations that take audiences on adventures through built and natural landscapes, visual art, history, and the human condition with wry humor and emotionally charged dance. Based in Milwaukee, the company explores diverse cultural landscapes by creating provocative new choreography, site-based performances, and educational opportunities. Through this work, Wild Space cultivates creative experimentation, innovation, and collaboration by investing in local artists and engaging audiences in shared experiences of place and community.
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GRAND ENTRANCE Inspired by the iconic lions at the entrance to the Art Institute of Chicago, this monumental straw lion is joined by a domesticated bovine companion. Together, they welcome visitors—or perhaps stand watch—as we enter the Hay Rake Ballet performance field.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Brian Sobaski is a Minnesota-based animalier known for his animated, large-scale sculptures. Working primarily with straw, hay, twine, wood, and steel, he transforms simple agricultural materials into playful creatures that have been displayed at events, galleries, and festivals throughout the United States. His sculptures are recognized for their craftsmanship, creativity, and innovative use of natural materials. Brian’s work may look familiar to those who have traveled the Farm/Art DTour in past years.
Early concept drawing, by Brian Sobaski Make Hay While the Sun Shines
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BY THE NUMBERS Hay Rake Ballet unfolds in one of the Enge family’s active alfalfa fields, known as Andy’s Hills. Today’s performance takes place during the fourth and final cutting. The following data represents a season of forage production with limited, thoughtful interruptions.
19 acres alfalfa a 4 cuttings a
7 tons dry matter fermented into nutrient-rich alfalfa silage, comprising ⅓ of a dairy cow’s diet a 36,800 gallons of fluid milk a 25,000 lbs of cheese a
This translates to the weight of 59 ½ mature male lions (420 lbs each!) With thanks to the Enge family and the good folks at the USDA Dairy Forage Research Center. 10
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THIS STORY CONTINUES ON FILM As you experience the Hay Rake Ballet, you may notice cameras around the field. Over the past two years, filmmaker Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern has been documenting the remarkable collaborations behind this project, following the Sauk County farmers, choreographer Sarah Gordon Butler, and the many artists, musicians, and community members who have brought this big idea to life.
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The resulting documentary is about far more than the making of the Hay Rake Ballet. It is an intimate portrait of the people who steward this landscape—their labor, creativity, challenges, humor, and deep connection to the land. It asks what becomes possible when farmers are invited into an artistic process as collaborators, and what that experience can teach us. Film production will continue through 2027. If today’s performance moves you, we invite you to help complete the film and bring it to audiences across Wisconsin and beyond. Thank you for helping share the stories of the farmers who made this project possible. Special thanks to TankThink Media for capturing additional footage today.
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ENGE FIELD SOIL MAP
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HEY! HAY! After the show, meet us in the “Lobby” to mingle with the cast and buy some cool merch at our culturestand!
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A portion of all sales benefits Farmer Angel Network (FAN), a Sauk County–based nonprofit dedicated to supporting the mental health and well-being of farmers, farm families, and rural communities. As this project has grown, so has our appreciation for the resilience, creativity, and care that farmers bring to the land and our cultureshed. We are honored to support FAN’s work to ensure that no farmer has to face life’s challenges alone.
Learn more at farmerangelnetwork.com
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THE COMPANY HAY RAKE BALLET
SARAH GORDON BUTLER is interested in exploring how the weaving of seemingly separate mediums can result in something surprising and honest. With a foundation in classical ballet, Sarah has been working professionally in contemporary dance for 16 years throughout Europe and North America. She has worked with Ate9 Dance Company (USA), Bayerisches Staatsballett (DE), and GöteborgsOperans DansKompani (SE), among others. Wormfarm Institute has been integral to her creative life since she first joined as an artist-in-residence in 2020. Grammy Award-winning soprano SARAH BRAILEY is celebrated for her radiant voice and versatile career as a vocalist, cellist, recording artist, and educator. A faculty member at UW-Madison and Artistic Director of the Handel Aria 16
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Competition, she performs internationally in opera and contemporary works. JULIA EICHTEN is a graduate of the Juilliard School, they received the Hector Zaraspe Award in recognition of their choreography. Eichten was a founding member of L.A. Dance Project & is a current member of AMOC*. Eichten’s work has been shown at The Joyce Theater, Baryshnikov Arts Center, L.A. Dance Project, The Gardens of Versailles, LUMA and Lincoln Center. SCOTT GENDEL is a Wisconsinbased composer, pianist, vocal coach, and performer whose music is celebrated for its dramatic storytelling and exceptional vocal writing. His opera Everlasting Faint premiered with Madison Opera in 2025-26, and his works have been performed by leading artists and ensembles. He serves as principal vocal coach for Madison Opera.
