BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

Leslie Streit and Robin McCain are filmmakers based in San Francisco who recently produced An American Ballet Story, a documentary film about arts philanthropist Rebekah Harkness and her company, the Harkness Ballet. Rebekah Harkness was a dancer, composer, and philanthropist who was active in the 1960s and 70s in New York City – a time of political change and protest for women’s, racial and gay rights. She produced and supported two professional touring companies as well as a youth company and a world-class school during the last 20 years of her life. She also gave financial support to many of the great names in dance, music, and visual art and was a controversial figure in her own time and continues to be even now. Leslie and Robin have brought Rebekah Harkness and the Harkness Ballet to life in An American Ballet Story.

Note: This interview was first published in Stance on Dance’s fall/winter 2023 print issue. To learn more, visit stanceondance.com/print-publication.

Lone Isaksen and Helgi Tomasson in “Time Out of Mind,” choreography by Brian Macdonald, photo by Michael Avedon for the 1965 Harkness Ballet Souvenir Program, courtesy of the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

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What is your history making films and documentaries?

Leslie: In the early 1990s I was teaching jazz dance at a performing arts school and at community colleges around the Bay Area. I was very involved in the arts and dance community. Robin and I started an experimental theater company in a working cannery warehouse where we focused on original shows that featured audience interaction. We built the interior of the theater ourselves in a 1,000 square feet space and worked with dancers, actors, visual artists, and composers from the community to create evening-length site-specific performances. We also began to integrate a variety of short films into our performances to move the narratives forward. At first these were on 8mm film and then we transitioned to shoot on video. Our final show was about vampires in cyberspace, and we had the opportunity to take this show on tour to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. By the time our theater closed in the mid-90s, we had built a sizable collection of interesting short digital films that were broadcast on syndicated television channels starting up at that time across the United States. That’s how we began.

In 2005 we completed our first feature – a narrative/documentary hybrid that played at many international film festivals. Then we went on to a second feature – this time an actual documentary called Elly and Henry, about Holocaust survivors who built the first solar house in America. That film is still in distribution and available on several streaming platforms and DVD.

What was the impetus behind An American Ballet Story?

Leslie: In 2010 we were invited to do a video project at ODC San Francisco documenting a 13-week workshop taught by Maria Vegh. She had been co-director of the Harkness Ballet School in New York City from 1971-1976. Maria kept talking about the Harkness Ballet and we were intrigued. We began the film in 2015 and it took seven years to complete.

Tina Santos Wahl in “Percussion for Six Women,” choreography by Vicente Nebrada, photo by Milton Oleaga 1972.

What was your process researching and putting together the film?

Robin: We started conducting interviews across the country with very little money. People who had been part of the Harkness Ballet were starting to die and there was no time to waste. We were lucky to acquire 60 interviews during the making of the film. We also spent many days gathering materials at the New York Public Library Performing Arts Archive.

Who was Rebekah Harkness?

Leslie: Rebekah Harkness had grown up as a socialite in St. Louis who did her own thinking. She studied both dance and music composition and began publishing popular songs early in her career. When her second husband William Hale Harkness (a Standard Oil heir) died, she inherited a lot of money which she invested in artists and the arts – particularly dance. Working in New York City, she jumpstarted the careers of Robert Joffrey, Alvin Ailey, Pearl Primus, Jose Greco and also several American visual artists, choreographers, and composers. She supported many things in New York including dance festivals in Central Park and gave opportunities and scholarships to countless dancers and dance students regardless of their race or ethnicity. One of her goals was to create a truly American ballet company and the Harkness Ballet became the first fully integrated major ballet company in New York. Yet she was reviled by some important dance critics and endured endless misogyny, ridicule, and criticism of her personal life and tastes.

I read that she wanted to rename the Joffrey Ballet to the Harkness Ballet, and Robert Joffrey wouldn’t go along with it, so she left and started her own company.

Leslie: Mrs. Harkness took on full support of the Joffrey company from 1962 to 1964 including world tours to Russia, the Middle East, and Europe. Her lawyers urged her to change the name of the company to the Harkness Ballet to reflect her financial sponsorship, but she wanted Joffrey to stay on as artistic director. Joffrey refused and went to the press. So the two companies split. Many of the Joffrey dancers left Joffrey and joined the newly formed Harkness Ballet. Critics and audiences took sides.

Why do you think the Harkness Ballet failed?

Leslie: Ultimately it was money that caused the company to fail. The stock market crashed in 1974 and shares of oil were way down. The barrage of bad press over the years led to the company being denied public funding and Rebekah no longer had enough money to maintain both the company and the school on her own.

Robin: She had also put five or six million dollars (a fortune at the time) into turning an old building into a theater that opened in 1974. It was an old vaudeville theater that she converted and presented to New York City for performances by local and touring dance companies. But it failed and was torn down in 1977.

Why is it important to visit the history of the Harkness Ballet now?

Leslie: As one former Harkness dancer tells us in the film, “She made contemporary dance what it is today. Joffrey was doing stuff and Alvin Ailey was doing stuff, but she put it all together.” The 1960s and 1970s were a glorious moment in the arts – especially in New York City. The Harkness Ballet was a huge part of that. It is a forgotten world. Rebekah Harkness, the company dancers, and choreographers – which included many who set modern, jazz, flamenco, even East Indian style pieces on the company – deserve credit for bringing about a revolution in ballet by catalyzing arts inclusiveness, a city-wide outreach program with free performances, and a ballet school whose teachings were based on kinesiology and scientific research rather than a rote way of learning. She also focused on hiring American dancers, artists, designers, choreographers, and composers, especially at the beginning of their careers. This included women – not only dancers – but choreographers, composers, and designers, which was not typical at that time. All the Harkness company’s work was unique and original. If today’s artists are not aware of the history, meaning, and influence of artworks and art movements that came before them, how will it be possible to build on the past and create new and truly unique work? Many of the freedoms and much of the inclusiveness that artists take for granted today began with the Harkness Ballet.

Marjorie Tallchief, Richard Wagner, Dennis Wayne and Finis Jhung in “Ariadne,” choreography by Alvin Ailey, photo by Michael Avedon for the 1965 Harkness Ballet Souvenir Program, courtesy of the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

What do you believe is the Harkness Ballet’s legacy?

Leslie: The Harkness artists themselves were pioneers and went on to become directors, choreographers, and teachers all over the world. The school (which lasted until 1985 – 10 years longer than the company) and its methods of teaching are of course a big part of the legacy. Its influence is seen in dance studios everywhere. Many of the company’s pieces and their musical scores traveled to other companies and some are still being performed today.

Robin: The Harkness Foundation for Dance continues to give generous grants every year to dancers, dance projects, theater programs, and dance organizations in the New York City area, and The Harkness Dance Center continues the spirit of generosity to the NYC dance community. Located at the 92^nd Street Y, it offers classes in diverse classical and world dance forms to people of all ages, houses resident companies, screens films, and presents performances. In addition, the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries provides dancers with cutting edge care and continues research and education into injury causes and best therapies.

One way of looking at the story of Harkness Ballet is that Rebekah Harkness was a very rich and powerful woman who wielded her income to make the company she wanted. That system of very wealthy donors dictating the way companies are run continues today. Are there downsides to arts ingenuity relying on a few wealthy individuals?

Robin: In 1962, American funding for the arts was all through private money – ticket sales, patrons, and donors. There was not yet an NEA or access to nonprofit status and public funding. This made it harder to encourage the kind of diversity and inclusion that we associate with public funding today.

Leslie: It may still be true that where your grant money comes from – government or foundation – is reflected in the art you see on stage. But as one former Harkness company member told us: If it were not for corporate and government agencies taking on the support of arts organizations during the 1980s, we should look back on Mrs. Harkness with great appreciation. Another question that’s raised in our movie is if she paid for the art, did she own it? No one knew the answer to that question in the 1960s or 1970s. Things were being figured out by people like Harkness and Joffrey.

Linda Strickler, Rebekah Harkness, Unknown Dancer, Harkness Ballet press photo, photographer unknown, 1966.

What do you hope audiences take away from An American Ballet Story?

Leslie: The story is told by the people who were there. It shows the very human side of a major dance company. It is both a happy and sad film. Many of the people we see on screen passed away at some point during the long time it took to make the film. There is nostalgia, ego, ambition, beautiful dance…an honest and intriguing portrayal of lives lived in an exciting time and place.

Robin: Rebekah Harkness supported dance, music, art, and the school she established until the day she died. Even toward the end she attended auditions and performances and was involved with the students, teachers, and trainees at the school. She truly loved dancers and dance.

Leslie: I hope the film is not just for dance audiences but for everyone.

I understand you’re also working on a short dance film about ghosts. Do you want to share more about that project?

Leslie:  This summer we’re taking a break from documentaries to return to our experimental roots. We just filmed a series of short films about ghosts and will present the films as video projections on the walls and ceiling of a gallery in downtown San Francisco in 2024. It is a work in progress and will change and evolve wherever we install it. Who doesn’t like ghosts!?

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To learn more about An American Ballet Story or find out where the film is being shown, visit  anamericanballetstory.com or visit their Facebook page.

An American Ballet Story was released on August 8, 2023 by Random Media.

The post Preserving A Piece of Dance History appeared first on Stance on Dance.

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

Bianca Starr is the owner of Bianca Lily Ballet, a ballet school in Albuquerque, NM that specializes in teaching ballet to adults who are absolute beginners. Here, she shares how she creates a more inviting and accessible environment to adult learners by departing from the traditional ballet class format, how she cultivates openness and vulnerability in her classes, and why traditional ballet environments can be not only intimidating but counterproductive to adults seeking to learn and enjoy ballet.

Photo by Colton Dean

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Can you share a little about your own dance history and what shaped you as a dancer and teacher?

I started ballet at about seven years old in the Denver metro area. At the time, I wanted to do gymnastics, but the ballet school was closer, so my mom told me I had to try it for three months. One day I asked my mom how long it had been and she said “it’s been six” so I kept going.

What shaped me a lot as a dancer was when I turned 10, I got promoted into class with Christina Noel-Adcock. The coddling was over. She wasn’t unkind, but she was down to business. She focused on alignment and technique. Christina shaped me because of who she was: a third-generation ballet dancer and a ballet dancer of color. She came of age in the late 70s and 80s. At the time, everyone wanted the tall thin white look. She was 5”1, muscular, and brown. But she said, “Just watch me.” And she went on to have a 15-year career and was principal dancer with Colorado Ballet.

