The experimental dance company commissioned Bennett to create a painting to inspire their new season’s choreography
When Mi’kmaw interdisciplinary visual artist and Associate Professor in Expanded Media Jordan Bennett first received an email from New York’s BalletCollective early last winter, he assumed it was spam, so he didn’t respond.
“I thought this can’t be real, like this is coming from a soloist dancer of the New York City Ballet,” says Bennett. “What do they need from me?”
After a few attempts, Troy Schumacher, choreographer and director of the BalletCollective, finally got in touch with Bennett.
Turns out he was, in fact, inviting him to be their source artist, commissioning a painting for a new ballet “The entrance is the exit,” that runs from Oct 29 – Nov 1, 2024.
‘We are trying to discover different meanings that dance can really provide’
Founded in 2010, BalletCollective thrives on a deeply collaborative and conversational process with emerging and established leaders in their field, ranging from architecture to art, contemporary music, literature, and beyond.
“I’m always looking to bring in people into the art form that doesn’t feel obvious. With BalletCollective, we are finding new pathways forward in the art form that feels relevant and moving and purposeful,” says Schumacher. “We are trying to discover different meanings that dance and music can really have and provide.”
But how did BalletCollective learn of Bennett’s work? One of its board members, who has ties to Lunenburg, mentioned the thriving arts and culture scene on the Atlantic and the many talented artists working in Nova Scotia. Schumacher began researching Nova Scotian artists when he came across Jordan’s website.
“I was instantly so visually engaged and hooked by the patterns and the colors and the shapes – the vibrancy and aliveness,” he says.
Through a process of conversations, Schumacher learned about Bennett’s methodology, which is deeply guided by the visual artist’s Mi’kmaw Ktaqmkuk/Newfoundland ancestors, and challenges colonial perceptions of Indigenous histories and presence. Bennett’s interdisciplinary paintings, videos, sculptures, immersive installations, and sound works connect across time, space, and generations.
‘There’s a lot of symmetry about beginnings and endings in Jordan’s work’
BalletCollective’s 2024 Gala ‘“The entrance is the exit,” features two world premiere ballets that speak to the dual nature of change and the inextricable connection between beginnings and endings. Choreographed by Schumacher, The Past Delivers (2024), is inspired by a commissioned painting by Bennett, set to music composed and performed by the Westerlies (a four-part quartet in New York), and performed by four dancers from the New York City Ballet.
Bennett’s painting leapt from the canvas and literally became part of the fabric of “The entrance is the exit.”
“There’s a lot of symmetry about beginnings and endings within Jordan’s work. You can’t tell where the things are starting or ending, but also feels like things are really changing,” says Schumacher. “Because Jordan’s painting feels like the very beginning of the work – this place of transition –and because of the theme of this piece I thought it would be really fascinating to have like the image of the art bleed over these traditional dance clothing articles.”
Bennett’s painting was essential to the development of the ballet’s visual design, from costumes to set design. While the physical painting does not appear on stage, it does appear, in addition to being on the dancers’ costumes, as a near-scale print in the lobby, will be included as part of the program and be featured on a special limited-edition accessory item.
“They’re not like dance costumes, but the clothes that dancers just wear on the day-to-day to rehearsal,” says Schumacher. “A normal leotard or pair of sweatpants, long-sleeve shirt, but instead of it just being black, or the print that we might wear, we’ve created different croppings and levels of saturation that reflect the actual painting.”
‘It really is about communicating and grounding your conversations in art’
Schumacher describes BalletCollective’s creative process as an on-going collaboration so the invitation for the source artist to be part of the creation of the ballet isn’t tokenistic. They are interested in learning, sharing and working with artists, writers, architects and even game designers to push the boundaries of what ballet can become.
“It really is about communicating and grounding your conversations in art, and not so as much in concept,” says Schumacher. “What the BalletCollective process does is grounds everyone and they should have no idea of what they’re going to create or where they’re going and they must find and discover that together.”
