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Empire State to Glass City: Eric Otto brings a slice of the Big Apple to Toledo
62 Plays2 months ago
Season Two, Episode Four: This month’s guest is Eric Otto Artistic Director & Head of Curriculum, Toledo Ballet, Toledo Ohio. Eric was born and raised in Westchester County, New York. He began dancing at the age of seven with the School of American Ballet in New York City. He has danced professionally with the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and BalletX. He was an original cast member of Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away, performing the leading role of Sid. He has appeared on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera and toured with Twyla Tharp for her 50th Anniversary. As a choreographer, Eric has received commissions by Peoria Ballet Company, Albany Berkshire Ballet, The Joffrey Academy Of Dance, Saratoga Arts Fest, The Bruce Museum, Bucknell University and Skidmore College.
OhioDance A State of Dance is a six-part series coming out the fourth Friday of each month through November 2024.This podcast is driven by the OhioDance mission to secure the foothold of dance in Ohio through increasing visibility, firming viability, and elevating the position of dance in Ohio.
In 2016, a five-person team set out on a mission to capture the achievements of persons and institutions who have shaped the intricate diversity of dance history and practice within the state of Ohio and weave them together in an easily accessible digital format. This we call the OhioDance Virtual Dance Collection. As of 2024 we have highlighted 37 individuals and institutions. The team has traveled over 5000 miles and interviewed hundreds of individuals in all five regions of Ohio. vdc.ohiodance.org
If you like what you are listening to and are not a member of OhioDance, you can go to ohiodance.org and click the membership button to join and receive the many benefits that come with your membership. You can also donate through our purple donate button.
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Transcript
Introduction to A State of Dance
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to a State of Dance, sponsored by Ohio Dance and hosted by independent choreographer and interdisciplinary artist Rodney Veal.
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to A State of Dance, sponsored by Ohio Dance and hosted by Rodney Veal, an independent choreographer and interdisciplinary artist. The podcast is partially based on the Ohio Dance Virtual Dance Collection, an interactive website that documents and preserves the achievements of individuals and institutions who have shaped the diversity of dance history and practice in Ohio.
Meet Eric Otto
00:00:45
Speaker
Today, I would like to welcome our guest, Eric Otto.
00:00:49
Speaker
Eric is Artistic Director and Head of Curriculum at the Toledo Ballet. Toledo Ballet was founded in 1939 by Marie Bollinger Vogt. Thank you for joining us today, Eric. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be able to sit here and speak with you. This is awesome. I'm super excited. Like I said, I love the fact that we get to talk to the head of ballet companies and and dancers and choreographers and just so just a great collective group of people. So I am super excited. We've never met. So this is going to be great. So i we got to start from the beginning. It's kind of like this is your life. So.
Growing Up in a Ballet Family
00:01:23
Speaker
So, Eric, you started dancing at the age of seven with the School of American Ballet in New York City. Can you tell us how you became drawn to ballet at such a young age?
00:01:35
Speaker
Well, I have to just rewind a bit. I grew up in the ballet studio. My very first memory crawling on the ballet studio floor is hearing Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker because my mother, Leslie Otto, had a big ballet school in Westchester, New York.
00:01:53
Speaker
So, my very first memory, I have memories of the Nutcracker, I've got memories of Sleeping Beauty, of Midsummer Night's Dream, and that was my first memory. And of course, when your parents have a dance school, what else is there to do? so And i come I come from a very large family, where there's seven of us.
00:02:13
Speaker
And all three of my my older brothers, William, David, and Philip, all danced professionally as well. Two were with New York City Ballet. One was with Milwaukee, Pennsylvania, and then later to Pacific Northwest Ballet. And I went to the dark side and went to American Ballet Theater. The dark side. I love how you described this.
00:02:34
Speaker
but That's amazing. So many. I'll get to seven. Yeah, there are there are seven of us. And like I said, when your mom has a school, you know, you're all a part of it in some way, shape or form, whether it's behind the scenes, working with production or on stage as a dancer.