After high school I went the academic route, as I didn’t think I was good enough to get into a company. My program at Randolph-Macon Women’s College had an auspicious modern dance program, but not great ballet. The program was founded by Helen McGehee, who was one of Martha Graham’s soloists. It was there that I got a great modern dance education, and also an understanding of how special the ballet education I had received was.

How did you come to found Bianca Lily Ballet?

I moved to Albuquerque in 2004 for a job. I left dance for a while. I think this happens for a lot of dancers: when it doesn’t work out professionally, it’s like your heart can’t take it and you distance yourself from dance. But eventually I got interested in Argentine tango. And like many who get into tango, I became addicted and obsessed. We used to have a huge tango scene in Albuquerque, and I was assistant director of the tango festival for nine years. Originally, I thought I would be teaching tango. It brought me back into the ballet studio, and I’d hear Christina’s voice in my head talking me through class. Somehow I had cataloged all of these cues and instructions, and some I understood much better as an adult than as a teenager. I thought I was going to teach ballet to tango dancers as cross training; I had such a huge advantage coming into tango because of my previous ballet training. On a whim, I signed up for Finis Jhung’s adult ballet teacher training. He’s out of New York, and he was one of the adopters of the idea that we need to reevaluate how we’re teaching ballet so it works on different bodies. I had a lightbulb moment while I was there and when I came home, I decided to host a six-week course. I started teaching in 2010. I discovered I have a passion and a talent for teaching ballet to people with no ballet background whatsoever.

Photo by Colton Dean

How is Bianca Lily Ballet organized in terms of what the classes look like and who they are geared towards?

When I first started teaching, I understood that a lot of adult beginning ballet classes aren’t for beginners who have never studied ballet before. It’s hard for people who grew up dancing to understand the limitations people have when they first show up not just in terms of strength and flexibility but also in terms of neurological capacity and somatic awareness. If you try to teach a beginner a traditional ballet class, it’s too much on their first day. I learned a lot about how to teach adults watching people leave class crying when other people were teaching because the experience of a traditionally formatted ballet class was too overwhelming. You can’t give ballet on the first day. It’s a process. You have to work up to it. If it’s a drop-in class, it’s not for absolute beginners.

My class is geared for anyone who can walk into the studio by their own power, which I acknowledge is a limitation. On day one we start with a lot of talking to get to know each other and work on standing up straight, and then we add. I also want to give people the joy of ballet. There are times when we talk about technique and activating muscles, and other times we just enjoy. I don’t have a specific target demographic; I have a very diverse client population. My clients have ranged over the years from age 17 to 74. I have people from all different racial and ethnic backgrounds. I’ve had people from all walks of life, including a diesel mechanic, two retired cops, surgeons, nurses, and construction workers. I have a fair number of straight men, which is interesting from the standpoint that ballet is not a space they typically feel invited.

The thing that helps me make people feel welcome is twofold. I understand what has to happen to build them up neurologically to have the capacity to do ballet. But the other is that the thing that brings almost all adult beginners into the studio is heartbreak. Most adults who show up to ballet as a beginner are showing up because they are looking for something. Functional adults are good at hiding their anxieties. They’ll put on a brave face, though sometimes they’ll tell me that they are going through stuff. They are trying something new, and it’s a vulnerable process. And if I succeed at making them feel welcome, it’s not unusual for them to open up after a few months and let me know they came to ballet because they were going through a divorce, or a miscarriage, or an illness. Because I’ve been teaching for a long time, it now feels like a safe assumption that many of my students who walk through the studio door for the first time are going through something.

How do you modify ballet technique so it’s approachable for beginning adults?

I often tell teachers I’m training that you have to put on time warp goggles. When you get it right, it’s going to feel too slow and repetitive. The students’ experience of time and movement is different than someone who has been dancing their whole life. It means over explaining and picking just a few things at a time to focus on. For the first six weeks, we don’t use port de bras, leaving hands on hips. Just holding the alignment and learning the steps is enough. We add the arms in part II of the class.

You have to give them a balance between an improvement process and challenge to avoid them feeling despair and quitting. All my classes start with a floor warm up to help build somatic awareness. It serves to psychologically and emotionally make them present as well as to stop and think about their bodies. Most people are never asked to do this.

At the end of class, we have what I call fancy dancy reverence where we do fancy port de bras and I put on schmaltzy ballet music and we take a bow and there’s not a lot of focus on doing it right. That makes them giggle.

Photo by Andrés Salazar and Ryan del Rosario

What happens after that six-week absolute beginner class?

My program is comprised of six weeks part I and six weeks part II. In three months, we build up to a full ballet class: warmup, barre, center, across the floor, jumping. After three months, students can go into my ongoing class program. I’m proud that we have rather robust stratified levels. People come in through the intro courses, and then we have ongoing novice, intermediate, and advanced classes. When you go to other studios, the difference between beginning and advanced isn’t that different, but our novice classes are very different from advanced classes. We try to maintain the stratification so people get a chance to work at the level they need to. It gives the students a chance to aspire to something. Likewise, they get excited when the more advanced students take a lower-level class. A lot of our advanced students are really supportive of the beginning classes because a lot of them started in my program.

I like a chatty ballet class; people don’t understand how important that is for the adult learner. There’s a real advantage to having students feel comfortable to speak in class, because they can address doubts, bolster one another, and express frustration or confusion. It’s not unusual for folks to be talking and laughing before class, and that bonding is really important. We take our dancing seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously.

What is the most difficult obstacle to working with adults?

Teaching dance is an incredibly intimate and vulnerable activity, and one of the things I’ve been most successful at is making people feel safe. Once you do that successfully, sometimes things happen. Sometimes people might cry in a class. Not because they had a negative experience, but because they are going through something and getting in their bodies for the first time. As soon as they start to cry, they have a sense of shame. I tell them, “What’s happening isn’t unusual. It’s totally understandable. You’re going through something and you’re among friends.”

The other thing that is a challenge for people who teach adult ballet are the different modifications. There’s a lot to be learned from modifications. Adult bodies often aren’t in great shape. A lot of people come in specifically because they are seeking exercise. I’ve had people who are in recovery from health trauma. I love this part of the job because it is creative problem solving.

What changes would you like to see in the ballet world?

The biggest challenge is that the ballet class format is considered immutable, and it can be a very stern and cold environment. Children are a captive audience – their parents have enrolled them – but adults can get out their car keys and leave, possibly before the class is done. There are lots of perfectly nice people in ballet who are acclimated to the culture of ballet. They don’t realize that it’s a detractor for a new adult student.

I think a lot of studios have figured out that you can’t expect adults to wear the same clothing as children. But I don’t know if they’ve extrapolated that to the experience of welcoming adults into the studio. I definitely have adults who are returning to ballet, and maybe they had a great experience or bad experience. For those people, I have to reset their expectations so that they’re not so hard on themselves: “Yes, you can do this, and try to be loving with yourself.” It’s back to managing the psychology.

What does success look like for you and your students?

When I walk into a class and the students are all talking and laughing and I have to quiet the room because they are having such a good time, it’s a moment of success. They have bonded in a way that will support them in their ballet experience and in their personal lives as well.

In my classes, we don’t turn for the first six months. I spend a lot of time preparing the students for things they don’t realize they are being prepared for. When we get to pique turns, for example, it’s so fulfilling.

Every few years, I produce a show. Last year was “Ted and Bill’s Excellent Adventure.” I love to see them perform after months of dedication and preparation and get so much from it. They were all terrified at first, but they were so proud when it was done. No one was required to perform, but to see them volunteer and have an experience they weren’t sure they were going to have but had the courage to try is a sign of success.

Anything else?

Recently I’ve been doing a class called “butch ballet for dudes.” I’ve had a certain amount of success teaching guys who are not conventionally welcome in ballet. Some of them are gay, but a lot of them are straight. A lot of them are big buys. The reason I think I’ve had success is because I lean into teaching them masculine styling in ballet. I think it’s important to facilitate this kind of class because these guys are trying to be the types of men we want to see in the world. Learning dance is incredibly vulnerable as an adult. To have men engaging in that level of vulnerability has positive effects outside the studio. Men can of course take all my other classes, but we come together to feel that sense of fraternity and bolster their confidence to participate in ballet.

Photo by Colton Dean

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To learn more, visit www.biancalily.com.

The post Making Ballet Accessible to Adult Learners appeared first on Stance on Dance.

The daylight was fading from the windows of the fifth-floor Manhattan studio as Morgan McEwen, the founding artistic director of MorDance, and seven dancers worked through the steps of the ballet the company would perform in just a few weeks. Late in the rehearsal, McEwen demonstrated some steps she had envisioned, narrating as she went. Something like: arabesque, pirouette, chassé, bird arms.

Bird arms?

With that last term, she hunched her shoulders and extended her arms as if lifting enormous wings. She maintained grace even as she countered the conventions of ballet—curling her back, thrusting her arms out at sharp, avian-like angles.

But McEwen and her dancers were practiced at making bird shapes with their bodies. They had spent a weeklong retreat in Martha’s Vineyard embodying birds, and specifically the albatross—the giant seabirds whose wings can span up to 11 feet.

At the end of April, McEwen will premiere her new dance, simply called Albatross, at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at The City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice (supported by a CUNY Dance Initiative residency). To pull it off, to make an awkward bird beautiful, McEwen and her dancers must stretch the boundaries of ballet. But that’s why McEwen got into choreography in the first place.

From Albatross, Photo by Meredith Lawrence

Ten years ago, while dancing for the Metropolitan Opera ballet, McEwen realized she wanted to do more than dance other people’s dances. She was ready to choreograph her own.

“So often people are asking, ‘Why is ballet an art form where half of the audience is over 50?’” McEwen said. “I think when you’re telling stories that aren’t relatable, you’re alienating a large portion of the audience that would be interested in the art form.”

With just over $12,000 in crowdsourced seed funding, she started her own nonprofit ballet company.

Finding her find her voice, though, took a few years.

“I think, really, I started trying to find that around our fifth season,” she said, “and now I’m all forces blazing.”

Last November, about 100 ballet enthusiasts filled the seats in the Martha Graham Studios in New York to preview Albatross and Emily, a ballet inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poetry that will also premiere in late April. There was little white hair in the audience, and that wasn’t a fluke. The company has attracted students and people under 40 who are interested in its works and can afford the $20 to $30 tickets, McEwen said.

In Albatross, McEwen blends the weightlessness of ballet with gravity-bound elements of modern dance to depict the seabirds who soar and mate amid the looming threat of the plastic-polluted waters from which they feed their young.

The dance is loosely based on Chris Jordan’s eponymous documentary about the albatross colony at Midway Island whose chicks are dying at alarming rates from ingesting plastic debris. McEwen had been seeking art that captured how mass consumption affects the planet, and when she saw Jordan’s film, she knew she had to translate it into a ballet.

