Is it possible for one artist to simultaneously advance two professional careers, as both a dancer and a choreographer? Well, if one looks at the recent accomplishments of Darrell Grand Moultrie, it would seem so. Moultrie is currently dancing in the ensemble of the new Broadway musical Billy Elliot (now in previews and scheduled to open Nov. 13) while also choreographing two new ballets that will premiere later this season, and that's after having run over to New York's Joyce Theater the first week of October, on his one day off, to see BalletMet perform the new work it commissioned him to choreograph last summer.
A Juilliard graduate, born and raised in Harlem, Moultrie trained in classical ballet as well as many different forms of modern, popular, and commercial dance. "But ever since I was a kid, I loved musical theatre," he says. "And I'm really happy to see that Broadway has been opening its doors to concert-dance choreographers." Before being cast in Billy Elliot, Moultrie had performed on Broadway in Aida and Hairspray and in Atlanta in the first mounting of The Color Purple, for which he also served as dance captain. "But I hadn't been in a show for about five years," he says. "I had stopped dancing so I could focus more on doing freelance work as a choreographer. I knew, however, that I still wanted to perform, so I let a friend of mine convince me to audition for The Little Mermaid. I wasn't chosen, but the show was being cast by the same casting director who did Billy Elliot, and she asked me to come and audition for that production. She was very insistent and set up a private audition for me, on a Sunday no less. And that's pretty rare, so I went in and auditioned for them, and about a week later I got the call that I was in the show."
But landing the Billy Elliot job did not stop Moultrie from actively pursuing his choreographic career. "Believe it or not, I'm now doing it all simultaneously, but that's not how it's ever worked for me before," he says. "Usually when you're dancing in a show, you don't have enough free time to do choreography projects. But the management and producers of Billy Elliot are allowing me time off for my choreographic work — it's in my contract. Isn't that amazing? I am so grateful to them, and I realize how lucky I am to be able to do both. They're really allowing me to keep my name out there as a choreographer, which is so important to me, because choreography is ultimately what I want to do full time."
Staying Humble
This fall Moultrie has been commissioned by the Juilliard School to choreograph a work for its student dancers. "And Billy Elliot has already agreed to give me time off to attend the premiere," he says. "That won't be too hard of a project to do, because it's in New York. But they're also giving me time off in March to go to Atlanta, where I'll be premiering a new 20-minute piece I'm creating for the Atlanta Ballet. And they also gave me time off during our rehearsal period this past summer to go to BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio, to set a new ballet on them."
Moultrie finds that continuing to work as a dancer is very important to the development of who he is as a choreographer. "It keeps you humble," he explains. "One day I'm standing in a room getting notes on my performance, and the next day I'm standing up in front of a group of dancers and giving them notes. Sometimes, when I'm working here in the city, it can be within the hour that I shift from getting notes to giving them. And it's really funny when I find myself giving the same note that I just got. It gives you a wonderful sense of perspective."
In 2007, Moultrie won the Princess Grace Award for choreography, "and that was a really big moment for me," he says. The monetary award goes not directly to the individual artist but to a dance company interested in hiring a particular choreographer to create a new work — in Moultrie's case it was the Cincinnati Ballet. "It was such a great honor," he says, "because the company had applied for the award four or five times before with different choreographers but never got it. So when they finally won the award to bring me in, it was really exciting for all of us."
Moultrie dedicated the piece he made for the Cincinnati Ballet to his third-grade teacher, an indication of the value he places on education and the role of good teaching in the development of young dancers. In addition to his work as a dancer and choreographer, Moultrie serves as director of musical theatre at the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Harlem. His advice to aspiring terps: "Never give up! I auditioned four times for Aida and didn't get cast. And believe me, by the fifth time I really didn't want to go through it again, but I did, and it was at that fifth audition that I finally got picked."
Write to the author at ljsagolla@juno.com.