“There’s a little bit of everything,” he says. “Tap is probably the only thing we don’t have.”

It may be an exaggeration, but not by much. In the show’s ballet- and contemporary-inspired tornado scene, a storm of dancers destroys Dorothy’s home and sends her off to Oz. Once she gets there, she’s swept up in a New Orleans–style second line that leads her down the Yellow Brick Road, where she meets a Tinman who pops-and-locks. Eventually, she is ushered into the Emerald City amongst a dizzying array of dances from the Black diaspora, from street styles out of Atlanta to Afrobeats to the South African amapiano. 

Though The Wiz may have one of the most versatile casts of dancers on Broadway right now—and, in Knight, a choreographer who has shown from his expansive commercial career that he can do pretty much anything—the show’s pull-out-all-the-stops movement isn’t about showing off. Instead, it’s a form of placemaking, says director Schele Williams, grounding Dorothy in elements of Black culture as she journeys through Oz and back home again.

“I liken Dorothy’s journey to a walk through the woods,” she says. “You can turn a corner, and it’s a gorgeous meadow. And then you can go another 40 yards and all of a sudden there’s a lake. Every turn, you can be in a new location with its own set of rules. It gives us permission to fully immerse ourselves in a new location.”

Tapping into his encyclopedic knowledge of dance genres to create a unique vocabulary was nothing new for Knight, who has spent years choreographing for top pop stars, most notably Beyoncé. What was new for him: the genre of musical theater, and the task of using those dances to tell a story.

And not just any story. The Wiz, a retelling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and a staple of Black culture, was revolutionary when it premiered in 1975 with choreography by George Faison, winning seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Choreography. A film adaptation starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, with choreography by Louis Johnson, came three years later. Several efforts to reignite a Broadway production have been in the works since, including a revival in 1984 that only lasted 13 performances, and another attempt in 2004 that never got off the ground.

This time, The Wiz team predicts, will be different. Williams believes the world needs this show, with its joy-infused score and hope-filled message, right now. And by taking the production out of the ’70s and adding some contemporary innovations—in addition to Knight’s genre-bending choreography, there are updates to the book by comedian Amber Ruffin; costumes by Sharen Davis (of “Westworld,” “Watchmen,” and Dreamgirls); a dazzling set by Hannah Beachler, of Black Panther; and a modernized score by music team Joseph Joubert, Allen René Louis, Adam Blackstone, and Paul Byssainthe Jr.—they hope it will become timeless.          

“I really wanted to create something that didn’t feel super ‘now,’ ” says Knight, “but takes you on a journey of Black dance. Throughout the show you see how these people live, how they move, how they celebrate, how they mourn, how they support each other, how they find a family.”           

Knight began building the show’s choreography in October 2022. He workshopped movement in Los Angeles with some of his go-to commercial dancers. “I dreamed as big as I could,” Knight says. “For me, it was about, How do we keep the essence­ and energy of what George Faison did, and also bring JaQuel Knight to the table?”

Broadway veteran and The Wiz dance captain Amber Jackson says the dance call was one of the most intense she’s experienced, with long, fast combos that constantly switched between styles, and rooms jam-packed with a who’s who of Black dance talent. A dance workshop with the chosen few—many of whom were Broadway newbies like Knight—followed, then rehearsals, then the national tour, then another round of rehearsals and tweaks before Broadway previews.

Reviews of the tour seem to agree that the production is highly entertaining, if a bit flashy. But as far as the choreography is concerned, nothing is flashy for flashiness’ sake. “I think the movement does a really beautiful job of not letting the audience feel detached from it,” says ensemble member Maya Bowles. “It’s not so codified in technique that it’s like, ‘That’s so impressive.’ It feels familiar. It feels like home. It feels like something that’s inherently in us as a Black community. It’s something you can be a part of. The invitation is open.”

From Beyoncé to Broadway

Theater was already on Knight’s bucket list when he got the offer to choreograph The Wiz, a call that, he says, made him “lose his mind.” Moving from commercial dance to Broadway presented a new opportunity: Knight, who is so often tasked with executing the vision of another artist—whether Beyoncé, Megan Thee Stallion, or Britney Spears—had a chance to discover his own vision. “I feel like I’m given room to explore my creativity and shape my voice as a movement artist,” he says. “And I’m enjoying that.”

Being new to theater, and therefore not beholden to ideas of how things are “supposed to be” done, has given Knight freedom to push the boundaries of what dance on Broadway can look like, says Phillip Johnson Richardson, who plays the Tinman. “He has the audacity to reinvent the whole thing,” Richardson says, “and not think of it like, ‘We can’t touch that, that’s classic material.’ ”

A New Kind of Tinman

In most productions of The Wiz, during the song “Slide Some Oil to Me,” the Tinman shows off his newly lubricated joints with a tap dance. But in Knight’s interpretation, the dance break becomes a showstopping hip-hop moment that Richardson, who plays the Tinman, says revealed the whole character to him.

