Schedule-wise, they work very differently from Ailey, and I say this first just because scheduling for me is everything, and you have to make a piece your resources are very important. So your first big post-Ailey commission is with the New York City Ballet. The two events coincided very nicely, and it made for a nice transition. But at the same time, I was also getting visibility and some acclaim for the work that I'd been doing. So my body was the first thing that told me that you’ve got to chill out on this. If you do that for almost 20 years, for as long as I’ve done it, eventually the wear and tear is going to take a toll. It’s the beginning of the disintegration of your joints and your muscles. What they don't tell dancers when you're young is that when you start to train and when you start to repeatedly kick your leg and pirouette and fall to your knees in all these dances, it is the beginning of the end. Oh, it was very easy because my body is starting to disintegrate.
How did you decide that now is the right time for you to move from dancing to choreography primarily? Your first piece for Ailey II premiered in 2015. There were a lot of people that kind of encouraged me to show things, and eventually, Robert Battle asked me to choreograph some pieces for the company. Not because I was afraid, but because I didn't really see it as something to show because it was a hobby for me.
It took me a very long time to show any choreography in New York. So I would do it just for kicks, just for myself, just because I like music and I like to dance. I just like to create anything-dance or things that go beyond dance. I never really wanted to be a choreographer, I’m a creative. My dance teacher was always choreographing, and she was always talking about creativity and how to make dance that comes from the deepest place. It was just a part of the culture of where I trained. I was already choreographing stuff and making things in, where I’m from, before I actually even got into the company. Vanity Fair: How has it felt to make the transition from dancer to choreographer? Was there a steep learning curve? That sometimes saying goodbye can be simple and sweet.” “Nothing lasts forever, but it does at the same time in our hearts and in our memories and in the essence of what’s left behind, and also in regards to my performance.
“I would like for people to know that endings can be beautiful, that they don’t have to be sad,” he said of his preparations to make a last solo performance.
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