Cleveland’s Inlet Dance Theatre is performing a new Wharton Center commissioned dance performance, Among the Darkest Shadows, about two victims of human trafficking. I sat down with Dominic Moore-Dunson who plays Lodi in the show.
Cindy Kangas: The company was founded in 2001. Can you tell us about the history and how it’s grown since then?
Dominic Moore-Dunson: I joined in 2010. We were still coming out of the grass roots stage then. Since then, the company gained more credit in the marketplace, because we're doing more concerts. We perform and educate. We have inflow and outflow programming. People come to us to learn and we go out to community. The last couple years we've really started picking up the cultural aspect of what we're doing.
CK: The company has traveled all over the world. Have you gone on any of the trips? Tell me about the exchanges.
DMD: In 2008, Inlet went to Easter Island and I got to perform the piece they created as a result of that. Our company is great at passing dance experiences on to the next generation. I didn’t physically go, but I've learned all the names of the places they visited and the stories involved. Coming to Michigan for three weeks as a national touring company is awesome, because we get to be with each other and dig into our work and be better artists on a daily basis.
CK: How does the company attract new dancers? How did you join?
DMD: I got online and searched for local companies, and Inlet popped up. I emailed and I called. I was in the middle of a semester in college and decided I wanted to go out into the world and dance. I attended school three days a week, then I was in the studio the other days and I loved it. I've been here seven years. We have summer dance camps for two to six week durations. There we look at people to determine if they fit the D.N.A. of Inlet.
CK: What intensive training programs do you offer?
DMD: We have an inflow training apprentice program for trainees with various options as well as a program at the music settlement in Cleveland. It's in adult technique class. We also offer partnering. There is a really cool program at the end of the program with outdoor concerts. They are free concerts that are so great to see, because kids get on stage with us.
CK: How do you stay healthy and injury free?
DMD: We have to eat right. Each one of us has a different dietary plan, because each of us has a different body type. I lift a lot, some of the women are flyers. What we need inside our bodies is different. We go to the gym sometimes twice a day. We're no different from N.B.A. or N.F.L. athletes. We're going to get injured, but there's a difference between being hurt and being injured. You have to dance hurt. When there's an injury, you take care of that thing but you have to take care of yourself as a professional and be mindful that there things you can do to prevent injury.
CK: How long have you danced and what have you studied.
DMD: I started dancing when I was two. Growing up, I did Broadway-style tap and jazz. As I got to my pre-teen years I started ballet and discovered modern dance. I attended a performing arts school in Akron, Ohio.
CK: Did you have dance role models growing up?
DMD: I loved Fred Astaire, Michael Jackson, and MC Hammer. I’d watch people on TV and imitate them.
CK: Do you have advice for young people perusing dance?
DMD: We always talk about the “why” question. Ask yourself why you want to dance. It isn't the easiest thing to do, because it's as physical as a professional sport, but not as lucrative. A lot of times you feel pressure by your parents to find another route, because they're concerned about you being stable and having money. Dance doesn’t do that, but dance has the ability to make change sustainable. That’s what's most important to us, even more than having money in the bank. If you have a passion for dance, really understand the reason why, then it's easier to get your parents and other people understand.
CK: Tell me about your wardrobe for this show.
DMD: We are bare feet most of the time. For this show it’s different. We have a lot more small accessories, like necklaces and hats. There’s a trick to figuring out how to do that when we aren’t used to extra pieces of fabric. It’s a learning curve. We have a lot of diverse music too. In rehearsals, we would tell Bill we need a song for a certain situation and he would search through his ITunes library.
CK: Do you have pre-show rituals?
DMD: We are released from technique class about an hour and a half before the show and everyone disperses to do their own thing. Some of us are more ritualistic others. I like to walk in circles around the stage. We have a group prayer called a huddle before we get on stage.
CK: Tell me about the company chemistry.
DMD: We are a family and everything that family means. We love each other, we get on each other's nerves. It's a family of choice and it's really important to say that, because when you choose a family, you have to be able to work with one another, especially on the road for six hours a day. These friendships will hopefully will last a lifetime.
CK: Inlet is covering pretty heavy social topics. How do you select topics and do you feel a certain responsibility to convey properly?
DMD: As artists, we pay attention to the world around us. We can't live in our own artistic bubbles. We really pay attention to what's happening in the world and respond to that. Then we ask ourselves why are we responding and what we trying to say. We want to start a deeper conversation. We have a responsibility to use dance to talk about the things in our real world.
CK: You have a men’s workshop in March...
DMD: Yes! I'm really excited. There is one male for every ten women in this industry. It's something we talk about a lot, we have a fraternity. Current make company members come and alumni still come hang out. It’s important to get guys together to have these conversations. We just love to dance.
CK: What’s coming up after this show?
DMD: We have a concert at a retirement center four days after we get back to Cleveland. Afterwards, Kevin and I have a show we're creating called Black Art Project in April. We have our summer dance intensive coming up and a show based on a children's book, followed by a trip to Oklahoma. The Fall season starts in Mexico.
CK: If fans want more information, where can they look?
DMD: You can get tickets on the Wharton website and follow our company on YouTube.
Inlet Dance Theatre’s Among the Darkest Shadows will be performed Thursday, February 16 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, February 19 at 1:00 pm in the Pasant Theatre. Tickets are $19.50 and $18 for MSU students and are available at whartoncenter.com, 1-800-WHARTON, or at the Auto-Insurance Ticket Office.