00:02:54
Speaker
So it was it was a very unique, interesting, exciting experience as a young boy growing up. And for me, you know i didn't I didn't really know any any different. It was the life that I was um you know born into. So you know running from the studio to the theater to rehearsals was just like common for
Challenges as a Male Dancer
00:03:14
Speaker
me. And I remember when I would talk to some of my friends in school, they were just they were amazed at wow, this is what you do. you're You're going to Lincoln Center to be in the Nutcracker as the the character of Fritz, and then you're coming back for soccer practice. so ah It's wild. yeah video It must have been odd to see other people and like, don't you just run off to go dance and perform and put on costumes? I mean, it's got to be a little surreal on your end to think, wait a minute, something's not the same here.
00:03:44
Speaker
I know, I know. It was, ah it was a lot. I remember, you know, trying to manage academic work, trying to manage friendships in my suburban, you know, life with my my friends in school, and then also my artistic friends and all my other friends in the ballet world, and trying to balance that. And and also at the same time, you know, for me as a young boy,
00:04:12
Speaker
growing up in ballet, some of the adversity that I faced being teased on, being bullied, um you know, once they found out that it was, you know, my mom had a ballet school and I was a nutcracker, it was like, you know, oh, you dance ballet. And I was like, there's nothing wrong with it. And I kept trying to convince them and no matter how um much I would convince them, it was, you It was just a different time, and it was that stigma around you know ballet and even contemporary dance. And for dancers today, too, I'm sure with young men um aspiring to be dancers, they face that as well. But even growing up where I did ah in in the 80s, it was a very, very sports-centric school I was at. So I found at times it was difficult. But like going back to what I was saying, managing that, I did have some really good friends growing up in
00:05:02
Speaker
in Eastchester, New York. um But the older I got and the more immersed in ballet and the arts I i got, um I started to kind of you know segue into more of my friends in the city and all my artistic friends that were like artists and singers and musicians and dancers and because they were they were my my tribe, my kind. I love it. I think in all of the podcasts that we've had, we've the conversations have been, once you got the bug, once it was in the end, you wish you were infected with the joy and love of dancing and making art. No
Training and New York City Ballet
00:05:35
Speaker
stopping you, right? And and so yeah and so the my discussion is that you dance professionally with the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Ballet X.
00:05:48
Speaker
You have had the great experience of working with these renowned companies. We would like to hear about your path that brought you to work with each company. sure And we would love to hear if you have any favorite experiences from those times. These are some beautiful companies to have danced with. Thank you. They are. They are they' are wonderful, beautiful companies. and And so for me, um I was in a very traditional track. I was a student at the School of American Ballet ever since I was seven until I graduated at 17. I was awarded ah an apprenticeship with the New York City Ballet.
00:06:25
Speaker
At a very young age, I was 17. I was way too young, maturity-wise. um i'm still I'm still growing, but then I was just way too young, and I was there for one year as an apprentice, and ah it didn't work out. I would rather be hanging out with my friends and my girlfriend, you know, a 17-year-old young boy in the city. I wasn't quite ready for it yet, so I had to have a reset moment. I ultimately um was offered another apprenticeship.