In choreographing the dance and collaborating with composer Josh Knowles, she fulfilled the filmmaker’s wish not to devastate audiences but to stir their sympathy and awe for the threatened birds.

Four female dancers en pointe are paired with four males. Albatrosses mate for life, and the dancers alternate between intimate paired dancing and moving together as a flock. The dancers simulate the birds’ years-long flights away from land with outstretched arms, swaying bodies, and, especially for the women dancers, dramatic lifts, and plenty of turns and leaps. Tenderness and innocence tango with melancholy in the piece, which is set to Knowles’ score of looping and distorted violin music. The blend of legato and staccato adds a dystopian air to the work.

From Albatross, Photo by Meredith Lawrence

For the second new dance, Emily, McEwen drew inspiration from Dickinson’s 1862 poem “They Shut Me Up in Prose” about her escape from an intolerant society into her imagination.

“This is a woman that wasn’t heard,” McEwen said. “I look at myself in my early career, and I think as a young dancer, I was never really heard. I was a body in a studio doing what I was told to do.”

The eight-person dance is set to searing music for piano and strings composed by Polina Nazaykinskaya. In a movement that evokes the sentiments of the poem, a dancer playing Emily is pushed, shoved, and kicked by the seven other dancers.

Yet the five-part ballet is not only about a woman artist being stifled. It has evolved into a depiction of a woman growing up and finding her voice. McEwen found inspiration for the different movements, she said, in the life stages and experiences of her mother, grandmother, and her two-year-old daughter.

“The world is her oyster right now,” McEwen said, describing her daughter. “No one is silencing her. She’s just there. She’s so free and unaware. … If we all had it when we were adults, I think it would be truly incredible.”

From Emily, Photo by Meredith Lawrence

McEwen hopes to be a role model for other young women. “I have never had a female boss my entire career,” she said. “I’ve only danced ballets by maybe five women my entire career. I think it’s important for people to see people that look like them in these roles.”

She added, “I think representation is important in all ways.” She wants to attract a young, diverse audience and seeks to mirror that diversity in her dancers. The troupe includes several dancers of color and dancers who identify as queer and non-binary.

McEwen considers ballet a platform for instigating change.

“I think ballet is one of the most incredible art forms there is,” she said. “I think it has the power to tell incredible stories. I think it has the power to educate people. I feel it has the power to unite people.”

Her new works show that a decade into leading her company, she is realizing this vision.

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To learn more, visit www.mordance.org.

The post Breaking the Ballet Mold to Inspire Change appeared first on Stance on Dance.

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

Founded in 2020 by Roberto Vega Ortiz and Theresa Knudson, Ballet22 is a ballet company in the Bay Area that seeks to break gender normative traditions by producing and presenting works ranging from classical to contemporary ballet. Here, they talk about how Ballet22 got started, how they hope to change representation in the ballet field, and how they are challenging stereotypes of who dances en pointe.

Note: In this interview the term “mxn” refers to both men and male-identifying people.

Evan Ambrose and Roberto Vega Ortiz, Photo by Daniel R. Durrett

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Can you share a little about your dance histories and what shaped who you are today?

Roberto: I’m born and raised in Puerto Rico, which is a very conservative environment, especially in dance. I was trained in classical ballet, and when I started dancing en pointe, I was the only male. My teachers had already decided my path for me. That was hard to break, and ultimately I left after I graduated high school. I went to Miami City Ballet School and from there got jobs at Nashville Ballet and with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. I finally made it to the Bay Area two years ago and danced with a regional company before Theresa and I created Ballet22 last year.

Theresa: I grew up in Orange County and was trained in classical ballet. My teacher was this fierce woman who ran her own business and had her own ballet company in a time when women weren’t supported. She is now in her late 90s. She even created her own work and commissioned her own costumes. It really informed me to work under her and influenced me to be creative, to not take no for an answer, and to make my own path even when people try to hold me back. I moved to the Bay Area about six years ago and have been freelancing since. And in 2020, Roberto and I started Ballet22.

Why was Ballet22 founded and how did it get started?

Roberto: It all started with the pandemic. My best friend Carlos Hopuy – also a former Trock and one of our Ballet22 dancers – and I started doing this training online to stay in shape dancing en pointe. There were others who wanted to join as well. It started with a platform called Male Ballerinas and grew. We had people from all over the world Zooming in, which was pretty amazing. We did a video project, and Theresa suggested we try to make an actual company.

Theresa: Being in quarantine really forced us to think about what was important to us and what we were waiting for. There was so much repertoire that Roberto wanted to tackle en pointe and presenting male, which you can’t do with the Trocks or with any other company really. Seeing the community that Roberto and Carlos built, it was clear it wasn’t just a hashtag on Instagram; it was something that could impact representation in the field. Roberto and Carlos made this community real, and it was inspiring to be part of starting the company.

Roberto: I love to dance en pointe, but dancing drag and comedy like in the Trocks didn’t really resonate as much as just wanting to dance as me. I knew that early on, but there’s only one company for men to dance en pointe, the Trockaderos, and I made it into the company. It was hard work and so much fun, but I didn’t feel like I fit in, and I know I’m not the only one. At the end of the night, I was playing a character, and with Ballet22, the dancers can be characters, but we can also tackle contemporary works where the dancers are just themselves. The Trockaderos emulate that old Russian style, but Theresa and I wanted to bring mxn dancing en pointe into the present.

What have been some of the biggest obstacles in the past year since Ballet22 was founded?

Roberto: I would say we’ve been really lucky, but then there’s the budget.

Theresa: Yes, money is always the challenge. The creative side is so fun. Roberto is a creative genius and has so many ideas; we have years of work in the queue. His programs are always so carefully thought out. Every little detail he has in his mind. It’s so fun being his business partner. It’s such a joy to put together a program and call the dancers and ask if they’re available. We really love this work, but we have to find money for it.

Roberto: Since we started the company during the pandemic, we just made it work. All the dancers got tested for coronavirus before and after flying, and we all quarantined together to make our first video. We rehearsed and filmed with masks. Now we’re performing live, but we still live and work together during the rehearsal process. And of course the pandemic is still happening. Other companies have had to shut their doors, but we’ve just moved ahead and been creative. That would have been the most challenging thing, but we managed to tackle it.

Theresa: Starting the company during a time of crisis, we’ve gotten used to little fires coming up that we deal with. Now as more crises come up, we’re good at taking it one day at a time. We love to say, “Solutions only.” We’re small and nimble, so when something doesn’t work, we do something else.

Can you share more about your recent season?

Theresa: Our Santa Barbara show on August 27th was our first time performing outside the Bay Area. We performed excerpts from Carmen as well as pieces from other shows we’ve done.

Roberto: The performance was called The Best of Ballet22. In addition to Carmen, there were excerpts from Giselle and Le Corsaire, as well as the contemporary works Juntos, I Will Follow You Too, and Heartbeats. Heartbeats was our own commission. And then September 3rd-5th, we presented Carmen in full as well as a new commission by Spanish choreographer Ramón Oller.

Dancers Roberto Vega Ortiz, Daniel R. Durrett, Carlos Hopuy, Lucas Ataide, Evan Ambrose, Serafín Castro, photo by Theresa Knudson

What do you hope audiences took away?

Theresa: With all our shows, we want people to feel joy and to celebrate the things that make them unique. The feedback we’ve gotten is that people feel empowered and inspired. That’s something we always want people to feel after our shows.

It’s really important that people see the LGBTQ+ community in many ways, not just as comedic relief or as dramatic. Everyone is nuanced and when we present these shows that allow for that range, it’s just a reflection of the human experience. I hope that people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community feel seen, respected, and loved, and I hope that allies feel strengthened in their allyship.

Roberto: Growing up, I didn’t see people like me in any movies. I always was looking for the gay character or couple. In the early 2000s, that was hard to come by. Maybe by 2010, there was a little bit more, and now we’re seeing even more. But then as a dancer, I was always either playing a role where I was in love with a woman or, when I was in the Trockaderos, I was playing a woman. It’s acting, which is totally fine, but wouldn’t it be great if I could partner with someone who I’m actually attracted to? My hope is that people can see those relationships onstage and feel represented. That’s very powerful.

Can you share how you recruited your dancers and what some of their backgrounds have been?

Theresa: Everyone is very accomplished and has a high level of technique. And everyone is pretty much self-trained en pointe and have figured out how to train on top of their professional schedules. The common thread is being curious about the pointe shoe and loving that challenge. Pointe shoes are painful and difficult to work with, so it really takes a special breed of person to want to dance en pointe. And then to not have society’s support; these mxn haven’t been given specific classes and a lot of them aren’t allowed to wear pointe shoes in company class. All our dancers have the extra drive to train themselves to be at a professional level en pointe. It’s really an elite group of mxn and, in the past, nonbinary dancers as well.

Similarly, can you share more about the choreographers Ballet22 has worked with and why you chose to work with them?

Roberto: In Santa Barbara, we performed Juntos by Joshua Stayton of Cincinnati Ballet. He reached out to us after we’d been following each other for years. Either they come to us, or we reach out to them. We’ve been very fortunate. We have a list of people we want to work with if the sky was the limit, but it depends on budget and the program. There are people we want to work with who we haven’t worked with yet because we have to consider what works for each program.

How do you hope to grow and evolve Ballet22 in the future?

Roberto: There are so many things we could hope for but, more immediately, we want to establish a full season company. Right now, we take dancers from different companies and then they go back home. It would be amazing to have dancers work with us full time.

Theresa: We hope that male presenting dancers who do pointe work can one day choose between doing comedy with the Trocks or doing mixed repertoire with us. We can contribute to this landscape of companies and give people more options. We want to build on what the Trocks have started. They blazed that path, and we hope to be the company that does mixed repertoire and new commissions for mxn who dance en pointe. Every program we’ve done has had a new commission. We’re creating LGBTQ+ stories that are missing in the ballet field.

Any other thoughts?

Theresa: The way this all started was with the community that Roberto and Carlos created last year, and we’re interested in continuing to build that. I hope young mxn reach out if their teachers don’t let them dance en pointe or if they need advice. We have an opportunity to amplify a movement that already exists and to provide more support, and I hope people feel comfortable dropping us a line. We have a lot of people involved in our company who have experienced what a student might be experiencing, and they can help.

Daniel R. Durrett, photo courtesy Ballet22

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To learn more, visit www.ballet22.com

The post Expanding Who Dances En Pointe appeared first on Stance on Dance.

