"Dance is suddenly at the forefront of popular culture, exploding onto stage and screen as content of choice for millions in this 24/7, streaming, HD, on-demand, satellite world. And now,James Sewell Ballet presents LE DANCE OFF, its wry twist on the current craze of celebrity-infused competitive dance.

Take one live studio audience, two raconteuring showmen, eight daring and original dancers, and you’ve got the makings for a theatrical event that promises to blur the lines between brilliance, showmanship and artistic insanity.

Borrowing the competition format, JSB offers a collection of new choreography and audience favorites set to music ranging from Bach to Lady Gaga. Multi-talented theater artist extraordinaire Brian Sostek plays Phil L’Esteen, the erstwhile producer of Le Dance Off, and James Sewell Ballet artistic director James Sewell morphs into ringmaster Jim Swell. Together, they emcee the competition and give audiences behind-the-scenes glimpses of the back-stage drama that goes into making the ultimate dance challenge.

“It’s both a serious satire and humorous homage to the incredible range of dance and movement that’s currently out there. As art and commerce collide, Le Dance Off really explores the question, ‘What is the essence of judging art?’,” said Sewell.

Welcome from James Sewell (Co-Founder, Artistic Director and Choreographer)

"I could not resist this choreographic exploration with the current buzz around competitive dance on television and in media outlets. The impetus for Le Dance Off was to create a collision course between art and commerce. 

LDO explores the whole notion of judging art and its impact on the participants and the judges. The work is a satire of the commercialization of dance and an homage to the incredible dance and movement that is out there on the competitive dance shows.

I often work in reference to what defines the difference between art and entertainment. Entertainment reinforces what we already know while art reinforms how we see ourselves and our world. LDO has pushed me to come to terms with this in some new ways.

The making of this piece has involved a whole creative team, from the dancers to the designers. We worked in a collaborative way that pushed the piece in directions I didn’t anticipate in the beginning. For instance, Sally Rousse’s vision for her solo (which I won’t give away here) came out of a delightful place in left field and took the piece into the sublime.

I have had so much fun brainstorming and finally hashing out the final version of LDO with Brian Sostek and Megan McClellan. Their endless creativity and devotion to fully realizing this piece has truly been an inspiration."