00:06:53
Speaker
for the following year within York City Ballet and I turned it down and I needed to take some time because I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. and so over the summer that summer i remember my mom got a phone call from ah john mehan who used to be the artistic director of american valley theateratre studio company and he was also ah reowned a world-renowned principal dancer australian dancer he was taking over as the director of abt ah studio company and um they had heard my situation it didn't work out well with as as an apprentice and as a young dancer in the city
00:07:27
Speaker
um they they wanted to try to help me so they offered me a position in and their second company and that's where i really flourished and grew and kind of matured and got my together so to speak and i work there for one year in eight an abt's second company um geez ninety ninety seven nineteen ninety eight so i am dating myself as many many years ago now and i was there for a year and then after being in their second company for a year i was given a contract for the court of ballet
00:07:58
Speaker
and in during that time in american ballet theaterat i got to work very closely with twa thorp and twilight had come in to do ah push comes to shove ah and also another ballet she was creating called known by heart and um i remember she came in watch class and she selected me out of you know one hundred or eighty dancers and and i had only heard stories about her and how demanding she could be and how she would run rehearsals so of course
00:08:31
Speaker
as a nineteen twenty year old young dancer i was ah was shaking in my tight being at american ballet theateratre getting to work withwa thharpe closely was i mean obviously it's like a dream learning so much from her just how she how she was in the studio how she prepared for her work how she worked with the dancers and it was very inspiring and also very informative and she was able to really push and and pull the best out of her dancers um if they if they allowed it some dancers didn't really
00:09:05
Speaker
like that style or the way she worked but i i relished it and i really thrived in it and i loved i loved to be challenged physically mentally artistically and those are some things that that i really reflect back on working with her um so i was working with her at american ballet theaterat again i was in the court of ballet i wasn't a principal i wasn't a star there um i was i was given and ah you know small opportunities here and there to work with her and i really really loved every opportunity that was given
Broadway Experience with 'Movin' Out'
00:09:38
Speaker
moving forward um she had she was working on this new broadway musical ah with the the music and songs to billy joel and she had created the tony award-winning show moving out and this was two thousand and one i believe i remember i had ah an opportunity to go and see the show and of course you know being in classical ballet and at abt ah so far in my young career i was
00:10:08
Speaker
blown away by the style of movement the physicality the pedestrians style of movement all intertwined with ah billy joel's lyrics and the story it just really was a perfect storm and it was such a great show to be in at that time it still is i mean it's looking back at it's just it it pushed you artistically and physically and to be able to do that kind of work eight shows a week on broadway was so demanding but having that music drive you that music every night kind of pushed you and push you
00:10:43
Speaker
um was one of the greatest experiences of my life i mean hands down working with her and being in that broadway show move it out was one of the greatest experiences in my life and so like every broadway show it comes to a close and every dancer is like what's next so ah broadway show close i was offered it an opportunity to go on the first national tour ah to play the lead of james um in the show and that's where i went as soon as the broadway show closed i went straight onto the national tour
00:11:15
Speaker
and that's where i met my wife laura who was a professional ballerina and she was a dancer a principal with atlanta ballet under the direction of john mcfa she was there from ninety ninety seven until two thousand and six where she came and audition for the show and she got the lead role of judy and so we met on the first national tour and we're still together today kizmet kizma yeah yeah and to the soundtrack of billy jewell to the soundtrack of billie joel is funny because she's from long island
00:11:47
Speaker
new york where billy joel grew up and a lot of the the songs obviously are are influenced from that part of new york so and i'm from new york too so we were two new york kids in this show together we had a lot in common we had a lot to relate to and and she ah is a beautiful person inside and out and i wouldn't be where i am today ah certainly without her and i mean that from the bottom of my heart and we have a a beautiful son together his name is quinn and ah he also ah dabbles in ballet and soccer in the genes
00:12:19
Speaker
in the genes but not to digress going back to twiillithhar so i did the first national tour and of course the national tour was was an amazing experience that came to an end i had heard from a friend of mine in new york that the contemporary company cedar lake was looking for a male dancer and so of course i jump on a plane and i fly to new york and i rehearsed and and and took class with them and was able to work with them all through the summer um in the summer of two thousand and six worked with them and then that contract came to a close