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

Marika Brussel is a contemporary ballet choreographer based in the Bay Area whose work addresses social justice issues. Her first piece looked at homelessness, and her upcoming piece, House of Names, explores mythological women whose struggles speak to what many women face today. Here, she discusses how she made House of Names by exploring different cultural female mythologies, as well as how she hopes to create ballets that feel relevant and elicit change.

House of Names will stream Saturday, July 24th at 6 p.m. PST and Sunday, July 25th 2 p.m. PST. To get tickets, visit www.odc.dance/HouseofNames.

Photo by Marina Eybelman

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Can you share a little about your dance history and what shaped who you are today?

I grew up in New York City. My mom had a modern dance school in our house when I was little. Then I went to Joffrey Ballet School in Manhattan, and it was everything for me. I danced with the Joffrey Concert Group when I was still young. And then I quit dancing entirely for all of my 20s. I went to college and graduate school for fiction writing.

When I moved to New Mexico in my late 20s I started dancing again. I didn’t know what to do with myself there. I didn’t realize part of myself was missing until I took a dance class. I got back in shape and danced professionally, and also started choreographing a little.

When I moved to San Francisco, I started choreographing more. The biggest influence on my work and the reason I wanted to choreograph was seeing The Green Table by Kurt Jooss. The fact you could talk about bigger issues through ballet changed my world. I thought: This is how I want to tell my stories.

How would you describe your choreography to someone unfamiliar with it?

It’s very narrative based. I like socially relevant stories. And it’s contemporary ballet, so it’s almost always en pointe.

What was the impetus behind your newest piece, House of Names?

I’m very drawn to mythology and how our current times parallel a lot of mythological stories. I was looking at the story of Cassandra, how she was silenced, and how women throughout history have been silenced. #MeToo was becoming prevalent at the time. It was the same story as Cassandra: there’s a woman with important things to say and no one believes her. In Cassandra’s story, Apollo comes onto her and she says no, and he says, “No one is ever going to believe you.” That was her curse. And that’s the story a lot of women understand and experience.

Photo by Marina Eybelman

That was the original impetus for House of Names. I started collaborating with a composer, Carla Lucero, and we decided which stories we wanted to tell. Cassandra was the first one, and from there we wanted to look at stories from different cultures.

The second story we’re looking at is about Lot’s wife, which is an Old Testament story. Lot and his wife live in Sodom and Gomorrah. God tells Lot he’s going to destroy the city, but Lot can take his wife and two of their children who are virgins and leave. Most importantly, they can’t look back. Lot’s wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt. We’re looking at it as an immigration story – what do you take with you if you have to leave your home – and a COVID story – if someone told you everyone would be destroyed except you, would you go, or would you hold out a hand? Would you be able to turn your back on the people you love? Lot’s wife’s answer is no. She doesn’t want to leave her other children behind and her friends. It’s about that struggle and the decision to hold out a hand.

La Llorona is the third story and it’s from Latin America. She was a poor woman who fell in love with a rich guy and they had children together. He left her and married someone else, and as revenge in her despair, she drowned the children and then immediately regretted it. She spends the rest of eternity searching  for and taking other children. It’s a story to warn children not to stay out after it gets dark, but we are looking at it as postpartum psychosis. There’s the main character, La Llorona, and then three other dancers are the voices in her head telling her what to do. I’m trying to build empathy and understanding of her. She’s not a witch or a bad person, she’s sick. There’s always “the crazy woman” with makeup running down her face and she’s lost her mind. But maybe she didn’t want to have children and it’s too much for her. Instead of putting her in a box and saying, “She’s crazy,” let’s have some understanding for the emotions and changes women go through postpartum.

The fourth story is the only happy one. It’s about Miriam, Moses’ sister, which is also in the Old Testament. She’s a prophet and she saves Moses. If not for her, he would have been killed. She leads people from despair to hope through dancing and singing. She’s toward the end of the piece to signify hope and strength through dance.

The piece ends with Cassandra coming back and the other women starting to recognize and listen to her.

Photo by Marina Eybelman

What has been your choreographic process?

I usually have music first and the music leads me. But because the music was written for this piece, the process has been a little different. I talked through the stories with the composer, and she created the music in some parts simultaneously with the choreography.

As for the choreography, I did a lot of research with the dancers. We found different excerpts and made movement from them. For example, there’s a part in a novel I read where Cassandra has her first prophecy, and then she smells horrible things. I would read that excerpt while Sasha, the dancer, would illustrate some of that language with her body. One of the lines we worked with is: “There was a buzzing in her head louder than a million bees.” So Sasha would illustrate that with her body and I would direct.

What do you hope audiences take away from House of Names?

My hope is that it helps bring ballet into the present, so people don’t think of ballet as only for white people with a lot of money. I want people to feel like it’s inclusive and the stories speak to them in a new way.

I taught a class to middle schoolers the other day about social justice in dance. I was thinking about how protest makes you feel like you have power. By being connected to others who have the same ideas as you, instead of feeling hopeless, the protest gives you the power to move forward. Ideally, I would love if people saw the ballet and the injustices and take away that we need to make change and that they can be part of it.

Looking at your larger body of work, are there certain themes or issues that feel important to you to keep tackling or addressing?

I’m interested in social justice and I love ballet, so I’m trying to connect them. I made a ballet about homelessness and wrote an essay about it in 2017. My father was homeless and a heroin addict. That gave me a different point of view about people who are often overlooked and dismissed. In my work, I’m interested in giving a voice to the voiceless through ballet.

Marika Brussel, photo by Nina Wurtzel

Any other thoughts?

Originally, House of Names was going to be presented live onstage in 2020. I had a different vision of what the ballet would look like then. Now, House of Names is a film. There’s not going to be a live audience; it will be streamed with a live Q&A.

KQED made a short documentary on my piece about homelessness, and the filmmaker for that, Peter Ruocco, is filming House of Names. He’s such a collaborator in this endeavor. His expertise as a storyteller is different than mine. His vision comes from a different point of view. Audiences are going to see something really special. He’s been in every rehearsal and is interested in the trajectory of the narrative. We’re filming everything at ODC theater over several days, but some of it is also filmed in other locations, like La Llorona, in which she is hanging baby clothes in a backyard.

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To learn more about Marika’s work, visit www.marikabrussel.com.

House of Names will stream Saturday, July 24th at 6 p.m. PST and Sunday, July 25th 2 p.m. PST. To get tickets, visit www.odc.dance/HouseofNames.

The post Giving Voice to the Voiceless Through Ballet appeared first on Stance on Dance.

2020: age 22

Oh, what a year this has been. It was a year of extreme highs, lows, and unexpected blows. From the very beginning of the school year, it was unusual for me. For starters, it was my last year of college! I had finished my degree the year before and was uncertain whether I was going to return for my fourth year. That summer, I had received an offer from Oklahoma City Ballet to be a trainee but, seeing as it was more of a training program than a job, I decided to return to the University of Utah in the fall. After speaking with my mentors, it seemed like the better option, especially because I was on full tuition scholarship at the U and would have had to pay for the traineeship.

It was my fourth year, and my (second) senior year! I was excited, I was riding the high of performing on Broadway with BalletNext, and I was in the best shape of my life, going to the gym, taking yoga classes, and dancing all throughout the summer so I would be at my best.

And then…I HAMMERED MY FREAKING FINGER. Yes, you read correctly. Hammered it. I was doing work in the garage with my mom, and literally slammed my finger with a rubber mallet so hard that the tendon on my left index finger completely lacerated (a super gross medical word I learned – it literally just means torn-clean-through. Yuck.). I had to get surgery immediately and was told that I wouldn’t be able to exercise or do anything that would produce sweat for SIX WEEKS. Obviously, to a dancer, especially one who had worked her butt off all summer to stay in tip-top shape, that was basically a death sentence. I was bawling in the doctor’s office, feeling as though I was witnessing every dream for this year fade away.

I drove back to Utah with my mom, knowing that everything was going to be different. After all, if I couldn’t even dance as a Ballet Major, what the heck was I supposed to do? About a week being back, I went to see my physical therapist they had assigned to me, and my world completely changed.

“What do you mean they said you can’t sweat? Of course you can. Just keep your brace on, and don’t be an idiot.”

“You mean I can dance?”

“Yes, go for it.”

WOOOOOOHOOOOOO! Once I got the green light to MOVE again, I was on a mission. After two weeks of completely no dancing, I was ready to get back into it, no matter how weird it was going to be. I took barre without ever actually holding the barre for about two months and made the most of the experience. Was it hard? UM, YES. But! I grew so much as a result of that body awareness. Life was hard one-handed, believe me, but I made it work as best as I could, and I made it out the other side with a lot more core strength!

During all that insanity, we also had auditions for the fall show, which included Act II of my favorite ballet of all time, Giselle. I was forlorn at the complication that my tendon and massive splint brought for auditions, but not hopeless. I was going to try my best and hope that the faculty could see that I would be healed in about a month’s time, which would be about a month or so from opening night. And I could still dance fully as long as there were no barres involved, so I figured it was worth a shot. During auditions, I was cut from the contemporary audition, as there was too much floor work and partnering for me to be able to do it with my healing injury. I was extremely upset but knew that didn’t necessarily mean I wouldn’t be considered for the ballet. And then, a couple days later, I got cast as the lead. My dream role was finally being realized. I was Giselle in Giselle. WHAT. I genuinely couldn’t believe it!

The rehearsal process was a dream. I have never felt so invested in a role, so immersed in the character and choreography, so in love with ballet. I worked hard and enjoyed every single second of it. The shows went well, and I can say with all certainty that it was the greatest performing experience of my life to date.

After Giselle, it was November! My splint had been off for about two months, and life was busy and back to normal. We began rehearsing for the next show, and I was choreographing a piece for the Ballet Student Showcase. I started to film all my audition materials, and began audition season in November, as I was looking to do European auditions as well as American ones. Things were busy, but things were good! I got into Grand Audition, which essentially is a massive audition with eight companies all viewing invited dancers at once. This year, it was in Barcelona! My mom and I booked the flights, and that was the first thing in the books for the season. I sent more emails than I have ever sent in my life. I sent my videos to every company I could find, abroad or not. My life was spread sheets, cover letters, resumes, CVs, headshots, and dance photos for like six months! I heard back from a lot of places, and got invited to do two other auditions in Europe, as well as multiple company class and invite-only auditions in the States, and was having so much fun traveling and dancing, chasing my dreams all the while.

