FEAST:
a ballet
This June, we are so excited to announce that FEAST: a ballet has won the 2021 Gold Award at Virgin Spring Cinefest in Kolkata, India for “Best Documentary Film”! Click here to learn more about Virgin Spring Cinefest.
In five distinct movements, FEAST: a ballet combines ornate imagery, playful storytelling, and powerful movement to explore the disturbing history of colonial exploitation and its effects on the world we live in.
Immersed in a lavish set of over 500 sculptural and store-bought objects, FEAST follows a corps de ballet of dancers as they navigate a world of contradictions: ruler and ruled; giver and taker; consumer and consumed; complicity and resistance.
Trapped in a seemingly unbreakable cycle of one-upmanship, the dancers begin to learn the true cost of coming out on top. With choreography that juxtaposes humor and struggle, FEAST: a ballet deconstructs these complex themes and tells an easy to follow story of how it was, how it is, and how it can be.
FEAST: a ballet premiered virtually worldwide in November of 2020.
“What you’re watching, this is not sustainable. We’re saying, ‘We did this, but we can stop it, too.’ If we all work together on the same team, no one has to live without. That’s the only way anything is ever going to change.”
Christina Lindhout on FEAST: a ballet in her interview with Zachary Lewis, Cleveland.com . Article first published in The Plain Dealer, November 20th, 2020.
The concept for FEAST: a ballet derives from visual artist, Corrie Slawson’s, work “Let Them Eat Steak” — an installation of over 365 hand-cast plaster steaks, some gilded, some marbled and a dozen trompe l’oeil painted in oil that appeared in the exhibit “Artifice and Persuasion” at American Greetings Gallery in 2018.
Bringing the steaks into a performance setting is part of the larger discussion of multiple systems: economic, environmental and social. The artwork acknowledges that what generates material comfort also accelerates climate change and relies heavily on exploitative labor practices.
Christina Lindhout produced and directed the 32-minute, five-part ballet with the assistance of Kelly Korfhage. The ballet was recorded at Verb Ballets’ studios in September, 2020, and was performed by Lindhout, Korfhage, Slawson, and a cast of six Cleveland-based professional dancers: Daniel Cho, Sabrina Lindhout, Lieneke Matte, Antonio Morillo, Betsie Schaeffer, DeMarcus Akeem Suggs. Wasted Talent Media produced the film and documentary of the project. The project photography was done exclusively by Liz Cooper. Ms. Slawson also created the costumes and set pieces. The music is a new recording of selections from Dmitri Shostakovich’s Sonatas, Piano Trios and String Quartet performed by students and recent graduates of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Research for the project was done by United Nations presenter and expert on climate change, Dr. Dalindyebo Shabalala and sustainability journalist, Marc Lefkowitz. Additional artwork for the libretto of the ballet was created by Amirah Cunningham and Orlando Caraballo.
For full biographies of the creative team behind FEAST: a ballet, visit the official website of FEAST: a ballet.
For the latest updates on performances and viewings of FEAST, follow the project on Instagram: @feast_ballet.
FEAST: a ballet is supported by the Satellite Fund, which is administered by SPACES and funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Regional Regranting Program. The choreographers also received support from Akron Soul Train. Production in-kind support from Verb Ballets, Cuyahoga Community College, Liz Cooper, Inlet Dance Theatre, and j2fusion.
Christina Lindhout 