00:12:52
Speaker
and then i heard that the metropolitan opera ballet was looking for dancers so i went there so applied for for the position took class and i was very fortunate and lucky enough that they had a full-time company position available spent the next seven seasons but the metropolitan opera ballet and now moving in from classical ballet into the broadway world into a national tour and now into the metropolitan opera was
Lessons from the Met and Advice to Dancers
00:13:23
Speaker
whole nother experience and for me the one thing that i really is a blessing and a curse i guess i'm not afraid to take risks i always go for it and i remember talking to a few of my friends and colleagues in in ballet companies or broadway shows and everyone's like what are you going to do next what's gonna i'm like something will come something will come you just have to and this is advice that i have to any listeners any young aspiring dancers or artists out there and know it sounds cliche you've probably heard this but you need to keep steady on the course things will happen remain relevant get out there enjoy what you're doing
00:13:57
Speaker
make friendships with choreographers and dancers and just really enjoy and love the experience and the process and yes there will be ebbs and flows throughout your career but then other doors will open and you should go for those opportunities too don't overthink them sometimes people overthink because of logistics but if it's your craft and it's something you love really go for it it doesn't always work but sometimes it does and so i had the opportunity to work there for seven seasons and that was an an an incredible experience being on stage for the first time i remember
00:14:29
Speaker
we were doing aida and zephyreli's aida and this is a big magnificent opera and i was one of the one of many male warriors there's female warriors male worries and we come out and do this big elaborate dance and i remember being backstage at the met and i being there with abt and also being there as a young boy in the children's chorus i knew i knew the scope and the size of the med and the opulence but to actually be there dancing in aida um mean we were literally in the valley of the kings and they had the scenery and the sets and there were horses going across the stage
00:15:03
Speaker
and i remember i looked around i was like oh my god this is incredible right now i amm on the met stage but i feel like i'm in egypt it was it was a pretty wild experience that was ah that was a a fantastic time and then i also worked at twi again intermittently while i was at the met with her frank sinatra musical called come fly away i did the out of town with her in atlanta and then i went to broadway when that opened i took a leave from the metd and went back to the met finished my my season there and ah
00:15:35
Speaker
then i was like what ne what do i do i never went to college after high school i i i got ah i was lucky enough with hard work and dedication to get a job as an apprentice with city ballet but i never went to college to get a degree so i you know i had a moment of what should i do and i remember i was working with twla on her fiftieth anniversary tour in two thousand and fifteen and she's like ot you need to start teaching and so i was like okay whatever you say i will do um
Culinary Exploration and Return to Dance
00:16:05
Speaker
and so
00:16:05
Speaker
i was ah in berkeley on tour with her and she gave me the chance to teach a master class and i remember there just the preparation teaching starting to take command of the studio and i just really started to fall in love with the opportunity to teach and to and to be able to you know hand that on to all of the young dancers that's lovely we're going to take a break for a moment and then we're going to come back and we're going to talk a little bit more about that wonderful transition to teaching so stay tuned
00:16:40
Speaker
to remind you that if you like what you're listening to and are not a member of ohio dance you can go to ohiodance dot org and click the membership button to join and receive the many benefits that come with your
00:17:05
Speaker
we are back and so eric you were telling this story about i love the fact that twliharp said you need to go into teaching and i just i'm kind of curious what motivated her to tell you to go into teaching maybe it was maybe it was because of how i was as a dancer and how she and i work together and how she saw me and what i could achieve as as an artist or maybe simply she figured he's got nothing else to do this kid gotta teach so i really hope it was the former um
00:17:37
Speaker
i never really thought that i wanted to teach i never put thought into being a director or trying to choreograph or teaching i had a big passion for cooking and i still to this day i love i love the culinary arts and ah i did take a few months in between working with twla and the what next phase in my career of what what am i going to do so um ah this contemplating culinary school and then a good buddy of mine um who worked closely with ah chef mark murphy in new york city at ah at a restaurant called landmark columbus circle
00:18:10
Speaker
and i went in and i talked to the executive chef there and i said oh i want to go to culinary school and he's like why are you going to spend all that money when you can come and and start working in a restaurant right now but so i decided right there and then okay well that's great advice let me come in so i started working as a professional cook at this restaurant for four months to see if i could even if this is like a life or a world because i love it's like a ho of mine and it really it really was ah was a rude awakening i have to say but