The movement—lots of popping, locking, and waving—felt familiar to Richardson, reminding him of dances he watched growing up. “It was like, ‘Oh, I know who this guy is,’ ” says Richardson. “ ‘And I know how I can approach this guy.’ It informed how I wear my hat—I was originally supposed to wear it to the front, and I was like, ‘Nah, he’d wear it to the back or the side.’ He’s a lot closer to me than I originally thought.”

The post <i>The Wiz</i> Returns to Broadway Nearly 50 Years After Its Premiere With More Dance Than Ever appeared first on Dance Magazine.

The Storm of the Century

“We see all of our work as creating worlds,” say Taylor Knight and Anna Thompson, co-directors of slowdanger. The multidisciplinary entity is known for drawing audiences into atmospheric experiences through surreal landscapes enriched with evocative vocals, ambient sound scores, and moody lighting effects.­ SUPERCELL, their largest-scale production to date, unfolds amid deconstructed environs where five individuals face the fury of a burgeoning thunderstorm that forebodes massive devastation and annihilation. Each has a story, told through postmodern dance, improvisation, dialogue, and live camera feeds.

The storm serves as a “representation of society’s hypnotic connection to media sensationalism, desensitization, and climate disasters,” state the co-directors, who consulted with an advisory team of scientists and educators in developing the work that “responds to but does not solve the issue of climate change.” College Park, MD, Sept. 21–22; Pittsburgh, Dec. 8–9. slowdangerslowdanger.com. —Karen Dacko

Birmingham’s Heavy Metal Ballet

Concert dance and pop culture have been close bedfellows in the U.K. recently: Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen everything from a Rambert reimagining of “Peaky Blinders” to former Spice Girl Mel C taking to the Sadler’s Wells stage in a Merce Cunningham–style­ unitard. Now, Birmingham Royal Ballet is getting in on the action with Black Sabbath: The Ballet. With choreography by Raúl Reinoso and Cassi Abranches, led by Pontus Lidberg, the three-act work will be set to orchestrations of the titular band’s legendary tracks, as well as new compositions performed live by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.

The second in a trilogy of Birmingham-focused works programmed by artistic director Carlos Acosta to pay homage to the city’s cultural heritage—Birmingham is Black Sabbath’s hometown, and they performed their first gig in a pub a stone’s throw from BRB’s headquarters—it claims to be the world’s first true heavy metal ballet experience. While maybe not an experience we knew we needed, there’s appetite for it: The premiere run sold out shortly after it was announced, with extra shows being added in response to the demand. Premieres at the Birmingham Hippodrome Sept. 23–30 before touring to Theatre Royal Plymouth (Oct. 12–14) and London’s Sadler’s Wells (Oct. 18–21). brb.org.uk. —Emily May

Ease on Down to Broadway

If you’ve seen Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” video, you’ve seen choreographer JaQuel Knight’s ebullient, sexy, defiantly strutting hip-hop style. It’s not exactly what comes to mind when you picture “Ease on Down the Road,” but that will be changing when Knight makes his Broadway debut choreographing a new production of The Wiz, the groundbreaking 1975 musical that gave Dorothy and her misfit pals from The Wizard of Oz a soul transfusion and a message of Black affirmation. Joining Knight and director Schele Williams are Black artists from the music industry, film, and television, all taking a fresh look at Charlie Smalls’ Tony-winning score and William F. Brown’s book. The original, which ran for four years, took seven Tony Awards in all, including Best Musical and Best Choreography (for George Faison). The team for this version arrives toting a slew of Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys, so look out. Tour begins Sept. 23–30 at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, and continues to additional cities before opening on Broadway next spring. wizmusical.com. —Sylviane Gold 

Mthuthuzeli On the Move

South African choreographer Mthuthuzeli November was already in demand when he was included in Dance Magazine’s 2022 “25 to Watch.” Now, fresh from his latest creation for Ballet Black—the narrative, Nina Simone–inspired Nina: By Whatever Means, which continues to tour the U.K. through Nov. 2—his choreographic commissions are off the charts in both Europe and the U.S. Over the next year he’s set to make works for Charlotte Ballet (Oct. 5–28), Ballett Zürich (January), and Staatsballett Karlsruhe (premiering April 27). Even further ahead, in fall 2024 he’ll create a contemporary retelling of Romeo and Juliet for the U.K.’s Northern Ballet, and Ballet Black will be reviving his lockdown-inspired The Waiting Game next year.

But first, November will take to the stage in his own choreography in a live version of his film My Mother’s Son, a dynamic, fluid, and emotive duet with his brother and National Ballet of Canada principal Siphesihle November. The performance at Toronto’s Fall for Dance North (Oct. 6–7) will mark the first time the pair have shared the stage as professionals. mthuthuzelinovember.co.uk. —Emily May

Spies of the Civil War

For her first venture into opera, artist-activist Jawole Willa Jo Zollar directs and choreographs Intelligence, an epic Civil War story co-created with composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. The opera revolves around the remarkable true story of two women in Richmond, VA, involved in pro-Union espionage: Elizabeth Van Lew, a member of a prominent Confederate family, established a spy ring, while Mary Jane Bowser, born into slavery in the Van Lew household, collected vital information on the war effort while pretending to be gathering laundry. Eight dancers from the Zollar-founded Urban Bush Women will weave movement into the opera’s tapestry of music and storytelling. Commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Intelligence premieres Oct. 20–Nov. 3 at the Wortham Theater Center. houstongrandopera.org. —Caitlin Sims

