Press Play - Brooklyn Ballet

 

Brooklyn Ballet presents two performances of The Brooklyn Nutcracker this Saturday December 14th, and we talked with one of their main performers, Michael “Big Mike” Fields, for this episode of Press Play. The show will take place at Kings Theatre, and you can watch more Brooklyn Ballet’s videos at nyxt.nyc/brooklynballet.


 

 

NYXT: What is the meaning of dance?

Big Mike: It’s another way that humans talk to each other and tell each other stories. To me, it is another language. You get to emotionally show what is in your mind physically, that’s what it would be for me as a language.

 

NYXT: Tell us about your relationship with the Brooklyn Ballet.

BM: The relationship between me and the Brooklyn Ballet - well, that goes all the way back to I wanna say 2004, 2005. It just so happened that Lynn (Lynn Parkerson, Founding Artistic Director of the Brooklyn Ballet) was looking for different dance styles, but she was looking for different dance styles to kind of show that all dances can fit in the same room. A friend of mine, Smiles, was heading to the audition.  You know, I went there to the photoshoot and we had such a good time exchanging and, you know, Lynn saw that I was ready to jump in. Since then its been from choreographing, collaboration, doing shows, teaching, it has been a great fruitful relationship, a creative one that I want to go on for a very, very long time, even longer than what I’ve been here. 

 

NYXT: What makes The Brooklyn Nutcracker different?

BM: The difference between this Nutcracker show and others is the fact that it’s called the Brooklyn Nutcracker. Which means that it involves the styles from the US from various black and Afrikan neighborhoods, Caribean neighborhoods, you have flexing, litefeet, popping, Chinese dances, you have the Flamenco dancing. One of the big things is the authenticity of our styles and bringing it together, almost like a big dinner table of dance, right?  I always believed that that’s the big difference you know, being able to see all the styles of dance come together, and, you know, of course, it is in Brooklyn. 

 

NYXT: What would you like people to learn from the show?

BM: Togetherness, but at the same time being able to say that you are also an individual like it’s okay to bring yourself to the dinner table and communicate. So if anything I would probably hope that people take some of that with them. Also to have a good time, we have the kids, who are always amazing and sweet, we have the adults, we have some of the great female dancers that I’ve ever seen in my life, we’ve got the boys coming out to represent Brooklyn, we have a Native American dancer, we just have so much that I would hope that people get lots of, you know, joy from the wondrous movements. But also just to understand that yes, we are all together, even though we are also very individual, and I would hope that people get that. 



 

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