—  PRODUCER —

Hi, I’m Ben. I’m the founder and creative director of The Cambrians. My physical training began with gymnastics when I was 3, which led me to ballet at 10. Now I’m 39, with 20 years experience producing full-time in the dance field. My training has come to encompass an ever broader range of movement techniques and production methodologies. 

My first job was with Cincinnati Ballet, where I rose the ranks to soloist before moving to San Francisco to dance with Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet. After San Francisco, I joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for 4 years. At 29, I started freelancing and founded The Cambrians at 32 as a vehicle for my independent dance productions. 

Since The Cambrians started in 2014, we’ve produced 8 evening-length shows, involving 20 dancers and 46 choreographers living on 5 continents, in forms as disparate as budoh, breaking, ballet, Ethiopian fusion, and stage combat. Our globe-encompassing network of world-class collaborators is, frankly, spectacular.

I’ve toured internationally with Aszure Barton and Artists and Lucky Plush Productions. I’ve performed work with Ron de Jesus Dance, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano and just originated an evening-length show with Alejandro Cerrudo, titled It Starts Now. In early 2018, I co-directed and performed a solo, dance-theater performance, Fatelessness, with Theatre Y in Chicago while also performing a full-act dance solo, Inverno In-Ver, co-created with Michael Tilson Thomas and Pat Birch at New World Symphony in Miami. I’ve participated in several opera collaborations with Chromatic, a production and design company co-founded by James Darrah and Peabody Southwell, and danced as a soloist with Lyric Opera of Chicago in La Traviata and Florencia en el Amazonas.

Over the course of these 20 years — in world renowned opera houses and symphony halls, in storefront theaters and sushi restaurant tea rooms — I’ve worked nearly every role involved in dance production: performer, artistic director, show director, producer, accountant, development, marketing, crew person, choreographer, production/lighting/set designer, stage manager, dramaturge, librettist... I’m far from equally competent in all of these jobs, but I’ve worked them each repeatedly and value their place in the ecosystem of any artistic project. I hold the utmost respect for everyone I’ve learned from, the artists and craftspeople committed to these roles.

Which brings me to who I am, beyond my story and the things I’ve done. I’m Ben. I believe in expression, both personal and communal. I’m a dancer devoted to the dance world, a producer committed to production, a human in love with humanity. I work in steadfast pursuit of the advancement of art’s role in our society by facilitating full, authentic expression for myself and those around me. Regardless of my role on a project, I’m always asking, “What can I do?”, “What are you trying to do?”, and “What shall we do together?”. My search to balance these questions is the ever-beating heart of my life and artistic practice. And anyone who’s worked with me knows that if there’s one thing I always bring to the room, it is my heart.