And then, COVID-19 hit. And it hit hard. On March 16, I attended an audition at Richmond Ballet, and felt fantastic about how it went. Little did I know that audition would be my last of the season, and the last time I would be dancing in a studio for the indeterminable future. By the time I flew back to Utah, the rest of my senior year was put online, and we were under a worldwide lockdown for the pandemic. It was surreal, and honestly still is.

I began to give myself class in the kitchen, using my countertop as a barre, and doing as much center work as I possibly could. I was even doing pointe on a hardwood floor, being as careful as I could be, and trying, desperately, to stay in shape. In April, my mom flew out to Utah, we packed up my car, and we drove back home to Texas to be together during these uncertain times. I was devastated to leave my home of four years, my best friend and roommate, and my boyfriend. But the one perk? I got to make a little personal dance studio in my house! My mom ordered me a barre as a graduation gift, we bought some shower-pan liner to tape down as a floor, and we moved the furniture out of the way. I was open for business!

For the past few months, I have been training hard six days a week, and have even been able to do complete classes on pointe, thanks to my floor! It has certainly not been what I planned, with graduation being virtually online, finishing out all my classes on Zoom, and dancing in my living room, but I have made the best of it and am honestly proud of myself. I have gained so much awareness of my alignment and feel as though I have been able to grow as a dancer during quarantine, thanks to lots of online ballet class videos, lots of self-correcting, and lots of notetaking. By being forced to really be in-tune with my body, I have found that I am balancing better, turning better, and altogether more aware of what I need to do to improve. I have been doing workout classes, using ankle weights, and have been doing lots of Thera-Band exercises, Pilates, and yoga to make sure that I am in the best shape I can be during these insane conditions. I feel like I am staying in shape well, and have not lost any technique besides grand allegro, since I really can’t do that inside my house. It has been really encouraging to see that I am able to be disciplined on my own, and I am grateful that I have that as an artist.

Looking forward, it’s really hard to say what’s going to happen. For me, for a lot of people, life is kind of in limbo. I am going to be attending a small dance intensive in Chicago with A&A Ballet, which will be an audition to be considered for their main company, and that’s all I have planned for the time being. I sent them my materials during the year, and they expressed interest, but said they could only offer me a paid position after working with me, and it just so happened that they didn’t cancel their program. Safety measures will be in place, but soon, I’ll be in a studio again, and I couldn’t be more excited. Besides that, the cancelled auditions that I had in place are TBD on whether they will be happening this year or just saved for next season, and I am still waiting on some video submissions. Unfortunately, my final European audition in the Czech Republic for Brno Ballet was cancelled, which was devastating after making it through the pre-screening process. However, I know that all this is out of my control, and I am just trying to stay in shape and optimistic, knowing that everything will end up working out, one way or another.

In a speech that Brené Brown gave to UT Austin’s graduating class, she discussed her career path and how, though all the hardships she faced, things ended up working out for her. She assured us that the same would happen for us, “But it will not be on your terms, and not on your timeline.” That really resonated with me, as this entire situation is not on my terms or my timeline, and a lot of my path has been the same way. However, just as the beginning of this year worked out for me despite all the obstacles I faced, I know that my professional career will work out, one way or another. The only thing I can do is everything I can: stay in shape, stay determined, and let my love of ballet fuel every step I make. In Frozen 2, Anna has a whole song revolving around the quote, “Do the next right thing.” I think that just about sums it up. I have not, and will not, be beaten down by this pandemic. Yes, things look different than I expected, but there hasn’t really been a time in my life when that wasn’t true. I am here to take on the life that has been thrown at me, and I am here to make the best of it. In the words of Lin Manuel Miranda, “I am not throwing away my shot.” Bring it on 2020. You haven’t knocked me down yet.

2019: age 21

This year I began my transition into the professional realm of the world I’ve loved since I can remember. A crazy year indeed, but a great one nonetheless. It began with me deciding at some point last year to condense my studies at the University of Utah’s ballet program into three years instead of four, so I doubled up on my dance classes. On top of that, I participated in every show! I was casted as the soloist in Melissa Bobick’s Fractured, which we took to California to compete in a choreographic competition in November. Then, I worked with two of my best friends in their student choreographic works, while simultaneously getting thrown into Michele Wiles’s company, BalletNext, to rehearse for my New York debut! I was also fortunate enough to be cast as a gossip girl in Bruce Mark’s version of La Fille Mal Gardée at the U. We rehearsed nonstop for this full-length experience, and it worked out great in the end!

The day after La Fille closed, I was on a plane to the Big Apple for a costume fitting, rehearsal, then a week of shows at New York Live Arts in Chelsea. It was an incredible experience as we were fortunate enough to share the bill with Amar Ramasar and Maria Kowroski. Being able to watch these two perform a duet as well as being able to perform in two of Michele’s own pieces in my favorite city was something that definitely will continue to shape me as a dancer. We ended up having another round of shows in upstate New York at Kaatsbaan, which was incredible, and I recently returned to the city to have another round of shows at the New Victory Theater on Broadway! Working with Michele has been amazing for me and has really changed the way I approach movement, especially with turning. I will be forever grateful to her for everything she has given her dancers.

Additionally, the week after we returned to Utah from New York the first time, my audition season began. I had five in-person auditions and sent videos to many! Got a lot of great feedback and even more great experience, and I am currently in Oklahoma City with OKCB to get further evaluated for a job with the company! This will be the deciding factor as to whether I return to the U in the fall, but no matter what, I just gotta keep pushing for it. Something I learned this year through everything is that a lot of auditioning is being in the right place at the right time, and that some seasons are just going to be harder to land a job than others, whether that’s because of look, availability, or anything else. It is a HUGE lottery, but the important thing for me is to just try to do my best at all times, and take the waves as they come! I will find my place in the professional world, be it this year or next. I just have to show myself to the world and follow the tides.

Another thing I did this year was participate in my first (and likely last) ballet competition! I competed two variations, Giselle Act I and Raymonda’s Daydreams, as well as my own choreographic contemporary piece, Ellipsis, in the American Ballet Competition in early June. I ended up placing third overall in the classical division and got a scholarship to attend a Bournonville workshop. It was a really great experience to work closely with Christopher Alloways-Ramsey, who is on faculty at the U. I balanced these intense classes and rehearsals with him with working with Michele, which was challenging but do-able, and totally worked out in the end.

I am so glad that I participated in everything that I did this year, and taking a second to sit and write it all out shows me that I am capable of so much, and need to continue to partake in everything I possibly can in an effort to know that I am doing everything I can to get to where I need to be. That’s all I can do, and it will be enough. I’ll never settle. In the words of Billy Joel, “Only fools are satisfied.” What a year it has been.

2018: age 20

Six years into this project, and dance is still my bread and butter. I’ve never loved something so much or been so passionately involved in anything, and I know that I’m in the world I’m meant to be in.

This year was my sophomore year at the University of Utah’s ballet program, and it was transformative to say the least. From the beginning, I was met with unexpected challenges, and I truly felt as though I grew the most I ever have in one year’s time. I was moved up to the senior ballet level as a sophomore, so not only was I challenged in technique, but I was also on my own, completely unfamiliar with my peers and the new teachers. Being thrown into this environment was at first a little jarring, but I quickly realized that it was a sink or swim situation, and I was determined to stay afloat. Being able to look up to my older peers and learn through example as well as through the wonderful staff, I was pushed to grow each and every class. I also switched pointe shoe brands from Gaynor Minden to Suffolk Solo Prequels, which changed a lot for me for the better.

I also did a lot of performing, taking on not only ballet department programs, but extra shows through the modern department as well! I performed in Konservatoriet in the fall, coached by Jeff Rogers at Ballet West, then participated in a modern grad show thesis, performed in Jay Kim’s faculty work while struggling with Achilles tendonitis, and finally was a part of Nicholas Gibas’ senior piece, which was an amazing experience. We had danced in Petronio’s MiddleSexGorge the year prior together, so it was truly an inspiration to work with him again. I also found a love for choreographing, and will be exploring this side of myself more. In the choreographic classes in which I participated, my work was met with praise and constructive criticism, so I hope to continue to seek growth, change and developments in this facet of dance. This summer, I will be attending American Ballet Theater’s ballet intensive in New York, as well as the University of Utah’s summer intensive to get some ballet BFA credits taken care of while also staying in shape for this upcoming crazy year.

Another development in my dance life is that I made the decision to audition for ballet companies this upcoming year! This potentially would mean graduating early, which I am currently on track to do, and beginning my ballet career next year. I am extremely terrified but simultaneously eager and excited to put myself out there. This has been a dream of mine for so long, and knowing that I am on the cusp of beginning that professional journey is thrilling. While I understand there is a lot of potential for failure, I know that I will not stop trying until I make it, and that failure is only fuel for the journey. I look forward to the year ahead, and all the years to come. Somehow, everything’s gonna fall right into place, and I cannot wait to be planted and begin blooming into the artist I seek to become.

2017: age 19

This past year has been one of the craziest and most exciting of my life! I started school at the University of Utah School of Dance as a ballet major, and was lucky enough to get to perform in every show! We did Les Sylphides in the fall, and I had a solo in a contemporary piece in the spring, alongside a duet in Stephen Petronio’s MiddleSexGorge in April.

I went through a lot of personal growth as well, realizing more and more that I am truly the only one who is in charge of where my life and dance career takes me. Though I cannot predict the future, all that matters is that my passion will never die and that my work ethic remains as strong as it can be. It is really nice to be supported by my faculty, and they give me valuable advice and corrections. They also gave me great feedback in conferences, and I look forward to continuing my time there, working toward my goals through my love of the art form.

I’m currently studying at American Ballet Theatre for the summer program, and have loved every moment. I think this would be my ideal place to dance when I’ve gotten older and better (fingers crossed), but I am keeping my options open, knowing that as long as I put my entirety into my endeavor, I will end up where I need to be. Lots of unknown, but I do know that I love what I’m doing, and that is enough.

2016: age 18

Dance for me has been a continual passion that I don’t ever think will cease. I have loved it for as long as I can remember and I will continue to love it with all of my being. I just graduated from Booker T Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, which was the best thing that has ever happened to me (the school, not leaving it). I am continuing my dance studies at the University of Utah’s ballet program where I hope to become a trainee with Ballet West. I am on the waiting list for Juilliard at this point in time, and though that is my dream school, I know that if I don’t get in in the end, I will have another good option waiting for me. I am currently studying at Joffrey Academy of Chicago for the summer, and I’m having a great time learning from all of the faculty as well as my classmates. I can only push forward and hope that all that I am doing is propelling me towards where I want and need to be.