Camille A. Brown and Alicia Keys Join Forces

Apartment ads now call it Clinton, but back in the ’90s, the then-sketchy, west-of-Times-Square neighborhood where Alicia Keys grew up was still known as Hell’s Kitchen. And that’s the setting, and the title, of her new off-Broadway musical, to be choreographed by another New Yorker, Queens native Camille A. Brown. The 17-year-old heroine (played by Maleah Joi Moon, and whose mother is played by Shoshana Bean) shares Keys’ nickname, Ali, and some elements of her history, in a book written by playwright Kristoffer Diaz. Brown will be setting songs from Keys’ 15-Grammy career as well as new ones composed specifically for the show. Keys and Brown are both exceptional women who carved spaces for themselves as artists rather than commodities, and Hell’s Kitchen is bound to share their grit and their grace. Oct. 24–Dec. 10 at New York City’s Public Theater. publictheater.org. —Sylviane Gold 

Theme and Three Variations

Postmodern choreographer Annie-B Parson has long been skeptical of the way unison is often used to glorify a phrase in modern dance and give it an easy intentionality. But after reading W.H. McNeill’s Keeping Together in Time, in which the author writes of his ecstatic experience in military marching drills, she traded that skepticism of the choreographic trope of unison for full-blown obsession. For March, a forthcoming piece for her Big Dance Theater, she invited fellow choreographers Tendayi Kuumba and Donna Uchizono to join her in creating a three-part, intergenerational, intersectional evening-length dance based on forms of unison “from the monstrous to the utopian,” she describes, for a cast of 17 female-identified dancers.

March will premiere Dec. 10–16, in the round on the square stage at New York City’s newly opened Perelman Performing Arts Center, and is a co-commission with PAC NYC, American Dance Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and The National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron. pacnyc.org. —Meredith Fages

All Aboard the “A” Train

Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker rolls into theaters this season. The two-hour dance story discards The Nutcracker’s 1892 libretto as it sends Lena Stall on a journey of self-discovery in glamorous 1930s Harlem. Fueled by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s The Nutcracker Suite, a spunky take on Tchaikovsky’s score, it’s augmented with other songs from their 28-year collaboration. While not the first Nutcracker spun from the 1960 album, this one boasts a dazzling team of multi-genre choreographers: Joshua Bergasse directs and co-choreographs with Jade Hale-Christofi, Caleb Teicher and Jon Boogz contribute additional choreography, and theater legends Graciela Daniele and Carmen de Lavallade serve as consultants. As of press time, dates have been confirmed at New York City Center (Nov. 14–26) and Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre (Dec. 19–30) with other cities expected to follow. sugarhillnutcracker.com. —Karen Dacko

The Metaverse of Mere Mortals

San Francisco Ballet’s 2024 season is its second under Tamara Rojo’s artistic leadership, but it’s the first to bear her creative stamp. She’s making a milestone statement on opening night with the premiere of Aszure Barton’s Mere Mortals—the first woman-choreographed full-length in the company’s 90-year history. Inspired by the myth of Pandora’s box, the ballet grapples with philosophical issues around artificial intelligence and the evils it could unleash. “What questions should humanity be asking itself about AI?” Rojo wonders. “What risks should we take in order to gain knowledge?” An original score by British electronic composer Sam Shepherd, aka Floating Points, and avant-garde production design and visuals by the Barcelona-based Hamill Industries will create an immersive experience for artists and audience alike. “The goal,” Barton says, “is to create a moving, visceral experience by recontextualizing the classic parable for our modern world.” Jan. 26–Feb. 1. sfballet.org. —Claudia Bauer

Unpacking a Controversial Icon

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel: alluring fashion icon and notorious antisemite. What is it about Chanel that continues to capture public fascination, and what can we learn from her complex and controversial life? In Coco Chanel: The Life of a Fashion Icon, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa explores Chanel’s mythic status without glorifying the woman in total—a nuanced and analytical approach that ballet often shies away from.

A co-production between Hong Kong Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and Queensland Ballet, the full-length premiered in Hong Kong in March. Atlanta Ballet will bring Chanel stateside this season before its Queensland premiere next fall. In conjunction with the production, Atlanta Ballet has partnered with the local William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum and SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film to develop educational programming unpacking Chanel’s fashion legacy, as well as the damaging impact of her antisemitism and collaboration with the Nazi Party; Atlanta Ballet will provide additional instructional resources and host discussions on combating antisemitism. Feb. 9–11, 16–17. atlantaballet.com. —Kyra Laubacher

