SELECTED PRODUCTIONS
ALREADY INFINITE
2022 - Kansas City Ballet
Tod Bolender Center, Kansas City, MO
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Music: Ben Juodvalkis
Already Infinite explores how we are always trying to live in the present, while simultaneously being pulled into the past and the future.
ONCE FOUND
2022 - New Ballet Studio San Jose
Hammer Theatre
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Music: Rene Aubry and Francisco Tarrego
Once Found was inspired by a poem by Li-Young Lee. "You must sing to be found; once found, you must sing."
RAGE BECOMES HER
2022 - ARC Dance Company
ARC Center for Dance, Seattle, WA
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Music: Ginestera, Pablo Casals and Ravel
Rage Becomes Her. How many women cry when they are angry because they have held it in for so long? Rage Becomes Her exposes women's rage as a positive force for connection and change.
UNLEASHED
2022 - Peninsula Ballet Theatre
San Mateo Center For The Arts
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Music: Ensemble Mik Nawooj
Unleashed is Brussel’s take on the Greek myth of Pandora. Only here, she isn't the bringer of evil, but a woman searching to connect the myriad parts of herself
RESTLESS
2021 - Chevalier Ballet
Manhattan Movement Arts Center
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Music: Adam Young
Restless is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Confined to home by a fearful father, the girls escape into fantasy and then into a new life.
RUTH'S CROSSING
2021 - New Ballet Studio San Jose
Hammer Theatre Center, San Jose CA
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Music: Niles Luther
Ruth is a woman who chooses to leave her homeland. Ruth's Crossing explores that story from the perspective of a refugee looking for a better life.
HOUSE OF NAMES
2021 - ODC Theatre, San Francisco, CA USA
House of Names, made on the stage for film, gives names to the nameless and voice to the voiceless. The ballet explores the stories of Cassandra (who always told the truth and was never believed), Lot's Wife who was turned to salt, La Llorona, and other women from mythology and biblical stories, from a feminist perspective.
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Music: Carla Lucero
Cinematographer/editor: Peter T. Ruocco
Lighting Designer: Allen Willner
Music co-Producer/Mixer: Spencer Keene
Ballet Master: Kai Davis
Costumes: S-Curve Apparel & Design
with additional costumes by Josh Ugarte
IF THREE WERE TWO
2018 - Doug Varone Devices, Gibney Center, New York City
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Photography: Nina Wurtzel
Cast: Nina Pearlman, Emily Hansel, Queba Ernest
Brussel's only abstract work, If Three Were Two looks at shapes of twos and threes.
SKIN OF THE SEA
2018 - ARC DANCE COMPANY, Seattle Center
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Dancers: Members of ARC Dance Company
As human beings we think we have power over nature, but Skin of the Sea shows us the force of the tides as a woman tries to control them.
FALLS LIKE RAIN
2018 - ODC "Studio B"
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Music: Bach
Lighting Design: Delayne Medoff
Costume Design: Jamielyn Duggan
Falls Like Rain-- a pas de deux of memory of first love
FROM SHADOWS
2017 - ODC Theatre, San Francisco, CA USA
A contemporary ballet that explores addiction and homelessness from the perspective of a young girl searching for her father.
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Music: Mary Ellen Childs (with permission)
Photography: Marina Eybelman
Lighting Design: Delayne Medoff
Costumes: S-Curve Susan Roemer
Dancers: Calvin Thomas, Nina Pearlman, Sharon Kung, Alexandra FitzGibbon, Jackie McConnell, Nick Wagner, Allie Papazian and guests
"There exists within all of us a shadowed place tucked deep within our psyche. Usually it stems from a childhood experience, something harsh that slips easily behind our barely formed defenses and brands our tender soul. San Francisco-based choreographer Marika Brussel poignantly chronicled one such experience here..." TheClassicalGirl.com
CORA, UNDER AND ABOVE
2016 - Alvin Ailey Citicorp Theater, New York City
Choreographer: Marika Brussel
Photography: Jaqlin Medlock
Dancers: Jackie McConnell, and Marcos Vedovetto
Cora, Under and Above looks at the myth of Persophone from the point of view of her mother, Demeter. A story of adolescence and loss.
