Q: How did you begin dancing?

I started off with gymnastics, and then my coach got me in some ballet classes to help me become more graceful. My mom was into dance when she was younger, and my neighbor happened to own a studio; she had been in the family for a minute because all the old folks lived on the same block together so I went there. Eventually, it started to conflict with gymnastics, so I had to choose. I also think my mom told me it started to become a financial strain, and asked me what I was more interested in. I am not quite sure to this day what pulled me towards dance, I was still pretty young. I started training at the Dallas Black Dance Academy school and haven't stopped since.


Q: What has dance taught you that you have applied to your everyday life and how you engage in the world?

As a dancer in the real world, outside the studio, having this artistic thing has provided me with the super power of accepting and loving different perspectives of life. As a human inside the dance studio, I have learned to listen more — that is something that has always been a natural instinct, but it is a real privilege to be a good listener. Dance has helped me be able to share more as well. I have never been too outgoing; at first I could be shy or intimidated. The more I got into my artistic voice, received information from the front of the room, and learned respect and boundaries within the studio, I have been able to share myself more. Dance has given me the gift of perspective and listening.


Q: Has dance helped you overcome any hardships in your life?

I can be specific about it. Most recently, when I was a senior in college, I went through my first real realization of having depression and anxiety from gun violence and medical trauma I had over the course of one summer, and then going back to NY a day after everything had happened. I wasn’t able to articulate what I needed for myself or even from other people. There were only a handful of people who knew. I didn't realize until three months later I had been in the studio every single day by myself for the first time ever in my life, whether it was at 8 a.m. or when the school closed at midnight, and a lot of those days I still couldn't even make it to class. For me, it was this one place - I had also never been so vulnerable in the studio — you would think that you do that often just by showing up, but that time took me to a new level of appreciating myself and all these moments I had to face them face to face. I made a playlist and I would dance out my emotions. I had to decide to either overcome and win, or be reckless with these feelings. I think that is one of the things that got me through, being able to say that I still wanted dance, I still wanted people to respect me as an artist, because I appreciated and needed dance. Dancers are some of the most interesting people in terms of networking. I have an eclectic group of people in my life — some I have only known for a month but I feel my heart is so much purer after being with them and sharing an artistic experience with them. I feel so close to them. I am so thankful to have those people and those moments in my life. It feels good to keep falling in love with the people and with dance.


Q: What other interests and passions do you have outside of dance that help influence your artistry?

I love these interviews because I realize things as I say them. Since moving out of my dorm and graduating Julliard, I have had to cook a lot more, and I really enjoy it. Sometimes it is a big improvisation and has to do with trusting yourself, knowing to just keep adding to make it better, and also discovering what is the right amount for you. I think cooking helps inform my dancing in the same ways - it’ll give you more confidence, especially if you keep making BANGER meals! MMM! I am in it! It’s also connected to fueling your body with food and thoughts and relationships. It’s helped me understand my body and what it needs, wants, and likes, rather than what I have habitually been going for in my life. Other hobbies? I like to write free-form. I've always liked to write, but it’s something to me that is much more permanent than dance because it is on paper, someone can see it, and there is no reading between the lines unless you want them to. Sometimes dancing can be a little more fleeting — you do the show once and then it's over, and yes you can have a video, but it's not the same. I think the hobbies can live together and make you respect everything you do a bit more.


Q: Do you believe dance can be a platform for social justice topics? If so, how? and/or Have you used your art form to make a difference?

Oh my goodness. Yes. The funny thing is, when we talk about dance in dance history, it usually starts with the white people who are kings and queens dancing, but it was happening way before that in terms of ways to communicate and celebrate. Everyone was into it and needed and used dance in some way. It is also already so political because it is your body, and everyone is going to have an opinion on your body. Dance can be so empowering for you to form your own opinion and love for your own body.

One of my favorite things about dance — which is why it's hard to decide if I will just dance or do dance and something else like teach or choreograph — no matter what, what I love about it is the sharing of information. I think we are blurring the ideas of who is in front of the room and discovering what a collaborative spirit can be. When you give that spirit to the right people, it can be so genius and life-changing. When you share it with people, there are so many new lanes of communication that open up. Sometimes, we can't articulate what we mean, or we are so passionate about something that we turn off our listening. Dance is such a give and receive thing, you have to be very generous with it, so the more people you have in the room, the more people you can touch, the more you can learn about other perspectives. That is what we hope for, a bit more understanding. Movement in general is so informative to the mover and the viewer.

