Bring Sean Aaron Carmon's ROULETTE to Palm Desert!

I'm Sean Aaron Carmon and I am a dancer, director, educator, and a freelance choreographer. I've performed and taught all over the world with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, toured the continent with Disney's The Lion King, danced on Broadway in multiple productions, directed dance companies, and created award-winning and critically acclaimed choreographic works throughout America. The hustle NEVER stops!

One of my most recent choreographic works, ROULETTE, originally created for fourteen artists of the Houston-based company, Vitacca Ballet, has been selected to be presented at the prestigious Palm Desert Choreography Festival on November 9th and to compete for the $10,000 grand prize!

I cannot bring these dancers to Palm Desert on sheer enthusiasm alone (this is where you come in...)!

Because we are only allowed to present a ten-minute excerpt of the original 22-minute ballet, I have pared down the number of dancers in the cast from fourteen to ten; even with a smaller cast, this will be quite the undertaking! Costs include roundtrip flights for ten dancers, double room lodging, food money, and a rental van to shuttle the dancers to and from the airport, theatre, and hotel. As a former touring professional and proud AGMA and Equity union member, delegate, and representative, I believe in treating touring artists with the utmost respect -- no janky motel rooms or red-eye flights over here!

In addition, esteemed lighting designer, Laura Glover, has agreed to redesign this work using the McCallum Theatre's state-of-the-art capabilities, and I am personally thrilled to have her on board! She is also designing my latest world premiere in Indianapolis, hiFi. I know that with Laura's incredible design, these dancers will shine all the more brightly!

If you are able, I am humbly asking for any financial assistance you can provide -- projected expenses to date are just south of $10,000. As we all know, the earlier we make flight, lodging and rental car reservations, the cheaper the total cost. Every dollar of your donation will go towards supporting these dancers and designers who continue to support me and my choreographic vision by preparing to present ROULETTE onstage at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California!

ROULETTE (excerpt)

choreography by Sean Aaron Carmon

music by John Coltrane

originally created for Vitacca Ballet - Kelly Ann Vitacca, Artistic Director

costumes, courtesy of Vitacca Ballet, by Rachel Young

original lighting design by Marc Gessner, redesign by Laura Glover

Annika Dalbratt, former dancer with Vitacca Ballet, Ballet Idaho

Nikolas Darrough, courtesy of Vitacca Ballet (original cast)

Ava Dempster, courtesy of Vitacca Ballet (original cast)

Jordan Hooks, courtesy of Vitacca Ballet (original cast)

Khen Kurulkar, courtesy of Vitacca Ballet (original cast)

Maddie Medina, courtesy of Vitacca Ballet (original cast)

Melody Mennite, former principal dancer with Houston Ballet, courtesy of Vitacca Ballet

Joshua Ponton, courtesy of Vitacca Ballet (original cast)

Coltin Snyder, courtesy of Vitacca Ballet (original cast)

Aidan Wolf, former dancer with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, courtesy of Vitacca Ballet (original cast)