We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lenorris Arnold. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lenorris below.

Hi Lenorris, thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I’m literally so fulfilled always. Yes some days are hard but I love what I do! I get to create.. I get to show my crazy ideas from my head and put them out for the world to see. I have wonder what being an Uber driver would be like but my mind tends to think of dumb ish always.

Lenorris, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi! My name is Lenorris Arnold but you can call me “Lenny” for short. I was born in Memphis Tennessee where I shortly moved to Houston Texas at the age of 4. I’ve always been interested in anything that involved dance or theatre. I started taking dance classes when I was 10 and for anyone in my field that’s a pretty late start to training. I only took tap and that was it! I still regret how that happened but my mom and I didn’t know any better coming into this new world. After a year or basic training I really start loving tap and wanted more in my training so I moved to a studio that was known for their tap technique. I thrived there and maybe got in a bit of trouble along the way. After being at that studio for a year I decided to take a break from dance. I all of a sudden didn’t love it. I turned my love for dance to church. I started going every Sunday and was in the youth choir, youth usher board, and the step team. Once I got a bit older and about to go to high school I wanted to try dance again. I saw a studio in the neighborhood newspaper about this studio and the picture of the owner of the studio looked black to me and that made me happy. But she was the furthest from a black woman! I guess it was the lighting of the picture from the newspaper. I went to the studio and it helped change my life and made me fall in love with dance, truly. That studio was called Masters of Dance that is now called Masters Upper Level in Stafford Texas. It trained me and made me believe I could go far with dance and also made my love for tap switch to contemporary. After training there from 8th-12th grade I started teaching and choreographing for a few studios and that’s when my name started getting more known in Houston. I would teach tap, contemporary, and hip hop to any and everyone that wanted me and that’s changed since then because of a thing called boundaries in which I’m still learning. I started telling people to call me Lenny because of my love for Lenny Kravitz and it has stuck til this day.. except for my dance teacher that taught me everything, Kim.. she still calls me Lenorris and will never call me Lenny.. haha! I’ve choreographed and taught for almost 20 years and have seen any and everything but in 2022 I decided to put on my first show. It was called “The Iris” and it will forever be my baby. The Iris symbolizes hope and trust. Those 2 words never leave me. I wanted to tell my story of my battle with depression in all forms. Every dance piece in the show dictated a simple word that is meaningful to me. I rallied 17 of some of the best dancers I know that were born and raised in Houston and promised I wouldn’t let them down and how great this show was going to be. They believed me and never doubted and I will forever be grateful for those 17 people for the rest of my life. I had to make a gofundme to help pay cost of theatre rental as well as pay my dancers. 10% of those proceeds from the gofundme went to Mental Health of Greater Houston charity! I had to and wanted to give back to Houston in some way. The show truly was a success. 3 solos out shows and still people were trying to get a ticket the day of the show and even had a waiting list on the last day of shows… a blessing!! I did it! I put on my own show with the help of a handful of people that I trust with my life. It made me see that I’m more than a choreographer. I can do all things through Christ in which strengthens me.. that bible verse is real!! I’m here because of my faith in Jesus Christ. He leads my steps every day in every way and I wouldn’t have been able to do my show without trusting in him because it truly was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I want people that want to work with me to understand that I’m human and not a machine. Trust my process in when I create when you’re wanting to work with me. Make sure that you train!! I expect a certain level when I work with a dancer and if you’re not honestly training within your studio or different studios than I can’t do anything for you because you don’t know yourself of your body they way you should. People see a certain work and will book you because of it but sometimes won’t put in the work to pour their selves in my work and it’s like you’re pissing on my work and that truly irritates an artist of any sort. All in all I’m blessed with making a life out of putting steps together and no it’s not easy.. ever.. but it’s the one thing that I simply can’t mess up and it’s the one thing that I will always have that is sacred to me.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Absolutely!!!!! I only took tap classes and that was it until I was 16. I lost out on basic technique with in ballet from an early age because I didn’t do it. When I was training I didn’t know that dance conventions were key to growth. I would go to a convention once every other year. That’s not ideal for a dancer that loves this art form. I didn’t know any better and I wasn’t pushed to know that conventions and taking from different teachers were important when I was a kid.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I’m over my work in the states. I want to at least die knowing that I worked overseas because it’s so much work over there but I’m just a speck of what this world is.. meaning it’s about who you know to get what you want when it comes to my work. I know I’m damn good and I know that I will be overseas one day.. just gotta trust the process and keep creating.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @lenny.a.choreo
• Youtube: @lenorrisarnold

Image Credits
Fluid Frames Dance Photography. Ben Doyle.