For two decades, Steele has created lighting, video, and scenic designs in America, Europe, and Asia. He has important credits in dance (Lucinda Childs Dance Company, Ballet Stars of Moscow, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company) and opera (San Francisco Opera Center, Portland Opera, Opéra de Nantes). New operas such as The Dreamers, Surrender Road, Feynman, Buoso’s Ghost, and Casanova, as well as rarer works such as The Fall of the House of Usher, The Lighthouse, and La voix humaine complement his standard repertoire. Steele has lit more than 100 productions as resident lighting designer of Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and New Jersey Opera. Since 1989 Steele has created lighting for dance for a diverse range of ensembles, and he currently acts as production designer for Battery Dance Company, supervising all productions. Musical ensembles with which Steele has collaborated include the Bang on a Can All Stars, Queen Esther Marrow, the Harlem Gospel Singers, So Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, and the pop noir group Melomane.