Amy Seiwert's Imagery

Create • Innovate • Influence

At Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, we continually evaluate how we can progressively advance our organization, which we hope will have a positive influence on the broader ballet world. Together with Staff and Board we articulated and codified these core values to live and grow by. These values are ingrained in Imagery’s continued mission to work and create in true and equitable collaboration, serving our community through the art form we love.

ASI’s Vision

To explode preconceptions of what ballet is and can be.

Ex•plode - (verb) show (a belief or theory) to be false or unfounded

ASI’s Mission

To influence and reimagine the field of contemporary ballet through collaboration, experimentation, and risk-taking in a responsible and inclusive environment.

ASI’s Values

  • Fail Forward: Celebrate taking risks, experimentation, and learning from our mistakes to discover new ways of ballet-making.

  • Embrace Diversity: Unite diverse viewpoints to broaden our perspectives and improve our art and our work.

  • Lead by example: Embody the things we want to see in our field and strive to be ahead of the curve.

  • Be Process-focused to Enrich Outcomes: Create an environment that propels progress and leads to innovation.

  • Care: Commit to caring for our artists and staff by fostering trust, respect, and transparency. 

ASI’s Working Agreements

 

  1. Create space for creative risk-taking and failure: We haven’t embraced risk if everything works. Mistakes and failed experiments open pathways to new opportunities that lead to discoveries. Mistakes are a chance to reevaluate, pivot, or engage in open dialogue. Let’s celebrate the “Beautiful Oops” so we can grow.

  2. Focus on the process, to enrich our product: Although we are all here to create, in the end, it is not always about the final product (a ballet, film, brochure, grant proposal) but also about how we were able to get there together. Let the process be pleasant, based on mutual respect, trust, joy, and curiosity. 

  3. Act from a place of mutual respect and ongoing trust: Work from the mindset that we are all here because we want to be here and have each other's best interests in mind. Be respectful of each other’s visions, experiences, and comfort levels. We all have blindspots, actively look out for yours and gently point out others. 

  4. Value mind and body: Dancers and staff are encouraged and welcomed to bring physical and mental ideas to the table. Allow for psychological and physical breaks, respect and celebrate your own body and mind and that of others. Dancers are not empty vessels, nor are their bodies disposable. 

  5. Speak and listen: None of us are mind readers. We can address any issues, big or small, with communication. To do this, we need to speak up and actively listen. When conflict arises and you feel disrespected, remember that your colleagues are only human. Give them the benefit of the doubt, but explain how their actions made you feel.

  6. Make Space, Take Space: We have different personalities and varying privilege levels; it’s up to us to decide how we use it or share it. Are you holding others back? Are you holding back because you don’t want to step on toes? We are each responsible for inclusion. 

Equity

We are committed to creating an environment of inclusion and belonging where diverse voices are active in all aspects of our organization, including our studio. We strive to create a space of racial, ethnic, and gender equity where individuals’ views, beliefs, and values can access the power to impact positive change and innovation. We recognize that our journey towards equity is an ongoing process and open to suggestions and feedback.

ASI is eager to work toward full and safe participation for all in our accessibility efforts. Within our growing knowledge of our audience and administrative/financial capacity, we strive to remove barriers to participation. These efforts include but are not limited to offering Audio Descriptions of events, Haptic Access Tours, Closed Captioning, ASL interpretation, using accessible venues, and making any other accommodations needed towards full accessibility.

Please note: due to the ongoing pandemic and to keep our guests, artists, and staff safe, we may have changed or temporarily suspended some services.

If you wish to request available services, report a matter related to this website's accessibility, or address accessible needs in advance of our events, please don't hesitate to contact us at (email or phone).

Accessibility

Land Acknowledgment

 

Amy Seiwert's Imagery primarily situates in San Francisco, California. We acknowledge that the company occupies the unceded ancestral lands of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, the original San Francisco Peninsula inhabitants.

We recognize that the Ramaytush Ohlone people understand the interconnectedness of all things and have maintained harmony with nature for millennia. We honor the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples for their enduring commitment to wahrep, Mother Earth. As the Indigenous protectors of this land and according to their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place and for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. We recognize the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples' continued and active physical and cultural presence in the Bay Area and acknowledge that we benefit from living and working in their traditional homeland. As uninvited guests, we affirm their sovereign rights as First Peoples and wish to pay our respects to the Ancestors, Elders, and Relatives of the Ramaytush Community. To honor Ramaytush peoples respectfully, we must embrace and collaborate meaningfully to record Indigenous knowledge in how we care for San Francisco and all its people.

We encourage you to learn more about the Ramaytush Ohlone people.

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