Off The Wall & Onto The Stage

South Carolina Ballet, formerly Columbia City Ballet, is bringing back its distinctive production Off the Wall and Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green due to popular demand. Praised by The New York Times as “fabulous… an ingenious idea… striking,” the ballet brings Jonathan Green’s Gullah-inspired paintings to life through original choreography, vivid design, and theatrical imagination.

Off the Wall and Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green premiered in 2005 after William Starrett and Jonathan Green met at the South Carolina Arts Commission Awards ceremony. The two quickly discovered a mutual admiration for each other’s work and began a collaboration that transformed Green’s paintings into dance.

Drawing from 22 of Green’s paintings, Starrett created a series of vignettes exploring themes of family, faith, hope, and love. Green’s rich, vibrant palette is carried onto the stage through striking backdrops and scrims, more than 150 hand-sewn costumes, and a musical score that blends traditional work songs, gospel, Motown, classical, and jazz, along with a live choir. Through movement, music, and design, South Carolina Ballet’s dancers honor the cultural heritage of the Gullah and Geechee communities that inspired Green’s work.