The dance hall is empty. Soft fluorescent lights illuminate the stage with a faint hum.
All of a sudden, tapping shoes shatter the peace and reveal a lone dancer flowing across the stage like rainwater off a shingled roof.
Drew Silvaggio is an artist in his zone. His frantic footwork is the paint on his canvas, the stage, and he’s just put the finishing touches on his latest creation.
“Every step you see when you come and see a show we put on, I have danced that exact motion out,” Silvaggio said. “That’s the only way I feel I can teach my dancers. If I go, ‘This feels good on my body,’ when I am performing, it’s going to feel good, be fun, and translate onto the stage well.”
Silvaggio is the artistic director of the Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo and part of the movement the company is pushing to make the world of dance accessible and appealing on the Central Coast.
“Telling people stories through dance is probably not the same [way] they are used to being told certain things, but I think that’s also another appeal of it for me,” Silvaggio said. “I’m telling these stories so that they can experience that same joy that I do when I am discovering these ideas and choreographing these shows.”
Primarily known for its annual production of The Nutcracker, the company also uses traditional and nontraditional choreography, alongside music and video content, with the goal of providing a blend of contemporary dance that excites and involves the viewer for its Spring Gala events.
“It’s not a typical situation to have—I mean I don’t know it’s something I could do in a bigger city like Los Angeles because there is only so much risk you can take when producing things on that high of a stage,” Silvaggio said.
From choreographing modern dance adaptations of iconic theatrical productions like Our Town to adapting short stories like The Scarlet Ibis (both of which took the stage on March 24 and 25 for the Spring Gala at the Spanos Theatre), Silvaggio is no stranger to pulling from the unorthodox.
“Sometimes you are asked to do things very by the books, but other times—like we have in these spring shows, you are given this blank slate and told, ‘Go do whatever you want to do.’ There’s a lot of creativity in that,” he said. “Being able to be at the forefront of adapting plays and books into ballet empowers me to fully translate these shows into my own language.”
One of the people who helps the company translate that language back to the audience is Barry Goyette, who serves as a writer, photographer, and promoter for each show. Silvaggio feels that Goyette helps people like himself expand beyond the stage by figuratively bringing audience members into the writers room with his promotional material.
“I think that’s really where Barry shines,” Silvaggio said. “It’s always been a struggle to get the greater community involved in these newer productions that they don’t necessarily know anything about.”
Goyette designs entire campaigns for shows, from photos of the dancers in motion to videos showcasing some of the dancing techniques that might be seen throughout the show—anything that he feels best highlights the ideas that Civic Ballet’s productions have to offer.
“My goal is to produce something that is relevant while still honoring that dance tradition and mystique, whether that is for The Nutcracker or a spring show like The Scarlet Ibis,” Goyette said. “We want to build an audience for dance that matches the same innovation and adaptation you can see in our productions.”
Silvaggio’s goal is that through the experimental performances and Goyette’s marketing campaigns, shows like The Scarlet Ibis and Our Town can help break down the stereotypes people have regarding musical theater and dance.
“Dance is kind of a strange art form in that you don’t really know what to expect—it could be a bunch of ballerinas in tutus, or it could be dancers in crop tops dancing to hip-hop. There’s always this level of variability that I think makes the shows interesting,” Silvaggio said.
At the end of day, when he hangs up his dancing shoes, Silvaggio hopes that the greater Central Coast can appreciate the art of dance and join in the innovation alongside him and the Civic Ballet—whether that’s as an audience member or as an incoming dancer looking to participate in upcoming productions.
“The biggest thrill in my life is when you are looking at a stage, and there’s nothing there, but then you envision this story playing out in front of you and the audience, and it just works,” he said. “To be able to make people feel something, whether that something is them laughing or being grossed out or even just happy—that’s a high I am always chasing, and one I won’t stop chasing anytime soon.” Δ
Freelancer Adrian Vincent Rosas is dancing the night away. Reach him at arosas@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Mar 30 – Apr 9, 2023.