Dancer and choreographer Adam Hundt refers to himself as “ham and cheese” because, he says, he loves to perform. He has always been comfortable in the spotlight and even calls the stage “home.”

“When I was little, I was so hyper. My babysitters made me dance to tire me out so I’d go to bed. But I wouldn’t go to bed until I showed them the performance I came up with,” Hundt says.

Fittingly, he began taking dance classes when he was 4. The now-29-year-old Kettering native is in his sixth season as a BalletMet dancer and has recently taken on choreography roles.

Hundt conceptualized BalletMet’s Kid A-OK, Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) and Rockabetty, and was a featured choreographer in the 30x30 and Hot Nights, Cool Dance productions. He will premiere his seventh work for the company in NightMoves Nov. 6-21 at the BalletMet Performance Space, 322 Mt. Vernon Ave.

Hundt sat down with CityScene to discuss the new show, his transition to dancer/choreographer and how he embraces his inner child.

CityScene: How did you get into the choreography side of dance?
Adam Hundt: I have always been interested in choreography. BalletMet is a great incubator for creativity and Gerard (Charles, BalletMet’s artistic director) is always open to new ideas. He knew I wanted to go in this direction and he just asked me to do it one day. When he asked, I was so proud.

CS: How was the transition from dancer to dancer/choreographer?
AH: It was easy because it’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I love directing, forming and creating. You can be more expressive as a choreographer because you’re coming up with ways to translate emotions through dance and I’m an emotional person. I started dancing when I was really young and remember (pretending) to be animals in class and loving it, articulating it, thinking about how my body would move if I had to be an animal. Choreography is definitely in my nature.

CS: How would you describe your dance and choreography styles?
AH: I have a preference for contemporary with a ballet background. Ballet is about uniformity, conformity, straight lines, everyone having to look the same. Contemporary is expressive, individual. I like choreographing contemporary pieces – letting the dancers take on these moves and interpret my ideas. That’s when the spark happens – during the improvisation, the unexpected.

CS: How does your NightMoves piece differ from your previous projects?
AH: When (Charles) asked me to do another piece, he said he wanted me to push myself more. I never thought I wasn’t pushing before but I’m not holding anything back this time. Before, I made things less ‘myself’ to fit the dancers’ styles. Now I’m doing more of what my body wants to do and having them fit into that.

CS: What can audiences expect from your NightMoves work?
AH: I’m calling the piece dwell. I had a horrible summer and whenever I was coming up with the moves, I would get stuck and I couldn’t stop dwelling on things that were going on. I will have an emotional attachment to this one because it’s very personal. There will be five sections of music that is very dichotomous – I’ll have some piano pieces and music by the Chemical Brothers, which is techno. Piano music is beautiful and eerie at the same time. And then to have this techno beat, this intensity – it all fit the way I wanted it to. I think the major differences in music will keep audiences interested because they won’t know what to expect next. I’m also going to have some video and props and audience participation.

CS: How did you prepare for this show?
AH: I was asked to do it in April so I spent most of the summer conceptualizing. Music is the first thing I come up with and then I add things here and there, down to the footwear and the props. I love picking the music and producing the movement and letting it flow. I’m still adding some things and am interested in how we can use everything together for the big picture – to make it kind of a surrealist dream.

CS: Is it hard to fulfill two roles with BalleMet?
AH: I trust these dancers to fulfill my choreography task, and I think whoever is choreographing another production trusts me to fulfill my dancer task. We’re a family and know each other professionally and outside of this and it’s a lot of fun because of that atmosphere.

CS: Do you have favorite pieces?
AH: As a dancer, Jazz Moves was performance-based and crowd pleasing. And 30x30 was so unique and Carmina Burana is one of the hardest things I’ve done but it’s an amazing production. As a choreographer, I loved the audience reaction to Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down). My personal favorite so far is Kid A-OK because I put my heart on stage. I anticipate NightMoves to be similar.

CS: Do you have interests outside of BalletMet?
AH: I am involved in the Ohio AIDS Coalition and established the Dance Compassion Project. This will be our fourth year for the show which is in May and features most BalletMet dancers, musicians from Opera Columbus, the (Columbus) Symphony, the (Columbus) Gay Men’s Chorus and other organizations. We draw so much from the community I just wanted to give back some way and I thought this was a good way to do so because the dance world is so affected by HIV/AIDS.

CS: What’s next for you?
AH: I have 1,000 things going on in my head at once and I’d like to bring them all to fruition. I just want to keep working, dancing and producing. I want to continue making this visual art for our audiences so they can carry around the feelings they get from watching. I’ll always be involved someway in dance. It’s innate.

Alicia Kelso is editor of CityScene.

BREAKOUT
Hundt’s resume extends well beyond dancer/choreographer for BalletMet. He earned a fellowship from the New York Choreographic Institute and a Columbus Choreographic Fellowship from the Greater Columbus Arts Council. He danced as a member of Ballet Pacifica, American Repertory Ballet and Hubbard Street 2, and as a guest with the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. He studied with the San Francisco Ballet, BalletMet, the Indiana University Ballet Department and Barbara Pontecorvo in Dayton. He also performed and taught for the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Poland and Lithuania.

BalletMet’s black tie fundraising gala, the Nutcracker Ball, is at 7 p.m. Dec. 5 at the Hilton Columbus/Polaris. BalletMet’s annual production of The Nutcracker is Dec. 11-23 at the Ohio Theatre. The Columbus holiday tradition is choreographed by Gerard Charles, BalletMet artistic director, and narrated by Sir Roger Moore. Visit www.balletmet.org for tickets and more information.