Q: What has been your dance journey, and how did you come to dance with Lines Ballet?

I started at a performing arts high school called the Orange County School of the Arts. I went there from 7th grade to 12th grade. Then I went to The Ailey School, and was in their certificate program for a year and a half. A little after that, I went to Lines, and Alonzo asked me to join the Alonzo King LINES Ballet company my junior year. I’ve been with them for ten years.


Q: Do you have any mentors or important people in your life that have shaped the way you dance and or think about dance?
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I have a really creative family. They’ve always been really supportive. And Alonzo King. His philosophies on dance are phenomenal. They’re other-worldly. And a teacher of mine from high school, Jayne Persch. There’s so much that shapes dance and I was lucky to always have support. I know that doesn’t always happen for dancers.


Q: What have been some challenges in your pre-professional or professional dance career? (Adversity as a minority artist…)
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In high school, I broke both ankles simultaneously, so that made it pretty hard to dance. I think that took me out for nine or ten months. I started in a wheelchair and worked my way to crutches so I could walk and dance again. That was the biggest struggle for me. I had a recent injury about a year ago in my neck which was pretty painful. But that only lasted about three months and then I was back with the company. When you work for a company that tours as much as LINES, it’s really hard to get injured, both emotionally and physically. You miss out on so much and you feel like you’re not holding up your workload. Even though that’s not it at all, that’s a general fear.


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?
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I think that social justice can be expressed in any form. How, in dance? I think raising awareness through movement speaks on its own. Our bodies are already delivering a message. We just have to give it a story for that message to be delivered, or our artistic statement. We do it by investing in a message that we want to deliver. 


Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist?
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It’s hit the LINES ballet community pretty hard. Our studios are closed. We don’t have rehearsals or shows. Right now, a lot of us are not doing anything besides trying to train from home. I’m not even in San Francisco right now, I’m at home in Long Beach where I was born and raised. I have a nephew who will be eight in April. He got let out of school and it won’t open again until the next term. That’s an eight-year-old who’s losing half a year’s worth of education. I’m out here teaching him until this subsides. In that sense, it became a positive for me, because I’m able to help my family. I’m not dancing that much but I do miss it. I’m just trying to find ways to stay busy, to stay active. 

We were in France when everything was canceled. We left after our last show. It canceled about four to five performances during the tour though we were pretty far away. We’re kind of on hold now, waiting to see what happens. We have a tentative schedule. California has a lockdown in place right now, so places aren’t allowed to be open. I heard that in San Francisco, if you’re out in a group of more than five, they’ll give you a citation.


Q: How do you think we can continue to create and share art during this time?

I’ve been enjoying the ways the arts community has reached out to others via Instagram and Facebook. But I do worry that art is very tangible. And that gets lost behind the screen. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to bring art to the community still. I think there’s something very special about these online classes. It’s amazing that people can do that. We just need to figure things out.


What social changes and responsibilities have you seen people making during the pandemic?

Even the simple acts of listening and following a plan are becoming noticeable. It’s always so busy in Los Angeles with traffic. Right now, it’s very apocalyptic outside. I don’t see anyone outside, I don’t hear a chatter or buzz. Everyone is staying to themselves. It’s very beautiful and peaceful. It’s almost reassuring to see the community where I am taking this so seriously. I’ve been following the news, but I try to stay away sometimes. It’s all too much, it leads to too much sadness. I’ve heard New York has it pretty rough, though.


Q: Do you think the pandemic will make us a more socially conscious society? If so, how?

I think it will. And I hope it does. I hope we don’t go through this for nothing. But we’ll see. There’s already been so many forms of outreach. There’s been giving from around the world. It’s so beautiful to see. We know this will pass. But right now it’s such a challenge on the community. And do I hope it will make us more conscious of one another? Yes, absolutely.


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 want the world to come back to where we were. More support for the arts would be the dream. More support from communities that weren’t prone to wanting to go see a show before would be amazing. I hope being locked in made them realize that they want to get out more, that they want to support the arts. These are the outlets and facets for everyone in the world. It’s our job to fulfill the honor of giving the world more humanity, of giving the world the emotions and thoughts that we want to share through our art.