INTERVIEW: Gibney Dance Company is ready to ‘EMERGE’
Photo: Dancers from Gibney Dance Company will help create works from three emerging choreographers. Photo courtesy of Scott Shaw / Provided by Sacks & Co. with permission.
Gibney Dance Company, founded by Gina Gibney 28 years ago, is gearing up for a set of performances under the banner EMERGE. It’s an interesting concept, one that brings New York-based choreographers together with experienced dancers from the company.
From May 2-4 at the Gibney’s home space in Manhattan, the company will present the dance works fo Chanel DaSilva, Bobbi Jene Smith and Micaela Taylor.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Nigel Campbell, co-director of Gibney Dance Company. The Bronx native is a graduate of LaGuardia Arts High School and The Juilliard School. He has soloed with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, been a member of Saarlandisches Staatstheater and Luna Negra Dance Theater, and co-founded the diversity and equity initiative called MOVE(NYC) with DaSilva, his partner. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What sets EMERGE apart from other Gibney offerings?
Well, Gibney is a large and multi-faceted institution of dance. Outside of Gibney’s resident dance company, GDC (Gibney Dance Company), most of our other wonderful presenting platforms are focused on bringing the work of compelling artists and companies into the Gibney space. GDC is a full-time professional dance company that commissions creators to make work on our incredible group of dancers. So it is quite different.
EMERGE is different from other programs GDC offers because of its comprehensive focus on creating a platform for exceptional emerging voices in the dance field. To commission any three creators to make an evening of world premieres on a group of dancers they have never worked with is definitely a risk. Choosing three emerging choreographers is a big, yet exciting, risk! Chanel DaSilva, Bobbi Jene Smith and Micaela Taylor (our inaugural EMERGE Choreographic Award Winner) have all risen to the occasion and created an exceptional and diverse evening of contemporary dance that I am immensely proud of! Senior Director Amy Miller and I cannot wait to share it with the world.
What are some of the qualities of a new or young choreographer that you believe are vital?
I believe strongly that without an intentional and concentrated investment in the future [of] our art form, dance will become obsolete. What I love about new voices is their capacity to offer a fresh perspective … something different, something new. As a director, as a performing artist, and as a human being, I am not interested in only repeating the masterpieces of the past. Through failures and successes, I am excited to support the next genius, to curate the next masterpiece, to reach more audiences, and to ultimately move the field forward.
Young choreographers are an amalgamation of their collective experience, personally and artistically, and have the potential to take us into the future. What could be more vital than that?
Martha Graham was once emerging, so was William Forsythe, Jiri Kyllian and Ohad Naharin. Someone took a chance on them. Someone created a platform for their brilliance to shine, and the dance field is richer because of it. Who’s next? And whose job is it to ensure that they have the platforms they need to become the next great voices?
I am turned on by the endless potential of creation, the exploration of the unknown, and creating space (as Gibney does) for a multitude of compelling voices!
What do you love about Gibney Dance Company’s impact in the dance world?
Through Gina Gibney’s visionary leadership, Gibney has created a company model that empowers dancers as artists, activists and entrepreneurs. She is cultivating artist citizens and actively developing the future leaders of the field. This is more than a dance company; it’s a movement! I cannot express enough how humbled and proud I am to play some a role in that movement.
Gina has prioritized artists by creating a sustainable, 52-week contract model with paid vacations and health benefits! An unfortunate rarity in American dance. It is not our mission to be an anomaly, but rather a shining beacon of possibility. The world is changing rapidly, and the dance community must meet the field’s changing needs with innovation. Instead of hustling individually for our small piece of the pie, as artists have been conditioned to do, what if we pooled our resources and baked more pies?
Every day I walk into Gibney I feel overwhelmed by possibility. Anything is possible! What if we shifted our focus from complaining about the scarcity of resources in the arts to maximizing what we each have … and support each other? What could that dance field look like?
That imagination is GDC.
When did you first fall in love with dance?
I have always loved moving, but I did not always know that it was a path I could dedicate my life to. When I was in middle school, around the age of 11 or 12, I did a musical in my church about the trans-Atlantic slave trade called The Maafa. Maafa is a Kiswahili term which means disaster, calamity or terrible occurrence and has been coined to describe the Black African Holocaust.
During that process, I connected with other young people at the church and found a mentor in the choreographer of the musical, Jamel Gaines. In the eighth grade, I joined his dance studio, Creative Outlet Dance Theater of Brooklyn, and there really has been no turning back since.
Are you excited by what the dance world is offering in 2019? Is this an exciting time to be a dancer and/or choreographer?
Absolutely. Change is in the air! Recently a lot of transitions have been happening. Many of the greats are leaving us or stepping down. In some ways this is sad, but it is also creating space for the next generation. I am excited to see who steps [up] to the mantle and where the future of the field will go. I imagine a more inclusive dance field that is as diverse as the world we live in. Dance is my passion and my first love, and I look forward to witnessing it continue to evolve!
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Gibney Dance Company presents EMERGE May 2-4 at The Theater, Gibney in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
