Kyle Abraham is Keeping His Dance Company in Motion

Kyle Abraham's company, indeed his work is unlike most others. He's a young and talented dancer and choreographer from Pittsburgh, PA, who performs regularly around the country. He recently presented his latest piece, The Radio Show, at Danspace Project in New York. The title refers to a popular radio station that Kyle grew up listening to, WAMO, that shuttered last year. He uses dance to explore what this loss does to an urban community that listened together and collectively connected to the station as a kind of therapy. We got Kyle to stop moving long enough to answer a few questions.

Your company, Abraham.In.Motion, preformed its first evening-length work this spring, to acclaim from New York Times, New York Press, and others. But this wasn't your first time at the rodeo. Can you give us an idea of the steps it takes to get from a kid who likes dance, to a being a young choreographer who can hire dancers and generate a following?

I used to create dances to Bell Biv Devoe for me and my friends at church camp when I was in middle school. But because the arts schools didn't seem to have as much going on academically as some of the other public schools, I kinda backed away from idea of studying dance to focus on playing cello and studying foreign language. My best friend in high school told me to audition for the high school musical as a dancer and even though I took a hiatus for a year and a half in my twenties, its easy to say that I haven't really stopped dancing or making dances since that the first day of musical rehearsals.

During that brief hiatus, I realized that I wanted to be a dance maker more than a dancer for a dance company. I've been really lucky over the last few years to be able to have a sustainable career as a dance maker.

I started teaching master classes when I joined the Dance Alloy, a Pittsburgh, PA based dance company. Whenever we taught in a university setting, I'd teach a modern or ballet class. Since then, I've had a lot of great opportunities to teach at various high schools, colleges, summer programs around the world. I also have always made solos for myself… even before I'd say I was a dancer. So this, too, allows me to travel around and perform a solo show in smaller venues. I just did a really fun solo show in St. Pete a few weeks ago where I was also teaching. That show has now lead to a bunch of great opportunities for 2011 and 2012 teaching, performing and choreographing throughout Florida.

Tell us a bit about the dancers you work with, where they come from, and what they bring to your work.

I currently have a company of around seven dancers. Some of whom I met either studying at Purchase College, or were referred to me by a faculty member or friend there. Others I met while creating work out of town and responded to their dancing and artistry.

I think I'm also lucky that I have a really fun and talented group of dance artists to work with. Their humor inspires me. Their lives and commitment to the work inspires me. Although the work is generally created from some aspect of my life, I constantly call on them for their input and criticism.

We've found when talking with other creative leaders that the management and fiscal sides don't usually come naturally. Where have you found support for these parts of the process?

For years now I've handled all of the financial number crunching and booking of shows myself—but that will be changing this summer! I just received a BUILD grant to build my company's infrastructure and in the process, I signed with Pentacle, a world-renowned dance agency who will find work for the company and educate me on some of the business aspects that I'm a little slow on.

I've been thinking about getting my 501c3 status for several years, but found that it wasn't something I needed right away. There are several great fiscal sponsorship programs available for artists who write grants and need the assistance of a fiscal sponsor. I am a member of both The Field and Dance Theater Workshop. Both entities have been extremely helpful answering my questions about receiving donations and applying for funding.

Both organizations have been great for other needs, too, like finding insurance rates for artists, funding cycles, residency activities and a lot more. I've currently been talking to them about trying to become a 501c3, myself, and what the pros and cons of that move might be.

You're preparing for a world premier event at Jacob's Pillow in August. Can you tell us how this piece came about, the Creative Development Residency, and ... Eadweard Muybridge?

I got the idea for the Muybridge work around the same time I started making "The Radio Show." I was really drawn to some of the prints on exhibition with the Bacon show at The Whitney last summer. But because I was in the middle of creating The Radio Show, I put all of those thoughts on hold. During my residency this past fall, to Jacobs Pillow, I decided to take the time to really dive into the Muybridge work.

I was thinking about what it means to make a replication of a replication… and what is lost in its translation in relation to time and memory. I'm still working on a title for it. I just added myself to the cast today, so that should tell you that its all pretty open right now. I'm a little scared and excited at the same time because it's such a different process for us… but I love it!

Photo: Steven Schreiber, courtesy Abraham.In.Motion