2015: age 17

Dance is my soul’s way of getting out of my body. I have never felt freer or more alive than within the moments of movement that I am lucky enough to be able to do most days of my life. I am going into my senior year in high school at Booker T. Washington HSPVA, so I am dancing and growing every day. I am nervous about applying and auditioning for colleges, conservatories and companies this upcoming year. I hope for the best. I know I will end up where I am meant to be, and while that is in the back of my mind, the nervousness and anxiety is still present. I recently was Belle in my studio’s ballet production of Beauty and the Beast, which was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I truly had a fantastic time learning the part and being able to dance with my partner Paul again. I cannot wait to continue my passion for dance as long as I can, and I hope my career has just begun.

2014: age 16

Dance is my passion, and has been for as long as I can remember. I can’t see a time where it won’t be. I hope to be a professional one day, and am currently at a performing arts high school where I am pursuing a career. I hope to grow as much as I can every single day and know to be patient with myself as growing is a process, not a destination.

2013: age 15

Dance is my everything right now. I go to Booker T. Washington HSPVA for dance, and I hope that I will be able to have the wonderful opportunity of making it my career. I dream of dancing professionally, and I will do whatever it takes to make the dreams come true! Dance is my passion and has been for a long, long time and I never want to know what life is like without it.

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BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

Chase Johnsey made history in 2018 as the first man to dance female roles in a traditional company at English National Ballet under the direction of Tamara Rojo. Previously, he had a 14-year career at Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, where he received critical acclaim. In the summer of 2019, he became artistic director of Ballet de Barcelona, a new ballet company in Barcelona, Spain. Here, he discusses his career and how he hopes to carve out space for more nuanced gender expression in his new role as artistic director.

Photo by by Jordi Toiran

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Could you share a few “aha” moments from your dance history that made you realize you could pursue a career in ballet without having to be the masculine prince stereotype?

I’m a really rebellious person; I don’t like when someone tells me I can’t do something. One of my favorite words is “perseverance.” That’s a word I use a lot with my dancers. That’s how I’ve gotten where I’ve gotten. Of course, I had teachers who were supportive of me being smaller, feminine, and wanting to dance en pointe, but it was the teachers who told me I would never have a career who made me want to do it more.

I figured I’d just go work for the Trocks, where I could be feminine and dance en pointe. When I was 17, I auditioned and got into the company. That was a milestone. However, when I got there it was a whole different story. They wanted me to be masculine. That started this whole thing of me fighting for my authenticity. It wasn’t until the reviewers appreciated my dancing and how seriously I took giving a gendered illusion of a ballerina. Once I was nominated and won “Best Male Dancer” at the National Dance Awards in the UK, I realized the world was ready to take me seriously.

That led me to English National Ballet with Tamara Rojo, who fought for me really hard and believed in me. After ENB, all my opportunities seemed to have run out. That led me to wanting to create a company myself where I could encourage authenticity. It could be a safe place for not only different genders but also different body types. I’m conquering more than the gender issue now. Ballet is a female dominated industry, and I’ve realized what torture women go through. There is a tougher standard for girls when it comes to body type. I’ve created a company where all the dancers have to worry about is how they dance. They don’t have to worry about being super skinny. It’s amazing how my next milestone isn’t about me anymore. It’s about changing the ballet world. Seeing my dancers shine is where I’m at now.

Can you share a little about the process preparing for the role in the women’s ensemble at English National Ballet (ENB) last year? How was it fundamentally different from your 14 years dancing as a Trockadero?

The Trocks do something very specific. They don’t have an emphasis on technique. It wasn’t until I got to ENB that I got my first thorough training en pointe. I had to live up to the female standard. At the Trocks, they didn’t care about how the technique looked; they just cared about how many pirouettes you could do and how funny you were.

While I was at ENB, I took it upon myself to transform my body and work with a nutritionist. I lost about 20 pounds of muscle. Working correctly, my muscles redeveloped. Just being in the room and rehearsing with such talented people was incredible.

Thinking about how you made your body more feminine in preparation for your performances with ENB, I’m curious your thoughts on ballet’s specific physical aesthetic and why you felt that was necessary?

The thing about ENB is they have this thing called dance science, so they were actually strengthening me while my body was transforming. Tamara hired me 20 pounds heavier. I was just curious how feminine I could make myself look because I wanted it so bad. After doing that to myself, I’ve realized I don’t want anybody to go through that. I want strong dancers and I want variety and authenticity, not dancers who are starving and getting injured. There’s a big difference though between cross training to make your body stronger and malnourishing your body to be thin.

You have to understand: It was always my dream to be a ballerina. Then I got this opportunity with Tamara, and I wanted it so bad, I thought changing my body was necessary. In reality, it wasn’t. Tamara hired me 20 pounds heavier and saw me as a ballerina. Looking back, I shouldn’t have done that to myself.

You and your husband Carlos Renedo initiated Ballet de Barcelona this past year. Can you share why you decided to start the company?

I really believe in the universe. After ENB, nobody wanted to hire me, even to do male roles. They didn’t want that type of publicity. After making history, I literally could not find a job anywhere. There wasn’t an established ballet company in Barcelona. I went on my hands and knees and begged this theater executive. I told him I had a vision and told him what I’d done with my career. On May 6th, with nine dancers and only 39 days of rehearsal, our new company premiered at this huge theater in Barcelona. My husband does a lot of the executive stuff even though he was a dancer too. We also have a project manager, Caroline Masjuan, who has a lot of contacts in the region.

The thing is, Barcelona wanted a ballet company. Everywhere we go, they want the ballet. We have a temporary residence in a huge theater. And then we just work really hard from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. The dancers are downstairs right now sewing costumes for Nutcracker. The dancers really believe in us and trust us. It’s a collective effort.

In your new position as director of Ballet de Barcelona, is it important to you to allow for more nuanced gender representation in classical ballet? If so, how are you approaching that?

We do have one gender queer person in the company. That in itself is a non-issue for me. Yuri dances beautifully. We also have a girl in the company who jumps higher than the boys, so she’s doing a role in Nutcracker that is traditionally male because she can do it.

Our Nutcracker is my own production and I’m addressing gender within it. It’s slightly autobiographical. I was never allowed to play with Barbie’s so, in my Nutcracker, Clara goes through this journey of wanting to play with boys toys but being forced to play with girls toys. She goes on this journey in the second act to realize she doesn’t need to conform to society, and she can find her own version of womanhood.

I’ve messaged a couple of transgender ballerinas. I’m waiting on these people who need a place to dance so I can give them the opportunity in a safe space. There aren’t many out there. I’m ready to give any dancer of any body type or gender a serious setting in which to dance, which is what I wish I had.

Do you see classical ballet changing in terms of openness about gender roles? Do you think a gender fluid ballerina today would have an easier time?

You see what the ballet world did to me after I made history. If anything, they are more closed and wearier. In the contemporary sense, there’s a lot of gender openness that’s happening. But ballet is such a sensitive thing. There’s a board of directors, and those companies are afraid they are going to lose ticket sales. After ENB, I would go audition and think I would get it because the artistic director liked me, but would be prevented from getting hired by the company’s board of directors. They don’t understand; they see me as a man dressing up as a woman. For a transgender person, that misperception is even more difficult.

I don’t have time to express myself physically like I used to because I’m selflessly working for this company. That’s what I have to do as artistic director, and I love it. I already had a great career. However, at the premier, I danced Dying Swan but stripped down. I shaved my head and wore just white tights, but did the same steps. The audience had a great response. They’re ready for this work.

I want to continue pushing gender roles. I’d love to modify Giselle to make Giselle trans, or where the guy is broken hearted and shows fragility. It’s always the guy saving the girl. In my Nutcracker, Clara saves the Nutcracker prince and is self-realized. I’m trying to change these gender roles. That includes empowering and having serious storylines for a person who doesn’t associate with any given gender. The thing is, that’s what’s happening in the world right now, but ballet is so tutus and tiaras and tunics. And then people wonder why ticket sales are down. Audiences can’t relate to the stories.

What’s next? What does 2020 hold for you right now?

We are programming Carmen Suite from Alberto Alonso in May in respect to Alicia Alonso. We’re particularly excited about that, especially since I don’t think it’s been done in Spain before. We’re working on a documentary as well. And we’re already programming Nutcracker for next year.

The amazing thing about my job is I get to take it day by day. I’m close to the dancers. I’m not a dictator; I’m a leader. The dancers can come talk to me, and I listen even though I can’t always give them what they want. I care about them, and that’s how I get progress. I’m excited to see how the dancers have grown at the one-year mark. Ultimately, they do the work. I just guide them. I’m excited to see what becomes of all the effort they’ve put in.

Any other thoughts?

The last thing that’s really important is to understand Tamara Rojo’s role. She’s continuously advocated for me, Carlos and Ballet de Barcelona. She continues to fight for me even today. If she hadn’t stuck her neck out for me, Ballet de Barcelona wouldn’t have gotten off the ground. It’s important to understand that she’s a really strong woman who has faced so much criticism for being good at what she does. That’s what happens in this world. I want to give major credit to Tamara Rojo. It took a woman to make this type of history. I’m forever grateful. I’m lucky to have a personal relationship with her and receive advice from her on how to be bold and forward thinking as an artistic director. That’s part of the success of the company today.

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To learn more about Ballet de Barcelona, visit www.balletdebarcelona.com.

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BY DEBORAH ENELOW; PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRUNA GILL

Deborah Enelow is a retired educator who supports women in the arts, especially women choreographers. Here, she shares her impressions after attending the Women Ballet Choreographers and Composers Residency at Djerassi in Woodside, California this past June 15, 2019.

Calvin Thomas and Julia Rowe in Marika Brussel’s Myth of Calypso

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The 4th annual Women Ballet Choreographers and Composers’ Residency brought energy and inspiration. Choreographer, dancer and dance advocate Kathryn Roszak is the creator and host of the event wherein women artists exchange creative work and share reflections with the public on their challenges.

The afternoon began with Ms. Roszak bringing us together for a friendly lunch. The 30 of us in attendance chatted about what brought us to the occasion. We were then ushered into a dance studio where Roszak articulated her mission to encourage and support women in the arts. She described the dismal representation of women in the choreographing of ballets, in the writing of operas, in the directing of films, and in leading major art organizations. She invited us all to be part of the movement to promote women’s careers in the arts. To that end, she invited an array of women to share their new works.

The presentations began with Roszak’s own Impression Tango, which portrayed the power exchange in a couple beautifully danced by Nelie Sithong and Linnea Snyderman to music by French composer Graciane Finzi. Marika Brussel’s Myth of Calypso came next with Julia Rowe playing the goddess Calypso from the Odyssey. Danced en pointe as if in water, she seduced Odysseus, danced by Calvin Thomas. The music, composed by Mary Ellen Childs, sounded like the voices of dolphins and waterfowl skimming over the sea. Roszak’s modern take on the minuet came next. The two dancers, Nelie Sithong and Linnea Snyderman, did a precise and controlled minuet based on steps by Louis XIV, but reformulated to allow for more freedom of expression.