Birds of a Feather

In the allegorical 12th-century poem “The Conference of the Birds,” birds from all over the world come together and find unity despite their differences on a journey toward spiritual enlightenment. It’s only fitting, then, that a confluence of dance styles converge for Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre’s adaptation of the ancient Sufi text. Choreographer and dancer Darrius Strong, whose work is heavily influenced by hip hop, brings his penchant for narrative to this collaboration with artistic director Susana di Palma. Though he didn’t have prior training in flamenco, Strong says he found the form’s rhythmic nature and musicality relatable. International flamenco guitarist and composer Juanito Pascual leads the live music for the adaptation, premiering Feb. 10–11 at the Cowles Center in Minneapolis. thecowlescenter.org. —Sheila Regan

Making Work on Work

Laura Gutierrez grew up amidst paint cans and brushes, enormous tarps, ladders, and ratchet straps—the materials her father used as a billboard painter. “The way I know dance, my dad knows billboards,” she says. Gutierrez honors her father’s 48 years of labor with the premiere of her new solo, In Tarps I Trust. The Houston native, now based in New Jersey, plans to lean into the unruliness and extreme physicality of her father’s profession. “I really need to shed a lot of angst and take hold, and what better way to do so than wrestling with a 14×48-foot tarp,” says Gutierrez­, who has made a career creating and performing site-specific work in museum and gallery settings. Gutierrez last addressed issues surrounding labor in Center Aisle Blues, set in a Fiesta Mart, a Texas grocery-store chain serving the Latino community. She continues this thread with In Tarps I Trust, premiering in Houston this spring at the MATCH as part of DiverseWorks’ series on labor, Work of Art/Art is Work. lauraegutierrez.com. —Nancy Wozny

Return of the Roaring ’20s

The Great Gatsby has inspired manyfold adaptations since its 1925 publication, but the disillusionment—with love, marriage, the American Dream—that courses through F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel has often proved trickier to capture than the stylish decadence of its Roaring ‘20s setting. An upcoming new musical, however, shows promise. Gatsby boasts director Rachel Chavkin, whose knack for balancing spectacle with emotional impact was showcased in Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 and Hadestown; a score by Florence Welch and frequent Florence + The Machine collaborator Thomas Bartlett; a book from Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Martyna Majok; and choreography by Sonya Tayeh—who better to capture the wild opulence of Jay Gatsby’s parties than the dancemaker whose over-the-top dance sequences for Moulin Rouge! nabbed her a Tony Award? The premiere of Gatsby will close the season at American Repertory Theater, a noted incubator for Broadway-bound new works, with previews beginning May 25 and opening night slated for June 5. americanrepertorytheater.org. —Courtney Escoyne

Breaking Onto the International Stage

Breaking will make history as the first dance form to reach the Olympic stage next summer. Staying true to its hip-hop roots, the breaking program will revolve­ around the battle. In two events, one for 16 b-boys and one for 16 b-girl­s, ­competitors will face off in a single-elimination–style tournament. As they go head to head to perform improvised sets of their most impressive top rocks (standing movements), down rocks (floor work), and freezes (inverted poses), they will be judged on their athleticism and artistry.

Breaking for Gold USA has developed a competition circuit to determine the country’s best breakers. To become Olympians, these breakers will need to earn spots at Olympic qualifying events, where they will compete for the opportunity to represent breaking’s birthplace on the largest international stage at the ­2024 Summer Games in Paris. Aug. 9–10. paris2024.org. —Kristi Yeung

Mean Girls, Take Three

Get in, losers, we’re going back to high school, again. Mean Girls, the 2004 movie that inspired the Tony-nominated 2018 Broadway musical, will soon see its third incarnation as a movie musical. While musical comedy veteran Casey Nicholaw originated the musical’s moves, à la lunch-tray choreography and spontaneous tap dance breaks, this film adaptation will have a fresh take courtesy of choreographer Kyle Hanagami. With a signature style that’s intricate, musically expressive, and invitingly fun, Hanagami has emerged as a go-to collaborator in both the K-pop and commercial-dance scenes. His viral touch may be exactly what this adaptation needs to bring the musical’s whip-smart lyrics—by Nell Benjamin, who, along with original screenplay and Broadway book writer Tina Fey, has hinted at some surprises and potentially a new song or two—to life on screen. The new film will stream on Paramount+, date to be announced. paramountplus.com. —Amanda Sherwin

The post 2023–24 Season Preview: The Shows at the Top of Our Must-See Lists appeared first on Dance Magazine.

“I never knew where dance would take me, but I knew that dance, and the art of it, was my life,” says La’Donna. That passion kept young La’Donna motivated while growing up in Compton, California, propelling her past a challenging upbringing to become one of today’s most sought-after choreographers, a burgeoning musical artist and a role model for young women. “I never back down, take no for an answer or allow anything to stop me from pursuing my dreams,” she says.

But talent, ambition and drive are rarely enough to achieve La’Donna’s kind of success—her multifaceted career is equally due to her generous spirit and collaborative nature. Although choreography is the most prominent aspect of her career, “I’ve always been a creative director,” says La’Donna. “But there was a point in time when there was no title.”

Even as a young dancer, La’Donna thought in a matrix of ideas, visualizing costumes and production elements during her middle-school dance shows. “I was never just worried about the eight-counts. I was always the person asking ‘What are they wearing?’ ‘How are you shooting that?’ Because I always wanted to get the best out of the bigger vision.”

