After a significant career as a principal dancer with The Australian Ballet and Dutch National Ballet, presenting in other mediums such as sculpture, painting and jewellery, Australian Remi Wörtmeyer has commenced as Artistic Director at BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio. “It’s been a whirlwind, mainly it’s been about meeting the heads of department, and also the arts leaders in Columbus,” he tells Dance Informa. “Today, I was involved in the first financial audit meeting, which was a wonderful learning curve.”
Wörtmeyer grew up in South Australia, and trained at The Australian Ballet School, before joining The Australian Ballet professional company and then working in Europe and America. He acknowledges the impact of technology on the dance industry. “When I first went to America, I didn’t even have a computer. From Australia, you really felt separate. I think that has changed, because people in Europe now are in more contact with the world. When I first moved over to Europe, we weren’t watching other companies on YouTube. On every level, we all look around the world to see what is going on now.”
Ohio’s BalletMet is known as a company championing new work, alongside traditional repertoire and a dance academy. “I knew its reputation as a company that is always doing many, many new creations. It is a company with a choreographic director,” says Wörtmeyer. With such a reputation, it is not surprising that Wörtmeyer, who has his own choreographic practice, has found a new home.
Since he started, Wörtmeyer has been working with BalletMet 2. “I’m looking for it to have its own identity,” he explains. “They get performance experience with the main company. Having that time to develop their performances is essential, and I’m looking for them to develop that. I’ve already put in more performances so that they can lead the trainee program. This piece I am creating on them is about showing the excellence of their capacity. They’re great young dancers. I’m using music by Colin Benders, a blend of classical music and electronic.”
Wörtmeyer has always had instincts for interdisciplinary practices, but not always the time.
“When I was young, I had a passion for creation,” he says, “and building things with my hands. I had an addiction for play dough. When you are trying to have a professional career as a dancer, to get into an elite company and to carry out a career in a company, it means there is very little energy for little else. As a principal dancer, I had more time on my hands. There is a huge amount of pressure. There is weight on your shoulders. That can be stressful, and the way I dealt with that was meditating through art. So first it started with painting, then sculpture. For me, it was a way to stop thinking about the ballet day. It gave me recovery time. I was passionate about it, but then I had a friend who said I should contact artists and galleries.”
Wörtmeyer acknowledges life experiences that have driven him to pursue a creative career. “I grew up with a mother who was ill,” he shares, “and I realised how precious life was, and I wanted to learn from different cultures. And bring those experiences into my expression of art, to the world. I hope that is what I do bring to Columbus. This very passionate, very talented and very dedicated community.”
Watch out for Wortmeyer’s premiere with the BalletMet 2, and for more information, visit balletmet.org.
By Tamara Searle of Dance Informa.
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