Nelie Sithong and Linnea Snyderman on Roszak’s Impression Tango

We next went into the composer’s studio where Erica Felsch of Smuin Ballet shared a film of her ballet based on the pictures of Edgar Degas. She presented a delicate and exacting rendering of a classical ballet that would have been seen by Degas. The opera composer and librettist Carla Lucero then showed us excerpts of a film of a site-specific ballet that she composed music for. Done in the fountain of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the ballet, called Liquid Assets, depicted the breakdown of modern capitalism. Afterwards, we were treated to arias from her new opera Juana, based on the life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, which will premiere at UCLA this fall. The music was hauntingly beautiful and seemed to come out of a medieval Spanish epic.

The third stop was the main room of the Artists’ Barn at Djerassi, where we heard the artists talk about their challenges and their visions in response to Roszak’s questions. Felsch was clear that women had to be beyond excellent to get a foot in the door. She explained that rejections can be overwhelming, so she puts on “an armor of confidence.” Brussel lamented that women have 40 auditions before acceptance versus men’s four. Lucero said that she needed to prove herself constantly while male composers get commissions for much less work and effort. Carol Liu, who is working in virtual reality, is faced with (male) engineers asking her if she really understands the technology.

In response to the question of how women’s roles are different than men’s in their fields, there were a variety of responses. Liu mentioned that she works in a collaborative mode quite different than her male counterparts. Felsch feels she brings to her choreography the inner experience of what it feels like to be a female dancer. For Brussel, her big question is: What can women do en pointe that is different than what men can imagine? Lucero expressed that women happily take on a mentorship role.

When the question of future projects was asked, I was excited to hear the political nature of the plans. Felsch was planning on choreographing to famous speeches and monologues, including a Martin Luther King speech. Brussel had a piece on climate change on her docket. Lucero is ready to turn opera on its head by reframing women’s roles from victim to hero; her next opera is going to be about Helen Keller. Liu wants to tell the stories of women from a woman’s perspective, correcting what have become common place beliefs unmoored in facts. There is a possible collaboration between Liu and Roszak whose focus now is on film which can be a great platform for women.

Roszak working on virtual reality filming demo at Djerassi

Our afternoon ended with Liu’s presentation of her work on a virtual reality film about Marie Antoinette. We all had the opportunity to sample the immersive experience this new technology offered that seemingly put the viewer into the middle of the drama. Finally, Liu and Roszak showed us how they work together by setting up Liu’s camera in the dance studio and doing a virtual reality film of the modern minuet dance. Ms. Liu is working to complete this project, having already secured permission from the Palace of Versailles to shoot scenes onsite.

All in all, the event showed the attendees the vibrancy of women in the arts and especially in ballet as they increasingly move from the periphery into the center of the action.

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To learn more, visit www.dlkdance.com/women-ballet-choreographers-residen.

Note: Every year at the event, the Women Ballet Choreographers and Composers’ Residency presents honors to people/companies who present women or to women choreographers. Cathy Marston was honored this year for her choreography for San Francisco Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet was honored for presenting her work. James Sofranko was honored for presenting women choreographers with SFDanceworks. Betsy Erickson, Ballet Mistress for San Francisco Ballet, accepted the awards.

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BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

Ten years ago, Emily Molnar assumed the directorship of Canada’s Ballet BC and turned the company into an innovative hub by commissioning new work and restructuring the company so as to make all the dancers soloists. This June 13-15, the company will be premiering at BAM in NYC work by William Forsythe, Crystal Pite and Emily Molnar herself. Here, Emily talks about her own transition into a leadership role, how she re-envisioned the company, what’s important to her as a choreographer, and how more young dancers might embrace leadership roles.

Emily Molnar in the studio with artists of Ballet BC, Photo by Michael Slobodian

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As a dancer, did you envision yourself taking on leadership roles like choreographing and directing? What was that transition from dancer to director like for you?

I started dancing very young at age five and got my first job at 16 with the National Ballet of Canada. At around age 12 and then throughout working with various companies, I found myself always asking a lot of questions about how we’re coming together, how we’re being coached, how we’re being cast, what kinds of conversations we’re having around the work, what it means to audiences, basically where is dance going. I was fascinated by these questions and yet I was trying to be a dancer moving my way through companies. In some ways, that questioning created a more challenging environment for me to exist in as a dancer; if I had just thought about my career it might have been easier.

All those important questions – which I do still ask – were defining for me an interest in eventually creating an environment for artists to be supported. By artists, I mean everyone from the dancers and choreographers to those who administrate. What does it mean to be a dance artist and art maker today? How are we relevant? How are we influenced by society? I didn’t know if it was going to lead to directing and choreographing but I found myself wanting to take on more responsibility.

By the time I left Frankfurt Ballet when I was 26 years old, I actually thought I would quit dance and study anthropology. Thank goodness something in me said, “No, don’t do that.” Instead I kept pursuing my career and started dancing with Ballet British Columbia (as it was called at the time). I started choreographing, which led to a freelance career. That experience taught me all kinds of mechanics around how we make dance, from administrative projects to writing grants. I felt like I wanted to direct, but I didn’t just want to direct my work and have a project-based company. It’s a good model but I didn’t want to just focus on my own work. That left me asking: Where is there a need for someone like me in the conversation of contemporary ballet?

Emily Molnar with Ballet BC dancers Scott Fowler and Zenon Zybyk, Photo by Michael Slobodian

I took over Ballet British Columbia during a difficult time for the company. From one day to the next, I stopped performing and became a director. Though I’d been dancing for almost 20 years, I felt like my career had finally begun. All the things I was curious about, I was being asked to bring to the table in a way that felt fulfilling. It’s been a phenomenal journey. Ballet BC has always been a wonderful leader in contemporary ballet in Canada, and I feel like there was a place for me to push that conversation forward. I’ve asked: What is contemporary? What is ballet? How can we blur those lines? That moment of going into leadership felt like an organic but huge opportunity, and one that I had been working most of my life toward.

As Ballet BC’s artistic director, you’ve turned the company around by commissioning new works and creating a system that treats all dancers as soloists and pays them equally. Can you say more about how and why you moved the company in those directions?

I felt like there was room at Ballet BC for us to explore. If we are to be a company looking at contemporary ballet specifically, then how do we become more actively involved in creation? With regards to new work, I wanted our audiences to be exposed to many voices from around the world working in contemporary dance. That’s why, over a certain number of years, we just kept producing new works.

But also, by creating new work, we were developing our practices as artists. We were learning new tools, gathering information, and delving deeper into what it means to make work and perform it. Through that process, we created a virtuosic hub available to many choreographers. The idea was to not just be a rep company but a creation-based company where a choreographer could come into our environment and create work as if it was their company.

In order to achieve that, we needed dancers to be flexible, accessible and eager. The only way I felt that could really happen was to make the most important thing in the room the art-making. That meant everyone had to be on equal ground. Our dancers aren’t paid because they are male or female, or because they are onstage more than others. They are paid to participate, to get involved and to care about what it means to develop this art form. It was important to me that everyone became soloists within the group. That allowed for more experimentation. I was lucky to work for Frankfurt Ballet under William Forsythe who ran his company similarly. I had been exposed to that more democratic approach. It’s not about making it fair; it’s about making an environment where everyone could be involved. That felt essential if we were truly going to be a creation-based company.

Ballet BC in Crystal Pite’s Solo Echo, Photo by Sharen-Bradford

Ballet BC is debuting at BAM in June with new repertoire and celebrating 10 years under your directorship. Do you want to say more about why you pieced together this repertoire?

It’s a pleasure and privilege to be invited to perform at BAM. It’s a special evening for the company. I’ve been trying for many years to get Enemy in the Figure by William Forsythe, but it had to be the right time. It requires an enormous understanding of his improvisational technologies, as well as maturity. The dancers navigate all the lighting and set. It’s quite epic even though it’s only a 30-minute piece. It was made in 1989 and it’s still ahead of its time. The responsibility it gives the performers is beautiful and challenging, and I wanted them to be ready for this master work of architecture of the body, space and time.

Inside the program is another layer. Crystal Pite and I both worked with Bill, so audiences can see the lineage of people who have come out of his world and gone on to choreograph. Crystal is a very important voice right now in international dance. The work we are performing, Solo Echo, is one of her best and one we’ve had in our repertoire for a few years. It’s a work about one person seen through seven different people, different iterations of the same person. The first movement is about the daringness and risk we take when we’re young. In the second phase, the choreography touches on loss and acceptance as we age. She references a poem by Mark Strand called Lines for Winter. I’ll try to distill what I feel the poem is about: Hopefully, at the end of our lives, we can look in the mirror and be okay with who we see. Crystal embodies that so beautifully, and audiences love it.

One piece in the upcoming program, To This Day, is choreographed by you. Can you say more about the impetus for the piece and what the work process has been like?

It’s my 10^th anniversary and I wanted to celebrate the dancers in the company today. I posed to them the question: If you were to say something about yourself today, what would that look like? We started by creating solos, and the composition of the larger work is based on these solos. In that way, it’s an homage to those individuals. For years, I’ve wanted to work with jazz or blues music. There was this compilation of Jimi Hendrix music, entitled Blues, that I found so inviting. I was able to clear the rights, which made me feel it was the right time for all these things to come together. It’s a piece discussing collective agency and allowing for a sense of liberation or joy within the work. It has a celebratory nature.

Ballet BC in To This Day, Photo by Michael Slobodian

Looking at your larger body of work as a choreographer, are there certain themes or issues that feel important to you to keep tackling or addressing?

What fascinates me is self-expression and getting into the skin of our own individuality. Compositionally, I’m interested in how to take that individuality and generate landscapes or environments. How do things compose and decompose through large group endeavors? Having worked with Bill, questions of counterpoint are always in the work, but the journey of the self into collectivity keeps showing up in whatever I do. I find I invest a lot in the expression of the body. I find it fascinating, the logic of the body and what it can say beyond words. It has its own intelligence.

What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned from serving as Ballet BC’s artistic director for 10 years?