Australian-born violist KATRIN TALBOT is assistant principal of viola of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and an active chamber musician, photographer, and poet. Her photography has appeared in the New York Times, and she documented Wormfarm Institute’s Fermentation Fest and Farm/ Art DTour for a decade. She also enjoys science, songwriting, and “orchestra wrangling.” BRIAN MARKLEY (joined 2024) is a third-generation family farmer who worked in dairy for many years before transitioning to raising cattle. Brian is grateful to be living and working in the place where he was raised. BRENT COOK (joined 2025) comes from a long line of cheese makers and farmers. He owns Cook’s Countryside Trucking and is a custom hay baler, beef rancher, and custom organic nutrient recycling specialist.
ANDY ENGE (joined 2024) is a dairy farmer with Enge Farms. Andy has worked alongside his parents and siblings for many years and appreciates watching his nieces and nephews grow up in the same environment. DARIN ROSENBAUM (joined 2024) grew up on his family’s Sauk County farm. He founded Rosenbaum Farming & Logging Company in 2025 after many years in construction. Darin values family, hard work, and community. DEAN GASSER (joined 2025) grew up on Tower Rock Farm and attended UW-Platteville for a degree in Technology Education. He currently runs Prairie Machine Works and tends a small herd of cows with his wife and three children.
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EMILY GASSER (joined 2025) is a high-school student and member of 4-H and FFA. In her free time she enjoys cooking, baking, art, and mechanics. MICHAEL NIEMANN (joined 2025) is a dairy farmer with United Dreams Dairy and LD&R. When not farming, he spends time fishing and hunting. TONY GRAUVOGL (joined 2026) is the owner of Grauvogl Meat Service. He has spent more than three decades in the family meat business and is an avid collector of red tractors, inspired by his grandfather, Herbie.
culture \'k l-ch r\ n. from Latin cultura (“cultivation”), from colere: “to till”
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MIKE HEHENBERGER (joined 2025) enjoys fishing, hunting, and spending time with his family. As a retired farmer, he works part-time with Grauvogl Meat Service and chops hay with Enge Farms. WILLIAM GASSER (joined 2026) is a 4th generation dairy farmer. He runs Tower Rock Farmstead with his wife Alma, sons, and grandchildren, continuing the Gasser Family tradition of sustainable farming practices since 1873. CHAD GRAUVOGL (joined 2026) works in construction and enjoys beekeeping, maple syrup production, and restoring red tractors. He and his wife look forward to celebrating their children’s weddings in the next two years.
RANDY HAGER (joined 2026) is the owner of R&R Repair Shop. Recently retired from United Co-Op, he has been a mechanic for most of his life. He has two children and still works and farms with his son Ryan.
JIM LANGDON (joined 2026) comes from a dairy farming family in Leland. Recently retired from a career in government administration, he has previously performed (non-motorized) roles with Dance Wisconsin.
BILLY PAGEL (joined 2026) grew up in North Freedom. He works with Statz Enterprises and Grauvogl Meats, and enjoys hunting in his free time.
TAITEN ROSENBAUM (joined 2026) grew up on the Rosenbaum Farm. He now lives in Baraboo and works both with his family’s farm, as well as Rosenbaum Farming & Logging.
MATT SLOTTY (joined 2026) is an Air Force veteran and tractor enthusiast who grew up on his family dairy farm. He has worked at Lycon Inc. for many years & enjoys hosting events at Slotty Farm with his wife, Linda.
FRITZ WYTTENBACH (joined 2026) has been farming all his adult life. He has seven grandchildren and helps his son, Mark, on their beef farm. As a Vietnam veteran, he is always looking to honor and support veterans and military members. His life saying is “Attitude is Everything!”
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From 2010–24, the Farm/Art DTour invited 150,000+ visitors to explore Sauk County’s working landscapes through site-responsive artworks, pasture performances, local food markets, Field Notes, roadside poetry, and more. Along winding country roads, artists and farmers collaborated to celebrate the beauty, labor, and complexity of rural life. ○First piloted during Wormfarm’s final DTour, Hay Rake Ballet grew over two years of research and development into the expanded production of Make Hay While the Sun Shines, building on partnerships throughout Wisconsin. Though the DTour has ended, the fertile soil it left behind continues to nourish new creative work. Stay tuned. Stay curious. There’s more to come!