Indeed, from the moment 3-year-old La’Donna told her mother she wanted to be a dancer, it was go time. Her mom, Debbie, found a local rec center that offered dance activities for children. “You wanna be a dancer?” one of the counselors asked La’Donna. She responded without hesitation: “No, I’m gonna be a dancer!” Another counselor told Debbie, “Your daughter is one out of 100. She needs to go learn the art,” and referred them to Regina’s School of the Arts in Compton. “I took her there, and we never looked back,” Debbie says. From there, she moved to Miss Monica’s Dance School.

Luck plays an element in every artist’s career, and it was by chance that La’Donna’s first audition, at just 10 years old, for a Ma$e music video, was led by Fatima Robinson, the legendary hip-hop choreographer for artists like Aaliyah, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. “Most people don’t know how far back Fatima and I go,” says La’Donna. New to the commercial world and in a room full of sparkles, leotards and tights, the young La’Donna stood out, sweatpants and all, and she was cast out of 300 hopefuls. 

Suddenly she was part of an industry she and her mom knew nothing about. Debbie, who held down a rigorous schedule as a bus driver for the city of Gardena, used vacation hours to take La’Donna to performances and recitals, and volunteered at Miss Monica’s so that she could provide one-on-one support.

Though the La’Donna of today, now in her early 30s, is in command of her artistry and her career, on the set of that first video shoot she was as unsure of herself as any other young dancer. “I was killin’ it at first!” she says. But when Robinson walked in with Ma$e, everything went blank and she forgot the choreography.

“Fatima pulled me to the side and said, ‘It’s okay. Go home and practice. I know you got it.’ ” It was clear that the seeds of La’Donna’s drive were already taking root: She practiced so late into the night that Debbie had to remind her to sleep. “She was so into what she wanted to do,” Debbie says. “She was exceptional in school, too. Her mentality was so mature for her age.” The next day on set, her confidence had returned and she realized how much fun the artistic process was.

Even then, Robinson saw La’Donna’s raw talent. “Her choreography skills were always stellar,” Robinson says. “She’s both street and trained, which made her extra-special. Her musicality­ has always been great, and it’s wonderful to watch how she commands the room with calmness and confidence.”

Robinson’s validation has nurtured La’Donna’s creative voice, her ambition and a positive, generous approach that draws other artists to her. “My very first job in L.A. as a dancer was under the choreography direction of Robinson, assisted by Charm La’Donna,” says JaQuel Knight, the movement director for H&M Move and the choreographer behind Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” and “Formation” videos, as well as her iconic 2018 Coachella performance. “For 16 years of my career, I’ve been connected to Charm, and I’m so proud of her, to be able to grow alongside her, and witness all the beautiful and impactful things that she’s doing.”

La’Donna made another big impression, at 13, during her audition for the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. The dancers were tasked with creating their own routines, and La’Donna thought to herself, I’m just gonna do what I feel, and dance my life away. Looking back, she says that LACHSA is where her real training began, where she began to dive deeply into dance and dissect it. “It became not just modern, but Horton. Not just jazz, but Luigi. I started to learn different styles and adapt my body to new things. I fell in love with dance in a different way.”

At LACHSA, she set her sights on a conventional career path. “My teachers and peers definitely thought I’d be going to a school like Fordham or University of the Arts. They thought I was going to be that trained theater performer,” says La’Donna. “And I thought so too! You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t gonna be a principal at Ailey one day.”

Debbie insisted on college, and La’Donna got into UCLA. But fate intervened again, toward the end of her senior year of high school, when she got hired on Madonna’s 2006 Confessions tour—at just 17. Transitioning to homeschooling, she was the tour’s youngest dancer. Madonna took education as seriously as Debbie did, and on top of providing tutors and study time, she encouraged La’Donna to stay focused on college. “I knew if I didn’t get all my schoolwork done, I couldn’t be on tour, and Madonna made sure of that,” La’Donna says. For four years, she attended UCLA while assisting Robinson with music videos and Super Bowl halftime shows, and building her own relationships and reputation. By the time she earned her bachelor’s degree in world arts and cultures, she was ready to dive into the entertainment industry. 

Compton may have been the site of some of La’Donna’s biggest challenges, but as luck would have it, it was also the source of one of her greatest opportunities: Fellow Compton native Kendrick Lamar, the Grammy- and Pulitzer Prize–winning­ rap artist, hired her in 2017 as the choreographer and sole female dancer for his DAMN tour, and she went on to choreograph and dance in his 2018 Grammy performance—both deeply personal experiences. “For us to be from the same place, and for him to give me the opportunity to be creative, is an experience that I can never take for granted,” La’Donna says. “Being onstage with him gave me that feeling again, the same one that I had when I was 10 years old at that audition. I loved it.”