There are so many things I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing and learning. I always say there are fires and miracles every day. I’ve been able to learn so much about the art form and, through our audiences, about society and where we’re at. I keep getting more inspired about what we’re capable of in dance, not less inspired. That says a lot about who the company is as a group. The company was in bankruptcy protection 10 years ago. I took the job because I was curious about changing the organization from the inside out. Watching so many people care about something and come together for a common goal is a leap of faith. We take that leap every day when we make a piece of art – you have to believe in something to make it exist. As a director, I’ve been privy to watch many people come toward that goal and see their lives change. Dance has been the vehicle, but what we’re capable of as humans when we allow ourselves to question and learn, that’s what fascinates me the most.

In general, what might help more female dancers become interested in directing and choreographing?

That is a question a lot of people are asking, and I believe it affects the ballet world more than the contemporary world. What I would say is it’s up to people like myself to make sure that anyone – male or female – has the opportunities to learn more about choreographing and directing if they’re interested. People in positions of leadership need to hold each other responsible and accountable, as well as work together. It has to start very early in the way we’re training dancers, and then carry over into the professional environment. It’s what I’ve been trying to do in Ballet BC, to give people a sense of voice. If people have that early on, it flows into curiosity. Then we have to make sure programs are in place – workshops, laboratories – in which a choreographer or director can develop their craft.

Ballet BC dancers Gilbert Small and Patrick Kilbane in Forsythe’s Enemy in the Figure, Photo by Michael Slobodian

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To learn more about Ballet BC, visit balletbc.com.

The post A Leader in Ballet Celebrates 10 Years appeared first on Stance on Dance.

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

Jeremy McQueen is a dancer and choreographer in New York City, and the artistic director and founder of The Black Iris Project, a ballet collaborative and education vehicle which creates new, relevant classical ballets that celebrate diversity and Black history. By harnessing the Black community’s inherent creative spirit, The Black Iris Project encourages and inspires youth of color to pursue art, movement and music. Jeremy shares why it’s important to create ballets with Black narratives, as well as how the ballet world might integrate more people of color.

The Black Iris Project, Photo by Matthew Murphy

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Can you tell me a little about your history and how you founded The Black Iris Project?

The Black Iris Project officially started in 2016, but it really got its start when I was given an award by the Joffrey Ballet in 2013 called the Choreographers of Color Award. As part of that application process, I had to put together a proposal of the type of ballet I would create for the organization. I had just found out that my mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy treatment 3,000 miles away from where I live in New York. I was really shaken up and so, a day or so later, a friend and I decided to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I fell in love with a painting by Georgia O’Keefe called Black Iris III. Something about it really struck me. It’s like a yin yang; the top half of the painting is light, floral and effervescent, while the bottom half is deeply rooted in dark, rich colors. I kept coming back to this painting; it moved me. I decided to combine how I was feeling about my mother and how much strength and courage she was mustering with how the painting made me feel, and that was my choreographic proposal to the Joffrey Ballet. I was so thrilled when they accepted my proposal, gave me the award, and invited me to come to Chicago to bring the ballet Black Iris to life.

The ballet itself is a tribute to three Black women in my life who I feel really personify what it means to be a Black woman – having strength and courage as well as caring and comfort. My mom and these other women had to step up when my dad was not able to or was not available while I was growing up. The piece became a tribute to them and to Black womanhood.

Through that experience, I met Nardia Boodoo, who now dances with The Washington Ballet. She was one of very few Black women in the Joffrey institution. I gravitated toward her; I saw so much beauty and talent in her that was just yearning to be nourished, so I gave her the opportunity to dance a lead in my ballet. We both grew together in talking about our experiences, especially sharing my experience growing up as one of very few Black ballet students in various schools around the country. It encouraged her along her journey and what she’ll have to pull from internally in order to push barriers and challenge what we face sometimes as people of color in ballet.

I really loved being able to mentor and connect with Nardia as well as explore Black history through ballet, which I had never really done before. In 2016, I created The Black Iris Project – a collaborative of emerging artists across disciplines, specifically bringing together Black ballet dancers to connect and talk about our experiences, as well as to find ways to continue to muster the strength to break glass ceilings and keep pushing forward, while also going into communities of color and telling the stories of amazing humanitarians such as Nelson Mandela, the subject of one of our ballets. It’s been really fulfilling to come full circle and not only create ballets but also engage so many deserving communities with ballet in a way different than what ABT or NYCB offers.

Kimberly Marie Olivier (San Francisco Ballet) and Daphne M. Lee (Dance Theatre of Harlem) in Black Iris, Photo by Matthew Murphy

How is The Black Iris Project organized?

The project is twofold. The first part is the creation of works rooted in Black history and experience. That happens annually. We convene during the spring months to do developmental residencies where we come together and create the work. That leads up to a summer touring situation.

The other part of The Black Iris Project is education and outreach. We collaborate with a lot of organizations to do master classes or lecture demonstrations at community centers or various middle schools and high schools. Last year we had a partnership with a popular charter school in New York called Success Academy. I was brought in to work with a select number of dance students in their middle school program. I worked with them throughout the semester, which led to a performance that combined the students with a professional dancer in The Black Iris Project in a work they performed for their friends and families. Our educational umbrella takes many forms but always involves reaching out to communities of color that might not have access to or an interest in ballet.

How would you describe your choreography to someone unfamiliar with it?

My work is deeply rooted in the human experience. I embody both contemporary and classical ballet, but most of my choreography is story driven. I was always inspired as a kid by narrative, so all my works are more or less linear. I am inspired by gesture and eye contact as forms of communication, things humans do naturally. For example, with eye contact, the body language you exude plays into different characteristics of how others might perceive you. Within my most recent ballet, A Mother’s Rite, I wanted to push the boundaries of what ballet is and how we look at ballet, so there’s a lot of acting and gestural physicality. I wanted to show that ballet can still be expanded and take on different shapes – positions can be used to express and convey emotions.

What does your work process generally look like?

It’s never the same. With Madiba, the music came first. I knew I wanted to highlight a Black historical figure who isn’t commonly talked about in the United States. I wanted to collaborate with a composer of color, and I just so happened to stumble upon a piece of music by a Black composer, Carman Moore, entitled Madiba about Nelson Mandela’s life. Growing up, I never really heard about Nelson Mandela. He was released from prison when I was very young. I knew he was eventually the president of South Africa, but he wasn’t commonly talked about in school. His story rang so similar to that of the Civil Rights Movement, I saw an opportunity to continue and further the conversation of civil rights.

The Black Iris Project in Madiba, Photo by Matthew Murphy

For A Mother’s Rite, it was also the music that came first. A mentor suggested I use Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring to explore musicality while I was in college. Sometimes it’s a theme or message I want to share, such as in Black Iris. In that instance, the idea came first before casting or music.

One thing important to me is to experience life outside my discipline. I started working professionally in theater at age 15. I was always very focused on my theater and dance studies, so I didn’t have a lot of time for sports or other activities. During college at Fordham University, I got to meet people from different walks of life and faiths in ways I hadn’t been exposed to before. Especially within A Mother’s Rite, watching the news and seeing the countless Black men and women killed by police affected me and inspired me to bring those social justice stories to life through movement.

You’re not only creating opportunities for people of color but also telling stories about people of color. Why is it important to go beyond just giving opportunities to people of color in existing ballet repertoire?

I’ll tell you a little story. I was teaching for ABT in their education department. They had me going to schools that were heavily populated with students of color one to two days a week and teaching them ballet. The first challenge I faced was that these kids didn’t like the music. Our generation is so entranced by hip hop and pop music, when I would put on classical music, they would check out. I had to find ways to keep them engaged, but still give them the technique. In order to bridge that gap, I would play the soundtrack to the TV show Empire. I would automatically see so much more engagement and enthusiasm just by changing the music.

At end of the semester, I got to take my students to the Metropolitan Opera House to see a production by ABT. I was super excited, as I had danced for the Met Opera for two seasons. Dancing in the Metropolitan Opera House had been a dream. Most of these students had never been to the opera house before, so to take them there for free was such a rewarding experience. However, after 30 minutes, the kids were completely checked out. I started to wonder why they were checked out. I think a lot of it was, although there were some dancers of color onstage, beyond that, they couldn’t see their stories or lives being represented in a way that was relatable to them. That was a huge lightbulb moment for me: These students don’t just need to see someone who looks like them in a role in Le Corsaire or Swan Lake, they need to see their stories, lives and histories told onstage. We need to give people an opportunity to see themselves. Misty Copeland has brought much visibility and inspiration for communities of color, but there’s so much more to be done within the ballet companies. We need to have companies reflect the world we live in. We can’t just tell European-rooted stories. If we really want to call ourselves a diverse nation, we should be creating ballets that reflect the diversity in our country.

Harper Watters (Houston Ballet), Photo by Matthew Murphy

Ballet has a very exclusionary history with regards to racial representation. Why is it important to you to use ballet as a choreographic medium?

My first instinct was: Why not? I always tell people I’m not trying to recreate Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater or Dance Theatre of Harlem. Those companies were created specifically because dancers of color were not frequently hired into other companies. There weren’t as many options or possibilities for dancers of color. Ailey and DTH are amazing companies that have paved the way for me today and I humbly stand on their and others’ shoulders. Ballet has always been a great love of mine. I think it’s important we not segregate ourselves as people of color and only focus on African-rooted forms like tap, hip hop or African dance. That creates more segregation, not the integration that we should have. If we want to talk about ballet being exclusionary, we can conversely look at the droves of white people who have fallen in love with hip hop. I believe we can draw from each other’s experiences while of course respecting the history. It’s important to find and create new ways to bring people together, and that’s one thing the dance world is really missing. Inclusivity in ballet is one of the last pieces. But it’s changing, and I’m thrilled and honored to be a part of that process.

What are some shifts you’d like to see in the ballet world?

I would like to see more ballets that are rooted in a vast array of cultures, perspectives and music genres. I would like to see more ballets that reflect the unique makeup that is the United States of America.

What are you working on next?

This coming January 19^th, our film adaptation of A Mother’s Rite will premiere on CUNY Television. It will be broadcast locally throughout the five boroughs of New York City. I’m excited to navigate new ways of engaging audiences outside of live performances. Finding ways to partner with local television networks is the next big step for us to share our ballets and stories.

This summer, we are headed on tour to Houston, Texas and Louisville, Kentucky where we will present Black Iris, our inaugural ballet, as well as our most recent ballet, A Mother’s Rite, which traces one mother’s journey through multiple stages of grief after being thrust into the spotlight by way of her son’s murder. We’ll also be premiering a new work inspired by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey and how these historic hurricanes have impacted communities of color.

Courtney Celeste Spears (Alvin Ailey) and Shomari Savannah in A Mother’s Rite, Photo by Sean Jamar

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To learn more, visit www.blackirisproject.org.

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