“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.” —Andy Warhol
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SAVE THE DATE b
A Symposium on Rot + Renewal October 9–11, 2026 Freethinkers’ Hall Sauk City, Wisconsin
Wormfarm Institute invites you to the world’s only Decomposium—a three-day multidisciplinary symposium exploring the art, science, and rituals of decay and renewal. Through performances, installations, discussions, and workshops, artists, farmers, soil scientists, poets, anthropologists, death workers, and community members come together to consider decomposition as an inevitable, generative force—one that breaks down matter, releases essential elements, and nourishes new growth. Learn more & register at wormfarminstitute.org.
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AN ORIGIN STORY —Donna Neuwirth, Wormfarm Co-founder and Executive Director The creative process is mysterious—a pre-lingual undercurrent most of the time, fed by familiar rhythms, accumulated knowledge, focused attention, pain, chance encounters—a subliminal connection of dots that coalesce into, or suddenly spark something, entirely new. For more than 26 growing seasons, Wormfarm has invited artists to get dirty, eat well, and make art on a Sauk County farm, not far from this one. The kitchen window of our farmhouse looks out over 100-plus acres where, for 15 years or so, I watched our neighbor Dale on his old 1930s Ford tractor pulling one implement or another back and forth through regular rotations of hay, corn, and beans. My favorite was hay. I was mesmerized by the slowly turning yellow wheels of the hay rake (Vermeer, the brand I found out later, shares a name with a 17th century Dutch painter) making neat rows of aromatic alfalfa for his 100-odd dairy cows—the motion recalling the hypnotist in a 1950s TV show who chanted, “You are in my power,” while a spiral filled the screen. I was, and remain, under its spell. Farming well into his 90s, Dale died several years ago. The land to the west is rented now. Rotations are rare and no longer include hay. A chance encounter with a documentary film called Trashdance, follows choreographer Allison Orr’s project with sanitation workers and their trucks. Her expansive thinking about dance as “expert movements” gave me a framework for my fascination with those crooked spinning wheels. A hay rake ballet, I said to myself. In the years since Sarah Butler first came to our artist residency program in 2020, a dormant concept, opportunity, capacity, wild ambition, and muscular energy aligned. Farmers and neighbors were curious, co-creators were born. Expertise and surprising depth of meaning was revealed. A spell was cast: Hay Rake Ballet— just an idea, a seed—landed in fertile soil. You’re on it now. 22
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OUR STORY
Based in Sauk County since 2000, Wormfarm Institute is an evolving laboratory of the arts and ecology, and fertile ground for creative work. Through farm-based artist residencies and public programs, we cultivate long-term collaborations among artists, farmers, scientists, conservationists in rural and urban communities, exploring how creative practice can deepen our relationships with the land and one another. For thousands of years, farmers in cultures around the world interwove dance, music, and art through rituals of planting and harvest in celebration of the land, the soil, and those who care for it. Through a contemporary approach, and within this timeless context, we continue that tradition.
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DONNA NEUWIRTH, Co-founder and Executive Director JAY SALINAS, Co-founder and Director of Strategic Partnerships PHILIP MATTHEWS, Managing Director JENNIFER SEAS, Projects Director CHRISTINA DOLLHAUSEN, Production Manager CATHY MCCAULEY, Communications Coordinator MARY JANE CONNOR, Communications Strategist
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Support our work at the intersection of culture and agriculture. Learn more at wormfarminstitute.org.
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THANKS TO OUR FUNDERS, SPONSORS, & PARTNERS
With special thanks to all the community members who made this project possible: The Enge family, Audio for the Arts, Been Family, Michael Bell, Tanya Carney, Eben Christensen, Cooks Countryside Trucking, Alicia Cosnahan, J.R. Coy, Dairy Forage Research Center, Reuben Ederer, Anne Gardner, Gasser family, Grauvogl Farms, Ryan Hager, Cheryl Hebel, Tim and Ray Henning, Ron and John Hillebrand, Melissa Hunt, Richard Hynson, Peter Krsko, Lehman family, Marvin Lindo, Sarah Lloyd, McFarlanes’, Curt Meine, Wayne Miller, Gary Moseman, Jean O’Neil, Lydia Park, Ritchie Implement Inc., Joseph Roman-Flores, Sauk County Land Resources and Environment, Seven Seeds Farm, Signature Steps Dance Studio, Statz family, Joannah Szymczak, Thoreau College… and people like you! 24
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Johannes Vermeer, Het melkmeisje (The Milkmaid), 1660
Celebrate the harvest and the art of what farmers do every day… and what they might do tomorrow
28 E Main Street Reedsburg, Wisconsin 53959