As her collaboration with Lamar continues this year, choreographing for his The Big Steppers world tour, she reflects on that pivotal experience. “It showed me that I could be onstage and offstage. And in the pursuit of my own music, it showed me that I can be a performer and a creative,” she says. It has also opened the door to more opportunities, including choreographing the El Mal Querer tour for Spanish pop star Rosalía in 2019, plus, this year alone, tours for Dua Lipa, Lil Baby and The Weeknd. When it came to making her own music, though, “my own self-doubts allowed me to believe that releasing my music would interfere with what I was doing at the time, or that it would somehow inter­fere with the artists I was working with,” she says. With the encouragement of her older brother, in 2020 she dropped her debut single, “So & So,” and the follow-up, “Westside,” from her self-titled album. (She’s even choreographed and co-directed music videos, with Emil Nava, for her own tunes.)

“It’s beautiful to see Charm really shine as a choreographer, an emcee and a performer,” says Emmy-nominated fellow­ Los Angeles choreographer Chloé Arnold. “It’s exciting to see a young Black woman creating beautiful works for mega-superstars, creating powerful performances and representing young Black women choreographers.”

And just as she was mentored by her mother, Robinson and Madonna, La’Donna takes other aspiring women under her wing. When teaching, she invites conversations that allow her students to grow beyond the eight-counts. “For me, dance is a discipline, our common language,” she says. “But we don’t just talk about dance. We talk about life.” She hopes to one day develop a program for dancers that focuses on arts, business and making empowered choices.

As La’Donna’s vision for the future continues to expand, she stays grounded by her upbringing—and still embraces the sense of wonder she felt as that determined kid. “When I think back, I had no clue about how vast dance was beyond physical movement,” she says. And she doesn’t get caught up with titles. “I am who I am. I’m a creative director of life! I design my life, so I just walk in that truth.” 

The post Charm La’Donna Is Choreographing Her Life—and Conjuring an Empire appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Go ahead and imagine it: thousands of TikTokers posting their own takes on Knight’s indelible choreography. The song setting streaming records as fans play it on repeat, trying to get the hand flip just so. A dance-driven #SingleLadiesChallenge, inevitably.

It’s a fun thought exercise that also captures a tectonic shift in the cultural landscape. Dance has long played a critical role in the entertainment industry. But as visually oriented social media platforms have risen (and risen, and risen) over the past several years, dance has increasingly become, as Knight says, “the main character.” Beyoncé’s 2009 “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” video, with its unequivocal celebration of choreography, heralded a new era: Today, it’s often a great dance that propels a song to the top of the charts. 

“People are no longer saying, ‘Have you heard the Beyoncé song?’ ” says Knight, now one of the star’s go-to choreographers. “It’s ‘Have you seen the Beyoncé record?’ ”

What hasn’t changed is the industry’s treatment of dance artists. On large commercial music and film projects, most creative leaders often receive generous compensation, and residual payments for further use of their work. But choreographers typically get only a daily or weekly rate, based on their level and experience. The situation appears even starker when the choreographic contributions of social media creators are factored—or, rather, not factored—into the equation. “Over the past year and a half, so many of the biggest records were directly tied to TikTok dances,” Knight says. “Those songs made millions. And the creators of the dances received zero.” 

Last year, Knight launched Knight Choreography and Music Publishing Inc. with the goal of addressing that inequity head-on. To compel the entertainment world to respect dance artists, his new enterprise has begun copyrighting commercial choreography—not just Knight’s work, but also the work of other creators, particularly artists of color. 

It’s an industry-rattling move. It’s also a very JaQuel move. “What JaQuel has always embodied is the magic of shaking the status quo,” says tap artist and longtime friend Chloe Arnold.

From the beginning, Knight was fascinated by dance’s power to transfix audiences and transform culture. Born in North Carolina and raised in Atlanta, he grew up dancing along to MTV music videos before taking his first formal dance class at age 14. In high school, he played the saxophone in, and created movement for, the marching band, marveling at the effect choreography could have on a crowd. At only 19, he got his “Single Ladies” break after being scouted by choreographer Frank Gatson Jr.

Since then, Knight has built an extraordinary resumé. Beyoncé still lives at the top of it—he’s worked with her on two Super Bowls, four world tours, Lemonade, Homecoming and Black Is King, among other projects—but the list also includes Megan Thee Stallion, Britney Spears, Brandy, Nicole Scherzinger and Tinashe.

From the early days of his career, Knight was struck by the difference in resources allotted to white and Black music artists. Three weeks after the release of “Single Ladies,” he booked a job with Britney Spears. “My day rate for Britney was almost my weekly rate for Beyoncé,” he says. “And neither of those rates were all that good. Nothing made sense.”

Over time, Knight realized the systemic nature of the problem. “Choreographers are really the bastard kids of the industry,” he says. “We don’t have the respect that should be on our names based on the value we bring to a project, especially those of us who are Black and brown.” Earning choreographers that respect, he realized, would require forcing the industry to recognize their work’s value. And copyright—the establishment of legal ownership—would be his crowbar. 

