We recently connected with Rickey Flagg II and have shared our conversation below.

Rickey, appreciate you joining us today. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?

I got my first contract when I was 22 after only 6 years of training. I was studying at The Dance Theatre of Harlem and they had a partnership with the Charlotte Ballet that acted as a feeder program for the Professional Training Students to transition into the field. The director came to one of our performances and he chose me! After that I had to send in some audition footage as a formality and there you have it. Booked! When I got there the environment was nice, the dancers were welcoming and the rep was good! I only stayed one season but I enjoyed my time while I was there.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I used to always dance from the time I was young. I was that kid who kept up with the latest dances and social trends as it relates to movement. Before I received any kind of formal training I was an athlete. I played basketball until I was 14 which totaled about seven years. I was going through lots of changes in my life at the time and decided that I was not best suited for the “sports scene” so I stopped. At that point I wasn’t involved in any activities I would just come home and be bored to pieces and frankly my mother got tired of hearing about it so she did something about it. Little did I know this step would change my life forever! She signed me up for a dance class. I took my first dance class on January 9, 2006 and that was pretty much all she wrote. I started with hip-hop then transitioned into Modern, West African, Tap, Jazz etc… Once I learned that I could make a living doing this I worked and pushed to my limits. At the top of my journey my teacher said “if you wanna do this you’re gonna have to take Ballet.” I said sign me up having no idea I would fall in love with this classical art form. I got accepted into a performing art high school for my last two years of high school and I studied heavily in ballet, modern, composition and improvisation. Simultaneously, I was getting training from another teacher at a different school in the evenings. I continued to train with him for another 3 years before I moved to NYC to train at the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

I have several moments that I’m proud of and grateful for throughout my career. First, is the variety of good training I had access to. I felt very prepared to step into the field and work. In my 10 years as a professional I’ve seen many of dancers struggle and even get hurt with certain rep and movement because their training isn’t set up to support the demand.

I’m also very proud of the establishment I currently work for, Collage Dance Collective. I have been there since pretty much the beginning and I have watched as the organization has flourished throughout the years. It’s so gratifying to see that and to know that I played a small part in the process and this is just the beginning. It’s kind of mind blowing to think about how I’m a part of this historical legacy that is Collage Dance.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I would choose dance a thousand times over. Dance has helped me to tap in and unlock pieces of myself that I don’t think I would have had access too otherwise. Dance really softened me up a lot believe it or not. I can have rigid and unwavering energy and opinions. Dance showed me empathy, compassion, surrender. I’ve evolved as a person because dance requires you connect with people and they can’t and won’t if they think you’re not being true.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

There are two things you have to have in order to be successful in this career. Love is number one. You have to love it with all your being. It’s way to hard and it’s way too under appreciated and ridiculously underpaid for you to not love it. If you don’t love it hang it up! And later in my career I found that sometimes love is not even enough. However, if you start there it makes it easier to navigate the rest. The second is Hunger. You have to want it badder than anything else in the world. It just requires that much focus and commitment.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Experience.thee.Rickey.Jay

Image Credits
Brittney Scales Rafael Baker Ziggy Mack