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
"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."
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"When I was growing up, every dance had the same cookie-cutter tricks, like a million fouettés. I always had this idea that there was a different way to get emotion and a story across, without all the tricks. I met Lisa Allain when I was a Power Pak kid in the Starpower summer program, because she choreographed the opening numbers (which I now do). Her style was wild: Everything felt like the opposite of what your body wanted to do. It felt so foreign, but I immediately recognized that this was everything I'd imagined. She made pieces that had huge storylines and concepts, but she wasn't using the standard tricks to get them across."
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"I've started using a lot of songs from contemporary Broadway shows—Hamilton, The Color Purple, Dear Evan Hansen. Contemporary gets this rap of being so dark and gloomy. Why can't we make happy work? If 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."
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"Julianne Hough and I have been close since I choreographed a 'Dancing with the Stars' 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. When 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. 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."
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"I spent January making 'Flickers' for Giordano Dance Chicago. Nan Giordano wanted me to create something about my chronic illness, to benefit charity—which 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."
A version of this story appeared in the April 2019 issue of Dance Spirit with the title "Choreographer's Collage: Marinda Davis."