Knight created Knight Choreography and Music Publishing Inc. with the hope that it would eventually act like a traditional music publishing company, helping choreographers copyright their dances and then license those dances for use in tours, commercials, films and other areas, like video games and NFTs. To Arnold—who’s in the process of copyrighting a piece of her viral choreography for the Syncopated Ladies set to the Prince song “When Doves Cry” with the help of Knight’s company—it’s both a practical and a poetic idea.

“He’s securing the future of these dance artists in a very concrete way,” she says. “But his work also ties into bigger conversations about how, in the past, artists of color have been written out of history. If you want to challenge that kind of generational oppression, you have to create generational wealth, and that starts with ownership.”

Copyrighting movement is a notoriously byzantine process. Federal law dictates that ownership cannot exist until a creative work is “fixed.” For choreography, being captured on video is sometimes only part of the equation. A Labanotation score can provide vital additional details, but the creation of such a score is an expensive and time-consuming endeavorthat requires a specialist to transcribe every gesture (and often, for video works, every camera angle). The first dance Knight copyrighted was “Single Ladies,” which involved a hefty Labanotation score costing thousands of dollars.

The current copyright system is also geared toward concert dance works, rather than shorter commercial and social media projects. “So what do you do for all these platforms—advertisements­, TikTok videos—that operate in 15- and 30-second­ blocks?” Knight asks. 

A team of experts is helping Knight surmount those hurdles, including lawyer David Hecht, who represented the creators that sued Epic Games over its use of their dances in the video game Fortnite. Last summer, the technology company Logitech also joined up with Knight to help 10 BIPOC choreographers, Arnold among them, copyright their viral dances. The partnership developed in the wake of the #BlackTikTokStrike, which saw Black creators on the app protesting the lack of recognition for their contributions; the list of copyrights now in process features several TikTok dances by Black artists, including Keara Wilson’s “Savage” dance and Mya Johnson and Chris Cotter’s “Up” dance. 

“JaQuel isn’t just talking about doing good. He’s taking action,”­ says Meridith Rojas, global head of entertainment and creator marketing at Logitech. “We wanted to help more artists realize that copyrighting this kind of work is possible. It’s a signal to the creators to feel more empowered to create. It’s also a signal to everybody who has felt like they can just take dance and use it without permission: Stop.” A short film documenting the Logitech collaboration is slated to premiere this year.

Going forward, Knight wants to look backward, securing copyrights for influential commercial dance works of the past. “How do we make sure we have truly given the icons that came before us their flowers?” he says. “I feel like we still owe Michael Peters”—the choreographer of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”—“so much money for that beautiful art, which you see everywhere. The Peters estate should be rolling in dough!”

Though Knight sees copyright protection as the bedrock on which to build dance artists’ future security, he also understands that a time-consuming legal process won’t address their immediate needs. In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, Knight founded a nonprofit, The JaQuel Knight Foundation, to support dancers, particularly members of marginalized groups. During shutdowns, he partnered with relief organizations to provide grants and meals to dance artists. With the support of donors, he hopes to continue to give grants and scholarships well after the pandemic and to continue impacting, encouraging and inspiring the next generation of artists. “Just to help dancers, period—because they need help right now—that’s the goal of the foundation,” he says.

Knight is also investigating ways to eliminate the restrictive work-for-hire agreements most commercial choreographers are forced to sign, relinquishing legal rights to their work in order to receive their daily or weekly rates. “It’s insane that choreographers are slaves to this document they have to sign to get their check,” Knight says. “So now I’m in talks with state legislation about how we can get rid of work-for-hire for this field altogether.” And he hasn’t forgotten about the industry’s dancers: “If they’re on camera, I want to see them getting residual pay wherever that footage is used.”

Waging a multi-front battle against a multibillion-dollar industry­ can be exhausting. “There are definitely days where I’m like, ‘Could I just do my eight-counts?’ ” Knight says, laughing. “But I think all artists have to challenge themselves to care more about the legalities of it all. We have to challenge our agents. We have to challenge our managers. We have to challenge the system if we want to get to a space where dance has the respect it deserves.” 

The post JaQuel Knight: Changing the Game, From Choreography to Copyright appeared first on Dance Magazine.

JaQuel Knight is facing this question today in his journey to copyright his iconic choreographic work with artists like Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion. Thanks to U.S. copyright law, the process has not been easy. Through a partnership with the Dance Notation Bureau, Knight has been working with Lynne Weber to put his work into Labanotation. On July 9, 2020, he received an approved registered copyright for his “Single Ladies” choreography, making him the first commercial choreographer in pop music to succeed in copyrighting his work.

Understanding the challenges in making this happen requires a close look at the history of U.S. copyright law. Here’s what dancemakers should know about the background of copyright, how they can register their work and what more could be done to legally protect dance.

The post What Copyright Protections Do Choreographers Have Over Their Work? appeared first on Dance Magazine.

To spread that joy and hope—and raise some sorely needed funds—Allen is putting on a 12-hour digital dance-a-thon on Saturday, June 13, called Dance To The Music. Along with her co-host, choreographer JaQuel Knight, Allen will be livestreaming from 12 pm to 12 am Pacific, sharing impromptu performances from top dancers, inspirational conversations with celebrities, dance classes with major choreographers, spotlights on studios around the country, and DJ sets that will get us all moving together.

