Whats it like choreographing in the round?
Parker Esse: Thrilling. It’s thrilling because you’re not only dancing with your whole body, your face, you’re performing to the people in front of you, but your back is dancing. It is so crucial to be breathing out of every single pore of your body when you dance. I talk to dancers about forced suspension relaxation when they dance. It’s just the dynamics, it’s so crucial that your body be continually in motion, whether it’s in isolation; it’s always breathing and moving because people behind you are getting the show, too. And I constantly keep it moving because it’s a gift to be in the round, because that’s reality. That’s real life. We don’t talk to one another and stay flat, we move around, and so it’s just as if we’re in real life dancing. And not to mention that the space you can travel, and the different layers that the audience can really see, and all the reveals. One thing turns into another, and patterns reveal another form, and it’s quite exciting to be in the round. Jo Reed
