Bringing our art to Ogden!

Christina Stockdale and Kyle Matthew Johnson, rehearsing the winning piece, "Duet" before the Fesival in Ogden ( photo by Fernando Venegas)

Hello Friends!
My name is Jennifer Porter, and I am a contemporary ballet choreographer based in Seattle, WA. I danced  professionally with Pacific Northwest Ballet and am now resident choreographer for City Opera Ballet and create work for other companies around the Seattle area.
In February of this year, I took my choreography to The Rocky Mountain Choreography festival, and was awarded the First prize! As part of my prize, an evening of my choreography will be presented at the historic Peery’s Egyptian Theater, in Ogden, Utah this fall!  

For the  performance in October in Utah, I will be joined by Kyle Matthew Johnson and Christina Stockdale, who beautifully danced my winning piece in the festival, and eight other amazing professional dancers from City Opera Ballet: Chessa Chalmers, Jeremy Cline, Lorraine Constantine, Nathan Cook, Victoria Gutierrez, Julie Heffner, Mireya Mascarello, and Thomas Phelan. These are hard working, talented and totally committed artists, with whom I am honored to work. Together we will bring my new contemporary “Firebird” ( the beautiful rehearsal video above was shot by Lionel Flynn of Lionsky productions) and four other of my original creations, to the audience in Ogden, Utah.

Later this summer, in advance of the October performance, I will be traveling to Ogden to choreograph an original piece for the hosting ballet school, Imagine Ballet Theater, to be performed by it's students with the City Opera Ballet dancers  at the October 14th show. I will also be offering master classes to the dancers in the area, to promote interest and artistic camaraderie.

We are thrilled! …But now we have to raise the money to transport, house, and compensate these dancers. I know that all of us are regularly bombarded with requests for financial donations, but if you have a few extra dollars to help with this exciting project, any amount would help us to realize our goal, and we would all be so incredibly appreciative!
The breakdown: 
*11 round trip tickets from Seattle to Salt Lake 
 *Lodging for 11 for 3 nights 
*Stipend for all performers (the more money we raise, the more I can pay these hard working, amazing artists for their time and energy)
*Per Diem for 11 dancers for 3 days (yes, dancers DO eat ) 
*Cost of printing programs for the evening

If you would like to get a tax deduction for your donation, you can donate through City Opera Ballet (a non-profit 501c3 company). Please contact  me for details on how to easily do that.  

If this isn’t something you can contribute to financially at this time, no worries – just wish us luck and cheer on our progress! We can’t wait to share the journey with you. Thank you so much!
Best,
Jennifer L Porter