Photo by Sarah Ferguson, courtesy Richmond Ballet
Company Dancer Matthew Frain (far left) works with fellow Richmond Ballet dancers as he sets his new piece for the company's New Works Festival.
Over coffee, Richmond Ballet dancer Matthew Frain (left) told a musician friend that he was having trouble finding music to inspire a piece he planned to choreograph. The friend, Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe, played Frain some music he’d been writing. “I immediately felt it was appropriate for a ballet,” Frain recalls. “[Blythe] said, ‘Why don’t you write down what you want for the piece, and I’ll compose something.’ ” (Read more about their collaboration here.) The resulting work, Inventory, will be performed in the company’s New Works Festival, March 17 to 22, alongside pieces by Polish-born dancer and choreographer Katarzyna “Kate” Skarpetowska, Nicole Haskins of San Francisco’s Smuin Ballet and Rex Wheeler of the Sacramento Ballet. $21 to $41. 344-0906 or richmondballet.com.
