Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Kyle Abraham: From raves to the Royal - Vancouver Ballet Society
By Steve Sucato
Kyle Abraham has come a long way from his early days as a rave dancer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to now choreographing for the world’s most prominent dance companies. His latest, The Weathering, for London’s Royal Ballet, is set to premiere as part of a triple bill on March 24 at the Royal Opera House.
Abraham grew up in a middle-class African American neighbourhood. His schooling in the arts began at Pittsburgh’s Civic Light Opera Academy and the Creative and Performing Arts High School where he studied classical cello, piano, the visual arts, and dance. It wasn’t until age 17, when he saw the Joffrey Ballet in Billboards, set to the music of Prince, that Abraham says it sank in that dance could be a career choice and not just a social activity for him.
But, he says, “I knew that I wanted and needed to learn so much more before entering the professional arena.” That led him to move to New York State to attend SUNY Purchase where he earned a BFA degree with a focus on choreography. And even once he was four years into his professional career, Abraham went back to school to earn his MFA degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Abraham began as a dancer with Pittsburgh’s Dance Alloy and Attack Theatre, before joining New York’s David Dorfman Dance and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. In 2006, he founded his own contemporary group, A.I.M (Abraham.In.Motion), with a mission “to create a body of dance-based work that is galvanized by Black culture and history.”
In addition to creating original work for his company — now called A.I.M by Kyle Abraham — his career as a dancemaker skyrocketed with commissions from New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and the Cuban National Ballet.
Inspiration for many of his works has come from his hometown and family. From his earliest, Inventing Pookie Jenkins (2007) and The Radio Show (2010), to his latest, An Untitled Love (2021), which his company is currently touring, Abraham has often looked inward and to his past in bringing his choreographic vision and voice forward. “So much of the work I have made over the years is, in a lot of ways, rooted in a street or many streets in Pittsburgh,” said Abraham in an interview with Pittsburgh Magazine.
Abraham refers to his signature movement style as being a “post-modern gumbo.” It mixes social dance, ballet, modern, hip hop, and other styles he has been exposed to over his career. “I think there are too many sources of inspiration for me to try to give a singular person credit for how I move,” says Abraham. His movement has a uniqueness and allure in its use of hips, torso, and attack, which commands attention and can stir emotion.
Abraham’s 2013 MacArthur “Genius” Award brought him visibility early in his career. But he sees his trajectory as being a gradual rise rather than one in which the floodgates opened on opportunities because of any one of his many accolades.
His advice for young dancemakers: “Don’t get caught up in what others are doing or getting or you will lose sight of your purpose. Make the work that moves you.”
What has moved and challenged Abraham in his upcoming piece was working with a large (for him) cast of 11 and being mindful of not making a ballet too bold for the Royal Ballet’s audiences.
“Honestly, that’s the challenge when you make a work for a company of this size and stature,” says Abraham. “How ruckus can my first big work for them be, and how ruckus do I want it to be? I grapple with trying not to alienate a new audience, but still being true to myself.”
Set to new and existing atmospheric music by American composer/musician Ryan Lott, Abraham says that “in certain ways it is the most balletic work I have made for the stage to date.” Yet, he adds, The Weathering is very much him. “Every opportunity to work on a pointe piece is an exciting experiment. It’s interesting for me to think about how my movement sensibility might look in a pointe shoe.”
Before working with the Royal Ballet’s dancers, Abraham tried out movement ideas on freelance contemporary dancers with strong ballet technique who he knew in New York. He brought some of those dancers with him into the studio to initially help set that movement. It’s a tactic he says has helped him in creating works for the Ailey company and New York City Ballet.
Tight-lipped about describing his new 35-minute ballet, Abraham will only say The Weathering wasn’t inspired by Pittsburgh or family. He prefers to have audiences come to the theatre and go on a journey without him having influenced beforehand what that journey might entail. Following in the steps of his 2021 trio for the Royal Ballet, Optional Family: A Divertissement, The Weathering is sure to balance boldness and beauty in the distinct way for which Abraham’s works are known.
