2015 · Dance – stage work
If I Were You - Project Israel (later retitled The Sonder Project - Israel)
Archive folder: If I Were You
Casey Lee Thorne (Inside Out Contemporary Ballet)
An evening-length contemporary ballet by Casey Lee Thorne for Inside Out Contemporary Ballet. It grew out of her 2014–15 Fulbright Fellowship, during which she led free dance workshops in Israel and the West Bank and collected participants' reflections on what dance connects them to. Ben created the sound score, blending original material with recorded music and voices.
- Premiere
- 2015-10-03
- Venue
- Dominican University of California, San Rafael (Oct 3, 2015; hall reported as Angelico Concert Hall, unconfirmed); ODC Commons, 351 Shotwell St, San Francisco (Oct 10–11, 2015)
- Where
- San Rafael, CA / San Francisco, CA
- Performances
- Dominican University, Oct 3, 2015, 7pm; ODC Commons, San Francisco, Oct 10, 2015, 8pm and Oct 11, 2015, 4pm. The company planned free community performances afterward, and 2015 composite edits are titled 'JCC Composite 10-25-15' and 'JCHS Composite 10-21-15'. Excerpt at Peninsula JCC (Feb 2016). Excerpt at College of Marin (Apr 2016; edit 'If I Were You Edit 3-16'). 8-minute excerpt at PUSHfest Program B, ODC Theater, Sep 24–25, 2016 (see W074). A documentary, 'If I Were You - Project Israel: A Dancer's Journey Through the Holy Land' (produced by Bruce Nicholson), premiered Jan 12, 2017 at 32TEN Studios, San Rafael, and includes Ben's music.
- Credits
- Choreography: Casey Lee Thorne. Composer/sound score: Ben Juodvalkis (original material plus sampled and pre-recorded tracks, including Yemen Blues 'Jat Mahibathi' and Carole Samaha 'Wahshani Bladi'). Set design: Lisa Boling Huntsman (credited as Lisa Boling Holloway in 2014). Nine dancers, several of them graduates of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA program; the documentary names Yoshie, Julie Anne, and Linda (Linda Steele II). Costumes: Casey Lee Thorne. Documentary: Bruce Nicholson.
Press
“The project focuses on different feeling-states to illustrate how many views and experiences there are simultaneously in this part of the world”
“BEN JUODVALKIS – Composer/Musician”
Elsewhere
- The Sonder Project - Israel (Full Performance Footage) — Vimeo (Inside Out Contemporary Ballet), 2015-10
- Project Israel dance program — J. The Jewish News of Northern California, 2015-09-18
- Works — Inside Out Contemporary Ballet — Inside Out Contemporary Ballet
- News — Inside Out Contemporary Ballet — Inside Out Contemporary Ballet, 2017-01-12
- Casey Lee Thorne, MFA - CV (2025) — Mover Maker (Casey Lee Thorne), 2025
- Artists — Inside Out Contemporary Ballet — Inside Out Contemporary Ballet