What a whirlwind of a month it’s been, but I’m here to give our final update on the closing out of our process with the one and only Donald Byrd. We spent 10 days working with Donald and got to know him well and thoroughly enjoyed the process. As with any residency at South Chicago Dance Theatre, the whole company was involved and got to learn from the best! The piece includes 8 SCDT dancers and will debut at our home season show on April 27th alongside five other world premieres! Here’s a little bit more about the first finished product.

If Mr. Byrd’s residency taught me one thing, it’s to dive deep into the process and enjoy the process in order to develop a final product. Generally speaking, I am a Type-A, product and outcome driven person. I love when things are organized, in place, and clear. I’ve always been fascinated by people who are able to be fully invested in the creativity of a process, working and refining a piece of work to make it all that it is. Donald did exactly this. He began with 2 phrases of choreography and worked through collaboration with us dancers to create a lengthy piece full of exciting and athletic moments. Once all these “scenes” of movement were created, Donald began to organized them, weaving transitions in and out, adding more movement when necessary, playing with partnering, lifts, and thrilling skills. As dancers, we were ready and available to the changes and adjustments, as they make the piece into the spectacle that it is.

Later, we layered on music and continued to produce final touches on the piece with the assistance of Donald. Though the piece was a “final product” around day 5, it continued to evolve with the artistic direction of Donald Byrd as he was fully immersed in the process with us. I also appreciated his desire to get to know us as dancers. He engaged with us by asking questions about our personal life and interests throughout the process as to understand who we were within the space. We are people first, then dancers. It was important to remember this.

If you’re looking forward to seeing Donald’s finished product that he created through a fantastic process, mark April 27, 2023 on your calendar! We are back at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago with 6 brand new pieces. I’ll be sure to update you on each process – thanks for hanging along and learning more about this one. And the BIGGEST thank you to Donald Byrd for coming out to work with SCDT – we appreciate you!