In addition to many conversations and creative exchanges over Zoom, Bennett visited members of The Collective to see a New York ballet, visit their space and experience their diamond- shaped stage (atypical for a ballet company), meet Schumacher and the dancers, as well as hangout with The Westerlies in their studio space as part of the creation process. Afterwards, he came home and created the painting here.
“I echoed some of those designs and was inspired by the colours to create a piece that would be the source for this piece. And in conversation with Troy and how this ballet has gone in the past, it’ s an interesting concept because usually you’re watching it from the front,” says Bennett. “This is a ballet in the round so the dancers come off the stage with the audience. And it’ s done in a grid of five. They have a grid and a square. It’ s like a diamond. And when I created the piece, I used that as part of my framework as well. I broke it up into five pieces.”
A new painting inspired by Mi’kmaw quillwork at The Met
“Like I always do whenever I’m in someone else’s territory, I try to find pieces of home,” Bennett says. “I created a brand-new painting inspired by Mi’kmaw quillwork that I found in the online archives at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art.”
Like many Indigenous nations, Mi’kmaw has their communities’ belongings – porcupine quillwork objects that were created specifically for sale to European markets as early as the mid-end of the 17th century – scattered across the globe in museum collections. The majority of these belongings within the institutions were taken without the consent of the makers or community.
Bennett spent a lot of time researching The Met’s online collection, and pulled inspiration from two Mi’kmaw pieces, a chair, and a box. He echoed some of their designs and was inspired by colours, forms, and visual language of mid-19th century Mi’kmaq quill art in the MET’s collection to create the basis of the new work was the source inspiration for this ballet.
Throughout the painting, Bennett references the diamond-shaped stage where BalletCollective performs. The piece becomes both an aerial view of the stage and a basket. Bennett drew on the architecture of the quill basket and the stage itself, which holds history, time, story, and knowledge. He references the ballet dancers through “X” and “Y” iconography, which overlaps in the diamond shape akin to the unique round stage design.
Bennett’s painting was then given to The Westerlies, who composed a 19-minute score for the ballet. Once the music was complete, it went on to Schumacher who choreographed the piece. The only piece of information the artists and musicians had to follow was the title: “The entrance is the exit.”
“I’ve done collaborations with an opera before and other folks for wearables and whatnot, but this was really one of the most exciting pieces I’ve ever been a part of,” says Bennett. “I’m not from New York and our people are not from New York, but we do have community belongings in New York. So, it’s about visiting what is there. And even if they aren’t on view, it’s about bringing those pieces out to re-matriate them to the greater public. Taking them out of the vaults and putting them into the public eye in a different way. This work is not an exact representation or reproduction by any means, but it’s being inspired by those ancestor artists and artworks.”
Five days in New York City for NSCAD students
The world premiere of “The entrance is the exit” will be on October 29 at 107 Greenwich Street in New York City. NSCAD University professors and 10 art students are going to New York City for five days and having their own special gala the night after the grand opening on October 30 with an on-stage cast toast after the performance.
“David Clark, who is a colleague of mine, is taking the reins and bringing students to all the places he has connections in New York. He’s built great relationships with folks down there,” says Bennett.
“Our students are going to see NYU, Columbia University, they are getting a chance to go behind the scenes at MoMA for Robert Frank’s exhibition Life Dances On. They are also going to go on studio visits and explore New York.”
Watch a livestream of “The entrance is the exit” from October 30 -November 10 at: https://balletcollective.com/live .
Shannon Webb-Campbell is of Mi’kmaq and settler heritage. She is a member of Flat Bay First Nation (No’kmaq Village) in Ktaqmkuk/Newfoundland. Her books include: the forthcoming Re: Wild Her (Book*hug 2025), Lunar Tides (2022), I Am a Body of Land (2019), and Still No Word (2015), which was the recipient of Egale Canada’s Out in Print Award. Shannon holds a PhD in English/Creative Writing from the University of New Brunswick, and is the editor of Visual Arts News Magazine and Muskrat Magazine.