Deborah Lohse, Artistic Director of ad hoc Ballet, is a classically trained choreographer and dancer from Sacramento, California. Lohse's ballet foundation was provided by Dame Sonia Arova and Thor Sutowski and continued with modern under Jean Isaacs, Kevin Wynn and Joe Goode. Her eclectic training also includes theatre, comedy improvisation and ballroom. As a dancer, she has performed with a variety of companies, including The Sacramento Ballet, Jean Isaacs' San Diego Dance Theatre and Monica Bill Barnes & Company.
In California, her ballets were presented at Sushi Visual and Performance Art, Celebrate Dance Festival and Entré Lineas Festival. Jean Isaacs, producer of the Entré Lineas Festival in Tijuana, Mexico, described Lohse as "(having) a lively wit and a deep comedic vein, but also a disturbingly dark vision at times with the impulse of a true dance-maker".
Since relocating to New York City four years ago, her ballets have been called "emotionally driven" (Backstage) "searing and articulate" (Village Voice), and "elastic and fascinating" (Village Voice). With a desire to seek out new music and support living composers, her repertory includes works from Michael Gordon and Radiohead. In New York, her work has appeared in numerous performances in venues ranging from the theater at Florence Gould Hall and the Clark Studio Theater at Lincoln Center to the Synod House at St. John the Divine to the stage of Joe's Pub. Her work can also be found in the repertory of New Chamber Ballet and has been featured in several NYC theater productions
She has received support from the Puffin Foundation, Bossak/Heilbron Foundation and been the recipient of artist residencies at Dancenow/NYC Silo Residency and Dance New Amsterdam.