The sought-after freelance choreographer triumphed this spring with her first narrative work, in Opera Parallèle’s production of Philip Glass’ “Les Enfants Terribles,” and she was recently announced as the next artistic director of Sacramento Ballet. Seiwert loves to challenge her limits, and with “Wandering,” she set herself the monumental task of interpreting Franz Schubert’s 1827 “Winterreise” song cycle as contemporary ballet. Based on 24 poems by German lyric poet Wilhelm Müller, “Winterreise” lays bare one young man’s lost love and existential angst. Seiwert’s lyrical modernism follows the spirit of the music, rather than the letter of the lyrics, creating a series of sense impressions more than a character-driven narrative. Gabriel Gaffney Smith’s marvelous emotional presence makes the bittersweet “Spring Dreams” materialize anew in each moment. When not in the lead, the dancers forgo individuality and merge into a chorus of energy, leaning in and heaving outward in canons, pirouetting and partnering, and pausing in intertwined tableaux. Touch emerges as the driving force of “Wandering,” a tender counterpoint to lyrics about desperate aloneness. Imagery performs “Winterreise” in the Joyce Theater’s Ballet Festival July 27-29, and excerpts at the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in August.