Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tamara Leigh & Nikki Theroux. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tamara Leigh & Nikki Theroux, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
Starting with an answer that many of us can relate to, creating a company is a big risk in itself! During the pandemic, as dancers, we and so many of our creative collaborators lost our work. We wanted to find a way to create community again. So in 2021, while temporarily living in different cities and with only out-of-pocket funding, we decided to start Wldflwr Dance Collective.
Since then, we’ve taken many more risks! We met one of our first collaborators, Apollo Flowerchild, while they were busking in the long tunnel of the L to 1 train transfer in NYC. While having a conversation about our newest work, our brains zoomed into their beautiful music. We knew we had to talk to the musician. While connecting, the energy immediately felt right, so we asked Apollo if they’d play for us during our first evening-length work, “the last to bloom.” Our risk paid off, and we’ve continued to work with musicians and other artists of various mediums since!
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?
Wldflwr Dance Collective is a contemporary dance theater collective based in New York City with a focus on widening the accessibility of dance and highlighting queer voices. One of our main goals as a collective is to create plenty of space for our collaborators’ individuality. We’ve found that having more voices in the creation process brings in unique perspectives, and therefore, welcomes more audience members to connect with the work.
We perform frequently throughout New York City and have begun touring as well. Recently, we’ve returned from a tour to Atlanta, GA where we premiered our newest work, “blue curfew.” We also teach open classes to movers of all levels to continue building community. Overall, we’re very proud of the work we’ve created and the opportunities we’ve been able to give to other artists who we deeply respect!
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For us, the most rewarding part of being an artist and creating this collective has been connecting with our audiences and communities. Having multimedium performances with interactive aspects creates more opportunities for people of different backgrounds to relate to the work. We’re so grateful to have the platform to bring queer visions to new audiences!
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Something that often goes unseen is just how many jobs and roles go into creating a full production. We have to wear many, MANY, different hats! Ranging from more creative roles, such as directing and choreography, to the administrative work of managing a company. Because we have to stretch our funding between the performers, we often have to take on unpaid roles ourselves that companies with more funding can instead hire.
Additionally, we started our journey with a residency and quickly learned how valuable they are to creating work while wearing all these hats. Being able to concentrate strictly on the collective’s creative work for extended periods of time has allowed us to bring play into the process and tap deeper into our imaginations.
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Image Credits
Photos by Alice Chacon and Demetrius Green