vildwerk

new works in process, 2026

The Wing and the Shell - A Hummingbird and a Turtle

The Wing and the Shell - A Hummingbird and a Turtle

A new ballet by Jacqulyn Buglisi, commissioned by vildwerk. and inspired by Professor Peter Laufer’s book Dreaming in Turtle.

Homecoming of the Unforgotten (Work-in-Progress)

Homecoming of the Unforgotten (Work-in-Progress)

Once a symbol of California’s wild abundance, the grizzly bear was hunted to extinction in the name of expansion and control. Its absence is not empty—it is shaped by violence, mythmaking, and erasure. This work moves through that history, tracing the forces that removed the bear from its land while asking what it means to imagine its return. Rewilding becomes more than ecological; it is an act of memory, of reckoning, and of hope.

Dancing for the wild, bryant park picnic performances presented by bank of america, june 2026

Six Breaths

Six Breaths

Antonia Franceschi’s new duet, created for and in collaboration with vildwerk. with support by New York Theatre Ballet is inspired by conservation efforts protecting the jaguar.

Intersections of Life

Intersections of Life

Intersections of Life was choreographed for Chattanooga Ballet’s 50th anniversary. Choreographer Ingrid Silva was inspired by how we interact with each other in our lives. The classical music, set to an original score by Brazilian composer Leandro Albuquerque, makes the movement feel effortless and powerful, like waves.

Fists and Feathers

Fists and Feathers

A contemporary ballet inspired by the power, elegance, and mystique of the black panther. The work explores themes of vigilance, solitude, and strength. The choreography shifts between stealth and explosive physicality, capturing both the ferocity and grace of the animal spirit it evokes.

Monarcas

Monarcas

Monarcas was choreographed for ten dancers about the migrating monarchs for vildwerk. in 2024, which had its world premiere at the Museo del Barrio Theatre at its opening season Time To Protect Our Planet.

Moss Anthology: Variation #5 for vildwerk. (2024)

Moss Anthology: Variation #5 for vildwerk. (2024)

The Moss project is an awakening that seeks to bring awareness through dance to the current global environmental crises that threatens the existence of all life on our planet.

When The Water Breaks

When The Water Breaks

When the Water Breaks explores the profound connection between the ever-shifting temperament of the ocean and the emotional landscapes of humanity. Through sweeping movement and musical fluidity, the ballet reflects the ocean’s dual nature—its serenity and its storms—as a mirror of our own inner tides.

Dancing for Our Wonderful World, New York Live Arts, December 2025

After the Rain

After the Rain

Award-winning choreographer and vildwerk. founding Advisory Board member Christopher Wheeldon, OBE created After the Rain in 2005 for New York City Ballet’s annual New Combinations Evening, honoring the anniversary of George Balanchine’s birth with a new world premiere.

Symbiotic Twin

Symbiotic Twin

In Symbiotic Twin, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa delves into the natural phenomenon of symbiosis: two distinct organisms whose survival and evolution become intertwined.

Asylum

Asylum

Asylum explores the ritual and tribal connections to nature that have long danced alongside Indigenous wildlife, seeking otherness and altered states.

When the Water breaks

When the Water breaks

When the Water Breaks explores the profound connection between the ever-shifting temperament of the ocean and the emotional landscapes of humanity. Through sweeping movement and musical fluidity, the ballet reflects the ocean’s dual nature—its serenity and its storms—as a mirror of our own inner tides.

Floes

Floes

Floes was inspired by a deep concern for the havoc of climate change and named after the large sheets of ice that are disappearing in polar regions. This sonic/visual/kinetic work resulted from cross-media interactions on themes of formation, collision, breaking, and flowing.

network

network

Network is a contemporary dance piece for four dancers with an original score by David K. Israel and set photography by Samantha Bass created for vildwerk. in 2024. The work explores the magic of mycorrhizal fungi and the symbiotic relationship it has to all plant life. Created in collaboration with and support of the Mycorrhizal Fund, Mercy Vaughn and Dennis Sheridan.

Moss Anthology: Variation #5b (2025)

Moss Anthology: Variation #5b (2025)

The Moss project is an awakening that seeks to bring awareness through dance to the current global environmental crises that threatens the existence of all life on our planet.

Monarcas

Monarcas

Monarcas is a ballet created on 11 dancers in 2024 for vildwerk.s inaugural season. This year, Megan LeCrone and Renan Cerdeiro are performing the opening pas de deux of the work paying tribute to the annual miracle of the migration of the monarch butterfly.

Time to Protect Our Planet – Museo del Barrio Theatre, New York City, November 2024

This Bitter Earth

This Bitter Earth

This breathtaking and poetic dance for a couple explores the haunting, tenuous melodies set to a remix of Dinah Washington’s soulful rendition of “This Bitter Earth” and Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight.”

Network

Network

The work explores the magic of mycorrhizal fungi and the symbiotic relationship it has to all plant life. Created in collaboration with and support of the Mycorrhizal Fund, Mercy Vaughn and
Dennis Sheridan.

Ará

Ará

Ará means "macaw" in the Tupi language of Brazil. The word is an onomatopoeia based on the sound of their call. This work draws attention to the preservation of migratory corridors for macaws, and other endangered species, as they cross the manmade borders of the Americas.Dennis Sheridan.

Moss Anthology #5 (2024) Rock, Ritual, Earth, Tree, Ritual 2, Gaia created for vildwerk.

Moss Anthology #5 (2024) Rock, Ritual, Earth, Tree, Ritual 2, Gaia created for vildwerk.

The Moss project is an awakening that seeks to bring awareness through dance, the universal language of the body, to the current global environmental crises that threatens the existence of
all life.

The Golden Turtle

The Golden Turtle

The Golden Turtle explores the inner turmoil of species experiencing habitat devastation and poaching as part of the illegal turtle trade.

Monarcas

Monarcas

Henning Rübsam choreographed Monarcas, a piece for ten dancers about the migrating monarchs for vildwerk.

Toujours

Toujours

Toujours examines the emotions of loss and extinction of being. It relates to the daily number of species lost on our planet and the deep feeling of realizing that we are responsible for our actions on earth.

Divinity in Paradox (DIP)

Divinity in Paradox (DIP)

Divinity In Paradox, is a prayer from our primordial ancestral ascended masters to the enlightened ones, chosen in this era as emissaries to awaken the innate divinity within themselves in order to restore,
replenish, renew and honor the inherent divinity we inhibit without.

Grow Little Tree

Grow Little Tree

Performed at vildwerk.s Inaugural Performance and Gala Dinner on May 1, 2023 at The Bowery Hotel, New York City