Preserving a Legacy or Slowly Destroying It?

Have you noticed the shifting landscape of a lot of dance companies? Personally, I have engaged in conversation that has caused me to make very interesting observations about professional dance and "company looks".  It may not mean much to everyone but the look a company presents is their introduction to the world. Before great choreography and even beyond snatched, lengthened and limber bodies, the look of a professional dance company also encompasses its vision and legacy. So, naturally, I was shaken to my core to hear Dallas Black's board president stand on their decision to terminate all of its main company dancers.

I have shared before, my divine experience with receiving wisdom and knowledge about what it would take to be a professional dancer. I was 13 years old and had just cut out that famous "tilt jump" photograph of Linda Celeste Sims (an Alvin Ailey legend) to tape inside of my agenda book. It was in that moment I began to formulate the importance of how my body looked, how strong and flexible I should be, how beautiful and how elegant I needed to be.

As I grew in dance, but before becoming a professional, I was able to locate companies that looked how I divinely knew I had to be in order to become an amazing professional. To that, I became endlessly inspired by dancers who'd appear season after season on stage, placing them high up on my "favorite dancers" list. There is not only power in continuity with who you constantly see on stage with dance companies, there is also great power in the transference of the presented embodiment of the company's "vibe" when passed down through generations.

While there are some companies who have inevitably changed a bit, the thing that saddened me about it is the essence and "vibe" that seems to have been misplaced (generally speaking) just because a few faces have changed. These are extremely important aspects of a companies relevance, impact and status in the world. We love to celebrate and sit on the edge of our seats. We enjoy the anticipation of a company's show beginning or them being next on stage during a showcase because an energy was captured at its inception and it took us for a ride every single time.

Dallas Black totally made the wrong move when they decided to let go of their entire company of dancers.  The weight and beauty of a professional dance company isn't simply in gathering those who can dance. There are millions of dancers with phenomenal talent. A company is quite literally a work of art that takes molding and some level of integrating habits, aesthetics and understanding of mission and legacy.

This rushed job of DB is not looking too well. I reckon that if the correct action of reinstating their loyal (some well over 6 seasons) company dancers is not taken, the one thing they are exclaiming to be in preservation of will quickly dry up.