00:18:41
Speaker
i love cooking that was a different type of experience it was it was very different and having a wife and ah and a young son and a mortgage and working late hours long hours and i have so much respect for that industry but it is a hard industry to work and um that just crushed my hopes and dreams of becoming a chef right there and then um i do love cooking for friends and family i always will but that was a little moment in my career where i just wanted to try something different because i had always been
00:19:13
Speaker
ah dancer um from that point on i've been around the performing arts and in many different genres and disciplines and i wanted to try something else um but that didn't last long that was only four months four months is all it took to kind of realize no that's it i think we're good i can i can love i can love it i can appreciate it but i think that this this other world i'm in is is working yeah i tell young people that same thing that similar just try it if it doesn't work so good move on absolutely
Revitalizing Peoria Ballet
00:19:44
Speaker
how did this lead to yes prior to coming to toledto ballet you served as artistic director of peoria ballet in illinois yes so how did you go from the that transition to there and then talk about your choice to join toledo ballot i was in the restaurant cooking and can i think it was the afternoon and i get a text message from my sister who is a professional dresser ah with radio city and also the metropolitan opera and she is the principal dresser for julie kent who is now the artistic director of houston ballet along with stan welsh
00:20:16
Speaker
so she was talking to my sister at the met and she was like what's eric up to and she's say oh he's trying to become a chef i think he's at some restaurant at columbu circle and she's like like why isn't he teaching and so as soon as i heard that from my sister i was like and there was at also a point in the restaurant where i was like you know what i need to come back into the world of dance this was interesting and fun so i saw an opportunity they were're looking for an artistic director of a large ballet academy in peoria illinois with the purere ballet
00:20:49
Speaker
and they were very well established and they had a very good operation there they flew me in in the middle of october to salvage their nutcracker because their current artistic director had up and left and so they brought me in in ah mad scramled to come in and they said can you do nutcracker because we don't have anyone else and i was like i'm just your guy i've been a around upcracker for many many years and this is something that i am ready for right now and so i put on nutcracker in
00:21:21
Speaker
five weeks at the peia civic center along with the hartland festival orchestra and under the the music direction of david command day there was a wonderful board of directors a wonderful dear friend of mine still to this day her name is wendy thomas and who is the executive director of piorre ballet and a very committed and devoted student base and of course parent volunteers and so that was ah my first experience really being on on a board of directors directing artistically this whole organization this school doing you know two big ballet productions a year
00:21:59
Speaker
outreach education doing a little bit of marketing i was wearing all the hats and i was ready for it i was very excited to be in that world and to really kind of just bring that knowledge to central illinois a it was only there for two seasons um my wife at the time she was offered an opportunity to go back to new york to work with justin peck on ah carousel the broadway show in two thousand eighteen at that time she went back to new york with our son and i was wrapping things up in in peoria
00:22:29
Speaker
and i applied for an artistin residence position at skidmore college in saratoga springs new york they were looking for an artist in residence in classical ballet to be a professor and so i was offered that position and i went there for three years this was before toledo so i was a professor in dance at skidmore college for three years and lived at saratoga springs with my wife and young son and then that was ah three just a threeyear residency that came to an end and i was you know talking to friends and looking and i heard that toledo ballet was looking for a new artistic director
00:23:05
Speaker
so i applied and here i am wow i mean what a journey you're here now how long have you been with clito bellle so i've been here since august of twenty two so this will be ah coming up on two years this august wow wow wow that's amazing absolutely amazing so you've had all these experiences the breath and depth of your experiences in the dance world i'm sure coming to full bear in toledo and and and because i was you know as president of the board of ohio dance ohio always fascinates me with our love of dance and the fact that our community
Vision for Toledo Ballet
00:23:40
Speaker
fully embrace are yeah the art of dance and i'm like it's so amazing and toledto no one would ever think that there's this really dedicated audience and toledo for ballet and so you're there now and youve you've you've been here for a couple seasons and so my question is what's your vision for toledo ballet yeah so my vision here just like from from my very first zoom call during the interview is to really bring recognition to the community and to really cultivate a dance audience but i wanted to come in they were going through a transition here and the studio was in flux