We always have music in our life and whether people know it or not, they are movers. It's about recognizing the patterns in your body and how they are affecting you. I think dance can also be another level of awareness, and I almost feel bad for people who don’t have that. When you teach people who have never danced before, you are teaching them so much more than steps. You are teaching connection to self — physical, mental, and emotional — and it is a way to learn to respect your own body and the other bodies in the space.

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Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist? (community, financially, initial reactions, company shift, online class, emotions, initial cancellation reaction)

It has stopped me in my tracks, but moreso, it has taught me how many other parts of dance can just be taken away. Injuries and things can happen and you have to take a break, but this has to do with someone else's body stopping your body from moving because they were ill, or the government saying you're not an essential business, so you have to shut down. For me this is essential. Every day it is essential that I find a way to keep in touch with myself and my spirit, so that has been king of staggering. The way I can express myself, even with the people I talk to so freely and openly that aren’t dancers, is not really there, and I just feel like I can’t show up in conversations sometimes… I am nervous for the future, even the day we can go back to dance. Even when they have found a vaccine and people can go back to work, dance is so much about rolling around together and being in each other’s faces, breathing, and touching each other –– and there will be so much of a stigma about touch. I think that is a trigger and trauma I will personally have to work through. That makes me less excited to get back into the studio with others — I’m not happy to admit that, but that is a real fear and something I will have to face (but I can't wait to have to face that problem, because that means we will be in the clear from this). It has just kind of all been taken and stripped away. I am so grateful for dance keeping me in decent shape most of the time, and I am thankful my body has been training to fight and have the willpower to get through anything, whether they are injuries, viruses, etc. I am more confident in my strength and that is awesome; I'm glad I can hold onto that. Some people don't have that and that can put them in more danger than I am in.


Q: What social changes and responsibilities have you seen people making during the pandemic? Do you think the pandemic will make us a more socially conscious society?

Oh my god, I am mad it took so long for dance to become more accessible. People are just donating and giving their time and their knowledge when they could have been doing this before. But, better late than never… I think it is really unfortunate, however, that we have had all these platforms and up until now, it has mostly been about showing your best self instead of sharing your best self. I am happy to see a lot of different generations coming together. You have people like Glenn, our artistic director, who had never come on Instagram Live until this moment, and now his class is available for everyone. Even for my family, they have seen shows but not class [in the past], and they get it a little bit more now. It is nice to see people admit, “This is hard, and I know you are having a hard time too, but this is what I want to do for you, how I want to make space for you, and all I ask is that you show up and that will be enough.” Who knows if anyone is doing the class or actually doing the moves? I have just watched before. I think all the online classes and pieces being shared are helping level the playing field a little bit. Now someone who can't major in something in the arts because their family doesn't believe it's a real job can take these classes and watch these videos on line. Now the kid who didn't show up to ballet because they didn't have the right clothes or apparel and were nervous — now they can take their class at home and feel more comfortable. I hope we hold onto the way we can now accept people and just share that hour-long time slot. Times were hard before this, and we needed this generosity before this, and now that we have gone through it, I hope the understanding and appreciation for just showing up is there.


Q: Using the idea of “worldmaking” how do you imagine the performing arts world after the pandemic? (Worldmaking: How you can re-imagine the world in your own terms, the way you want it to be. Using this tool one can construct new worlds and write themselves into narratives that have excluded them and systems that have disabled them.)

I have a lot of hopes for how the audience can enjoy and participate in performances now and show their support. I think this virtual world is giving us room to think about more productive and entertaining ways to engage audiences. The dance audience needs a little more love and support, so hopefully we can do that. We have to figure out how to get through these postponed performances and canceled performances. We are experiencing a gap in art-making in the physical world and together, but we can create these virtual experiences and see how an audience will react. I hope we can get out of a proscenium stage style of performance and get some more creative ways to have an audience and to interact with the audience. There are so many ways to do it with technology, and it may only take people a day or two to figure it out. Imagine how we can use technology to keep creating and engage an excited audience… That is what engages me as a performer — an excited audience. It encourages you to keep creating, and who doesn’t need support? I think support is also a way of healing. People come to see art to enjoy, or to heal, or both. Also I envision more intimate performances — I think there may be a stigma of audiences getting together, so maybe this is a chance to be more intimate with large companies who mostly tour and keep to themselves and don't do much with outreach. Instead, maybe it can be something more intimate. It feels intimate for me when I am performing — I feel vulnerable and like I am sharing my world. Audience members may have some idea I feel that way, but if they are able to feel the way I feel when I perform, the respect for the art form would go much further than it is now.