FACE TO FACE by Courtney R. Allen Andrew Palermo & Taye Diggs The artistic directors of dre.dance share their creative pro c e s s e s and hopes for their budding contemporary company. early 20 years ago, two trained under such renowned teachers their names. young boys formed an as Garth Fagan, Timothy Draper, P a l e rmo and Diggs recently completed instant bond after meeting Milton Myers and original Alvin Ailey a residency at Wichita State University in dance class in their native member James Tru i t t e . in Kansas, where they set the first 20 NR o c h e s t e r, New York. It Diggs decided to embark upon an minutes of their Joyce SoHo re s i d e n c y was a connection that would lay the acting career post-college, which led to w o r k - i n - p ro g ress b e y o n d . w o rd s on the g roundwork for the future establish- s t a rring roles as an original cast member p e rf o rming arts students. The piece, ment of their own 12-member company. of the Tony Aw a rd-winning musical a n d which delves into embracing life with To d a y, Andrew Palermo and Ta y e f e a t u re film R e n t, motion picture H o w autism, will pre m i e re April 2009 at the Diggs’ New York–based dre.dance is Stella Got Her Groove Back and, Tribeca Perf o r ming Arts Center as a full- entering its fourth season and cre a t i n g c u r re n t l y, ABC’s “Private Practice.” length work. The company is also quite a name within the perf o rming art s Meanwhile, Palermo chose to establish rehearsing a sociopolitical piece titled c o m m u n i t y. The press has praised their himself as a stage and commercial cho- the people, which will feature a live work as “powerful,” “unexpected,” re o g r a p h e r, teacher and Broadway per- o rchestra and cutting-edge visual eff e c t s , “athletic,” “passionate” and “abstract,” f o rm e r, starring as one of the primary to be pre s e n t e d at TPAC this month. and the company recently signed its first ensemble members of the box-office hits tour (set to begin in 2009) with booking Wicked and Annie Get Your Gun. Dance Te a c h er: What drives you p o w e rhou se IMG Artists, which also Although content with his acting to cre a t e ? re p resents such companies as Paul c a re e r, Diggs felt the tug of dance when- Taylor Dance Company and Pilobolus. ever he would chat with Palermo about Andrew Palermo: I began dance After graduating from Rochester’s his teaching gigs. The two rejoined to at such a young age that I downplayed it School of the Arts, the childhood friends i n s t ruct master classes at several well- because I was acting and singing, too. remained close while continuing their known studios, and in 2004, appro a c h e d Then, as I started choreographing later I musical theater education in diff e re n t Dancers Responding to AIDS about realized that it was something built p a rts of the country: Diggs attended showcasing their first benefit perf o rm- within me. I feel I have something to say, Syracuse University and Palermo went ance. The duo christened their fledgling whether it’s through choreography or to the University of Cincinnati. Both company dre.dance, a combination of teaching, and that’s just how I am made. October 2008 • www.dance-teacher.com 108 Dance is the purest expression there is changes of direction. I just want to m a k e different configurations. We divide the and maybe the oldest—dance and song s u re that I’m constantly stimulated by movements into eighths, take on full a re universal. Something we are doing the movement. segments, trade off as we go along or now could’ve been seen and understood c h o reog raph entire pieces separately. 2,000 years ago, and that’s pretty cool. DT: What is your creative process, and It’s a lot of telephone calls and coming is collaborating long distance due to up with interesting new ways to collab- Taye Diggs: The need to create just Diggs’ Los Angeles–based filming orate. I’ll find dancers on the West comes from this raw relationship that I schedule challenging? Coast, put them on video and e-mail have with music. I don’t know why it that to Drew. He has been e-mailing me chose me, but when I hear music I just AP: N o rm a l l y, I’ll start with the music the current rehearsal process and I’m want to move. And the way I feel when and get my inspiration from there, but able to view what he’s been working on I move is unlike any other feeling that I each piece is diff e rent. Lately I’m of the up to this point. It’s our own style and I have experienced. It’s something that I “anything goes” school—the less you think it adds to the quirkiness of don’t even understand, but I’m very limit yourself, the more open you are to d re.dance. We are forced to take what grateful for it. It allows me to focus and i n t e resting possibilities. The key is to we’ve been given and benefit from it, better direct all this energy that I have. challenge the dancers and myself by knowing that whatever comes out is making each piece unique and changing going to be really interesting. Were it DT: What has influenced your style? up the c r eative process. any other situation, we would be chore- Because of other things we have ographing completely differently and AP: We both love Jerome Robbins— going on, we are not a full-time 9-to-5 might miss out on an interesting out- h e ’s a perfect mixture of technical ability, c o m p a n y, and to keep that focus is a come. Embracing that fact is going to athleticism and everyday movement; challenge. It can be hectic for me some- result in a true creation. w e ’ re big fans of pedestrian movement. times to keep things running while M a r ty Kudelka, Wade Robson and teaching, but at the same time, I think DT: How did you react when watching Ohad Naharin are also big influences. that this split focus can be put to good your first piece together? Then again, there are a million diff e re n t use through stepping away from some- people out there who inspire us on a thing and coming back. Just the other AP: Mine was a feeling of sheer terror. daily basis. We both grew up playing a day I came from a play rehearsal back to But it made me notice that my attach- lot of sports while dancing, so incorpo- working on the people and my steps were ment to dre.dance is at a whole other rating athletic movement is a big part of all showbiz-y, having been influenced b y level than any other work I chore o g r a p h it. Our dancers, both men and women, what I was doing earlier. because it’s 100 percent us. If we have to be like brick houses. They have stopped it would stop, and that really to be really strong; we don’t change TD: It’s obviously best when we’re brings a lot of responsibility and pride things up for the girls. both in the same city and can vibe off of with it, and huge self-criticism at the each other. It is difficult when we’re same time—it’s a blessing and a curse, I TD: T h e re was always music playing in worlds apart, so we’ve had to try out guess. Like at the DRA event, Taye and my house, so I feel like I owe my love of dance in its rawest form to my pare n t s . We grew up dancing to the Jackson 5 and Earth, Wind and Fire. We’d have S a t u r day morning family sessions w h e r e we’d dance until the re c o r d skipped. Also, the resident modern dance company in Rochester was Garth Fagan Dance, and it was the first time I was exposed to this style of modern. It really caught my attention because it was a predominantly black modern dance company. It was something so dis- tant from what I was used to seeing onstage. There were these big muscular men doing strong and dynamic athletic movements. Today the movement I’m still drawn to when I choreograph is Ron Todorowski and Tiger Martina in dre.dance’s fall v e r y similar—staccato, jumps and 109 www.dance-teacher.com • October 2008 FACE TO FACE I were sitting in the back and I was freaking out about technical mishaps like lighting cues, not the choreography.