HAYRAKE BALLET
Role: Project Director
Organization: Wormfarm Institute
Created by choreographer Sarah Gordon Butler, Hay Rake Ballet is a six-act performance featuring eighteen local farmers harvesting alfalfa crop in choreographed patterns inspired by iconic classical ballets.
The work featured live accompaniment by a fourteen-musician chamber ensemble and Grammy-award winning soprano, Sarah Brailey. This project—three years in-the-making—honored the craft, coordination, and beauty embedded in family farm-scale agricultural practices.
Read more in Wisconsin State Journal, New York Times, Hyperallergic, LA Dance Chronicle, Fjord Review, WPR, & Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
September 12, 2026
Sauk County, Wisconsin
Choreography and Creative Direction: Sarah Gordon Butler
Production and Community Relations: Andy Enge
Assistant Choreography: Julia Eichten
Cast: Tony Grauvogl, Chad Grauvogl, Randy Hager, Jim Langdon, Matt Slotty, Darin Rosenbaum, Brian Markley, Dean Gasser, Emily Gasser, Mike Hehenberger, Andy Enge, Michael Niemann, Billy Pagel, Darin Rosenbaum, Fritz Wyttenbach, Brent Cook, William Gasser, Taiten Rosenbaum, Sarah Brailey, and Wild Space Dance Company
Music arranged and conducted by Scott Gendel Music played by: Suzanne Bela, Katrin Tlbot, Carl Davick, Laura Medisky, Sarah Ellenbecker, Linda Kimball, Greg Riss, Maynie Bradley, Perry Karp, Dawn Lwler, Bethany Schultz, Matthew Onstad, Benjamin Skroch, and Fiona Hunt