00:24:15
Speaker
and my first goal was to come in and stabilize the school student retention ah start to get to know the parents the volunteers the board the ballet guild um as well as my wonderful colleagues at tappa um so in two thousand and eighteen i think two thousand and seventeen ah this may be wrong information but they mered the tolito valley merged with the toledo symphony under a one umbrella called the toledo alliance for the performing arts and that was a huge driving factor for me when i was ah
00:24:48
Speaker
researching the position and talking was the the ability to have live music with all of the ballet productions here i mean it's such areat to teach the students here how to work alongside musicians and to count music and to not a lot of schools and academies get that opportunity if they're lucky it's for a week out of the year in december when they do their nutcracker they'll you know get to use a live symphony but we get to do it many many times and so that was a ah ah very exciting um
00:25:18
Speaker
think for me coming here but for me really it was about growing the school putting on really good highqual ballet productions getting to know the community getting to know the city the people although the like i said the volunteers the board and and stealing a really good training ah here at toledo ballet those are the things that are are for me what i had to do in the beginning and what i love to do and what i'm still doing right now ah but my vision and my goal for toledto balllet i would love to
00:25:49
Speaker
to start a company here an ensemble ballet company maybe four to six and maybe eventually eight you know professional dancers one day where we can work you know in our three big ballet productions a year and then intermittently we can work alongside the symphony if once they do some of their masterworks we can go and do a potdo or ah ah short piece um so that's my goal have a really good successful training ground for ballet dancers and to have a small professional ballet company here along with the symphony that's a great vision and i think that's ah
00:26:24
Speaker
i love that and and this there is nothing like dancing to live music and working and collaborating with musicians i know this from my experiences and i've been fortunate and very blessed to kind of have had a ah good run you know in that regard and i i'm so glad you're instilling that for the community and i the community is certainly embracing it my final question is is there anything else you would like to tell us that we don't know that you would like us to know because i mean you're you're you' you're a fresh new voice in our community and and i want to make sure that you
00:26:58
Speaker
thank you so much rodney i just would like to say that i am grateful to to be here at the helm of toledo ballet and and i'm very grateful to be surrounded by other like-minded artists um in toledo and to have the resources to be able to continue to present high- quality arts highul quality training ah and toledo surprised me you know like it's one of these cities where at first i was like wow it's everything's so spread out there's there's a little bit of it downtown but
Future Productions and Facilities
00:27:29
Speaker
but the more i'm here and the more i get to see the city there's so many wonderful things about this town that i really really like and we are moving into a newly renovated fifty six thousand square foot facility in january of two thousand and twenty five along with the school of music the toledo symphony we will be in right next to the stranahan theaterat where all the broadway shows come into town they perform their
00:28:01
Speaker
we do our big nutcracker there there is an old and thesonic temple that's just adjacent to it and so um renovations are going on right now i just did a tour last week with some colleagues of mine so that is a very new exciting thing that we are all looking forward to here at toledo ballet and and at tappa we're also doing i was given the green light to do a brand new full-length the legend of sleepy hollow in october so we're going to be doing that ballet along with our nutcracker and then another ballet for our spring show we're going to be doing snow white
00:28:35
Speaker
ah so three big ballet productions and i'm currently auditioning some professional dancers to bring in to teach in the school to perform to do outreach so we're growing ah love it and i'm so glad we caught you and you were willing to take time out of your very busy schedule that yeah but this big vision for toledo valet and so thank you so much i've i've loved learning about you this is this is exciting thank you so much for and embracing ohio dance in this conversation thank you so much it was a pleasure to be able to speak with you today and
00:29:08
Speaker
and anytime the doors open i will gladly take you up on the offer so thank you thank you so much for having me
00:29:18
Speaker
ah state of dance is produced by ohio dance and hosted by rodney vele executive producer jane dangelo editor and audio technician jessica caveder musical composition by matthew peyton dixon ohio dance would like to thank our funders the ohio arts council the national endowment for the arts the ohio state university dance preservation fund the greater columbus arts council the columbus foundation and the akron community