Find Out What Inspires Choreographer Marinda Davis
Choreographer’s block? Marinda Davis has the opposite problem: “I have 12 different ideas in my head at any given time,” the contemporary choreographer says. Born and raised in Tampa, FL, Davis grew up assisting convention-circuit greats like Frank Hatchett, Gus Giordano, and Dennis Caspary before moving to NYC to get her BA in dance at Marymount Manhattan College. After dancing for Sheila Barker and Anthony Morigerato, Davis was diagnosed with eight different diseases, many of them autoimmune. But she hasn’t let her health keep her from being a two-time Capezio A.C.E. Awards finalist, creating two evening-length works for her company, marInspired ; the storytellers, and teaching regularly on the convention circuit. Read on to find out how Davis selects from her wealth of inspirations. —Helen Rolfe
Your browser does not support the video tag.
“
I’ll listen nonstop to whatever song I’m
using, to know every detail of the music.
That calms me down and gets me focused. When
I was younger, I didn’t trust myself in the room, so I
would pre-plan quite a bit. About five years ago, I
realized that I was limiting myself and the dancers.
All dancers have strengths and weaknesses, and
when you play to those in real time, the coolest
things happen.”
Lisa Allain and Marinda Davis at Power Pak in 1999 (courtesy Davis)
{“adCodes”: [], “adsOrder”: [3]}
{“product_info”: {“caption”: “Buy Now”, “product_price”: 0, “product_vendor”: false, “linkout_url”: false, “product_compare_at_price”: 0}, “headline”: “”, “credit”: “”, “description”: “u003cpu003e”When I was growing up, every dance had the same cookie-cutter tricks, like u003ca href=”https://www.dancespirit.com/improve-your-fouettes-2528371854.html” target=”_blank”u003ea million fouettu00e9su003c/au003e. I always had this idea that there was a different way to get emotion and a story across, without all the tricks. I met u003cstrongu003eLisa u003c/strongu003eu003cstrongu003eAllainu003c/strongu003e when I was a Power Pak kid in the Starpower summer program, because she choreographed the opening numbers (which I now do). u003cstrongu003eHer u003c/strongu003eu003cstrongu003estyle was wild: Everything felt like the opposite of what your u003c/strongu003eu003cstrongu003ebody wanted to do.u003c/strongu003e u003cstrongu003eIt felt so foreign, but I immediately recognized that this was everything I’d imagined. u003c/strongu003eShe made pieces that had huge storylines and concepts, but she wasn’t using the standard tricks to get them across.”u003cspanu003eu003c/spanu003eu003c/pu003e”, “caption”: “u003cpu003eLisa Allain and Marinda Davis at Power Pak in 1999 (courtesy Davis)u003c/pu003e”}
{“product_info”: {“caption”: “Buy Now”, “product_price”: 0, “product_vendor”: false, “linkout_url”: false, “product_compare_at_price”: 0}, “headline”: “”, “credit”: “”, “description”: “u003cpu003e”I’ve started using a lot of songs from contemporary Broadway showsu2014u003cemu003eu003ca href=”https://www.dancespirit.com/tag/hamilton” target=”_blank”u003eHamiltonu003c/au003eu003c/emu003e, u003cemu003eThe Color Purpleu003c/emu003e, u003cemu003eDear Evan Hansenu003c/emu003e. u003cstrongu003eContemporary gets this rap of being so dark and gloomy. u003ca href=”https://www.dancespirit.com/cmon-get-happy-2326868707.html” target=”_blank”u003eWhy can’t we make happy work?u003c/au003e u003c/strongu003eIf we want to keep the genre going, we’ve got to make it a little more versatile, and music is a great way to do that.”u003c/pu003e”, “caption”: “u003cpu003emarInspired ; the storytellers in “give.me.LOVE.” at the El Portal in L.A. (Nick Field, courtesy Davis)u003c/pu003e”}
{“product_info”: {“caption”: “Buy Now”, “product_price”: 0, “product_vendor”: false, “linkout_url”: false, “product_compare_at_price”: 0}, “headline”: “”, “credit”: “”, “description”: “u003cpu003e”u003ca href=”https://www.dancespirit.com/tag/julianne-hough/” target=”_blank”u003eJulianne Houghu003c/au003e and I have been close since I choreographed a u003ca href=”https://www.dancespirit.com/tag/dancing-with-the-stars” target=”_blank”u003e’Dancing with the Stars’u003c/au003e piece for her in 2017, and I did her recent public-service announcement about endometriosis. SpeakENDO wanted dancing to reflect her pain and the strength she has to overcome it. It was a challenging project. u003cstrongu003eWhen you’re doing a commercial, you’re trying to please dancers and people from the ad industry, which can be difficult because you don’t speak the same language.u003c/strongu003e I kept pulling my assistants into the studio until we aligned my vision with SpeakENDO’s vision. The morning of, we got there super-early with Julianne. She’s such a great actress and dancer. I think the PSA is going to help a lot of people, too, which is what’s most important.”u003c/pu003e”, “caption”: “u003cpu003eDavis and Julianne Hough (courtesy ABC)u003c/pu003e”}
{“product_info”: {“caption”: “Buy Now”, “product_price”: 0, “product_vendor”: false, “linkout_url”: false, “product_compare_at_price”: 0}, “headline”: “”, “credit”: “”, “description”: “u003cpu003e”I spent January making ‘Flickers’ for u003ca href=”https://www.dancespirit.com/a_look_at_a_tribute_to_gus_giordano-2326034133.html” target=”_blank”u003eGiordano Dance Chicagou003c/au003e. Nan Giordano wanted me to create something about my chronic illness, to benefit charityu2014which was awesome of her. I didn’t want to at first, because I’ve made so much work about my health. But I realized we could make it uplifting, showing that in the darkest moments, there’s light around the corner. I asked Nan, ‘Do you want me to gear it towards jazz?’ She was adamant about me staying true to what I do. I’ve found that staying true to your voice creates a lane for you that no one else is in. It’s so important that choreographers don’t try to imitate trends.”u003c/pu003e”, “caption”: “u003cpu003eAssisting Gus Giordano at Power Pak in 2001 (courtesy Davis)u003c/pu003e”}
A version of this story appeared in the April 2019 issue of Dance Spirit with the title “Choreographer’s Collage: Marinda Davis.”