Presented by Debbie Allen Dance Academy, JaQuel Knight Foundation, Dance Media, AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Annenberg Foundation, the event’s main goal is to raise funds for dancers, choreographers and dance teachers whose jobs have been derailed by the impact of COVID-19. But Allen also hopes to uplift everyone though dance, and raise awareness for the many virtual dance opportunities being shared online today.

“Right now, as governors announce that our industry will be part of the last phase to open, artists like myself, we’re dying to be creative,” says New York City Ballet principal Tiler Peck, who will be featured on the stream. “So many of us feel so isolated—we’re all at our respective homes, but we’re used to dancing together. We’re dying to be unified as one community.”

The lineup includes dozens of special guests: mainstream names like Dolly Parton, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ellen Pompeo and Billy Porter, plus dance stars like Misty Copeland, Mia Michaels, the Rockettes and Savion Glover.

“Debbie is like the mother of dance to all of us,” adds Peck. “If anyone can pull all these people together, it’s her.”

The entire event will stream live on Allen’s Instagram, @TheRealDebbieAllen.

Before the show, Dance Magazine and our friends at Pointe, Dance Teacher and Dance Spirit will be hosting “red carpet” conversations on Instagram Live with several of the stars that are scheduled to appear.

One more element of fun? The dance studio that hosts the biggest digital watch party with their students on Zoom or Google Meet will receive complimentary subscriptions to Dance Media magazines and special recognition at the Dance Teacher Awards. To enter, just send a screenshot of your video chat and a count of participants to danceathon@dancemedia.com by Tuesday, June 16.

Funds raised through Dance To The Music will go to The Actors Fund, Career Transition For Dancers, The International Association of Blacks in Dance, International Association for Dance Medicine & Science, Dance Resource Center, Debbie Allen Dance Academy, The JaQuel Knight Foundation’s Dancers’ Relief Fund, National Dance Education Organization, Dance/USA, The NYC Dancers Relief Fund and other non-profit organizations.

What’s more, Allen hopes this event will bring “energy and light” to the dance world, and connect us all together.

“When I did my very first Instagram class in March,” she recalls, “there was a woman who was raising her children and hadn’t taken a moment for herself, but decided, ‘I’m going to go take this class.’ And she came out of it so motivated. She had been in kind of a dark place. And then outside, dancing, she remembered the trees were green, the clouds were flowing, the birds were flying and the world was still beautiful in the midst of all we’re dealing with. That is what dance brings.”

Update 6/15: Allen is still accepting donations through her
website for another week.

The post Debbie Allen Is Throwing a Massive Dance-a-thon—and You’re Invited appeared first on Dance Magazine.

The women, of course, were Ashley Everett and Ebony Williams—and Beyoncé. The video was “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” and the co-choreographer was 19-year-old Knight, along with Frank Gatson Jr. “I went into that hoping it could be the gig of a lifetime,” Knight says. “I knew it was my one big chance—’Don’t screw it up,’ I kept telling myself. I guess I played my cards right.” Now, nearly 10 years later, Knight is one of the most sought-after choreographers in L.A.

That wasn’t the plan, though: Knight, who grew up in Atlanta, hoped to become a professional dancer. He learned to move by watching TLC and MC Hammer videos, and started taking classes at 14. By 18, Knight had begun auditioning in L.A., where Gatson, Beyoncé’s longtime choreographer and creative director, spotted him. Although he didn’t get the dance role, Gatson liked the way he moved and asked Knight to come up with some choreography. They worked together on a Michelle Williams gig, and a few months later Gatson called and said he had a job with Beyoncé that he wanted Knight for immediately. “If Bey likes you, you’ll stay. If not, we’ll figure something else out for you,” said Gatson. Knight flew to New York City that night—and Bey liked him, so he stayed.

After “Single Ladies,” Knight was a choreographer for Beyoncé’s I Am…, The Mrs. Carter Show and Formation world tours, plus many of her music videos, including her 2016 Lemonade visual album. “She knows what she wants to do and how she wants to present herself,” he says. “We do our very best to make sure that vision happens for her.”

If Beyoncé and her dancers always look perfectly polished onstage, that’s thanks in part to the star’s desire to “always get it right,” says Knight. “Our rehearsals are super-intense,” he says. “We’re very hard on the dancers because we have such a high bar to maintain. And when Beyoncé comes in the room, the dynamic doesn’t change much. She doesn’t come in like, ‘Okay, The Queen is here!’ She’s just hoppin’ in with the dancers.”

So what’s next for Knight? He’s interested in developing movie screenplays and television shows. “I want to bring back those big musicals—Sweet Charity, Chicago, West Side Story,” he says. “And my first script is on its way!” He also wants to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at Beyoncé’s dancers—and what it’s like working with the world’s biggest superstar. But even when Beyoncé is on hiatus, Knight isn’t. “Downtime is just time thinking of the master plan.”

The post This Choreographer Gets Beyoncé in Formation appeared first on Dance Magazine.