Theresa Slobodnik finds inspiration in the unorthodox, spontaneous moments of her day-to-day life.
“One of my favorite quotes from Neil Young is what he said when they asked him how he came up with songs—he said, ‘Well, if I feel a gift coming, I excuse myself and go pay attention to that gift,'” Slobodnik said. “That’s pretty much what happens to me—I get my ideas from all over the place, and it’s usually not when I am looking for them.”
As the ballet and artistic director of the Ballet Theatre of San Luis Obispo, she has planned and choreographed a variety of shows that have been performed across the city. Shows range from productions of Robin Hood, The Velveteen Rabbit, Undine, and the Snow Queen, and other adaptations reworked in Slobodnik’s vision—giving her unlimited potential to express herself through dance.
“Ballet is my anchor and it gives me the freedom to express my emotions in a way I really can’t quite do with anything else,” she said.
Slobodnik began working with the Ballet Theatre of SLO after her post-professional dance career came to an end and she found herself teaching youth dance.
“It just sort of happened—one of the pro-dancers at the school where I taught, Blaire London, had the idea of doing a nonprofit ballet group and said he would handle all of the business aspects of it, which I wanted no part of, and I said, ‘OK let’s do it,'” she said with a laugh.
“It’s one of those things where whenever I was teaching I would realize, ‘Oh my God, these kids need something to do with these skills,'” she said, “and so I started creating choreography for them.”
She credits her dancers as the most vital aspect of her work, as no matter what level of planning or choreographing she is on, she wants to ensure that the movement fits the dancers she’s working with.
“The sincerity of the dancers and how they perform that choreography is just as important,” she said. “I can make the art and tell them how to perform it, but it’s them performing it that I rely on to really give it that emotional effect.”
As time went on, Slobodnik said she kept getting ideas and her creative vision grew bigger and bigger, but one particular moment stands out as the catalyst for when her work truly came into a form of its own.
“There had been this big tsunami that had happened in Sri Lanka in 2004 so I had this idea for a performance—only about five or six minutes long—about what happened at that moment and the immediate aftermath,” she said. “When the tsunami hit, people from every walk of life were just gone, disappeared into the water. That really stuck with me, and I wanted to convey that emotion through dance.”
She had her dancers simulate the flow of water, with the rest of the cast acting out the role of the people along the shore, all moving to the disjointed rhythm of a Phillip Glass piece.
“Glass’ music is very unorthodox, it’s not one-two-three-four or even one-two-three, and I think that made the kids really excited to perform that piece,” Slobodnik said.
One of the young dancers who played the role of the water happened to be one of Slobodik’s first students—Roeh Quisao Caramadre. She recalled how much the show resonated with the performers.
“I did a lot of tumbling playing that role,” Caramadre said with a laugh. “I was 12 at the time, but even back then I realized there’s a really special view of humanity that Theresa is great at capturing.”
Caramadre, now 32, works as part of the board of directors for the nonprofit in addition to assisting with marketing and even lending her skills as a dancer to some modern-day performances.
“As someone who has portrayed her characters, it’s really cool to see how similar the characters in the ballet are to people you see around you in everyday life,” Caramadre said. “It’s what makes the works she adapts so special—you can tell they really come from her heart and lived experience.”
That heart is also something Slobodnik hopes will overcome the parts of ballet that people often have misconceptions about.
“A lot of people have an idea of ballet being very static, limited in what it can accomplish theatrically—but nothing could be farther than the truth,” she said. “When you don’t have words telling you what to feel and it’s the human body telling you instead, it goes deeper.”
Slobodnik hopes that by breaking those preconceived notions, more and more people will come to shows , not just put on by her nonprofit but by other area ballet companies as well.
“People weep, people laugh, for people aren’t really familiar with the storytelling power of ballet—it really takes them by surprise,” she said. “They were not expecting to be moved to the degree they were moved; it’s a pretty wild experience.”
In the end, Slobodnik wants her expression to be more than just a viewing experience. She wants her audience to feel involved and part of the play.
“You are melding with the audience, and you, the viewer, become part of the show. You aren’t just watching it, you are sharing that experience with the performers and vice versa,” she said. “When that happens between the audience and the dancers, it is absolutely electric.” Δ
Freelancer Adrian Vincent Rosas is resonating with the creative experiences around him. Reach him at arosas@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 7, 2023.