The physicality of dancing is not easy. Art-making is serious business. The buzzword “rigor” has become synonymous with “integrity.” But could we gain something by reconnecting to good old-fashioned playtime? 

When it’s Nardia Boodoo’s turn to play her music in her dressing room at The Washington Ballet, it’s an event. “Everyone is like, ‘That’s such a cool song,’ and wants me to send it to them,” she says. “I feel like I have the better taste in my dressing room.” That’s partially because she mostly […]

Reggie “Regg Roc” Gray knows whether or not he’ll like a song within the first 15 seconds. It’s not that he only likes certain types of music—the list of his favorite artists ranges from Evanescence to Eminem to gospel singer Tasha Cobbs—but that he’s listening for a melodic line that will immediately draw him in. […]

Like most tap dancers, Ayodele Casel‘s relationship to music is an intimate one. And also like most tap dancers, she considers herself a musician, too. So it’s no surprise that when we asked Casel to create a playlist for us, she went deep, compiling her favorite Latin tracks, mostly from the ’70s. Though Casel describes […]

Anyone who has taken Kristin Sudeikis’ class knows that her love of music is contagious. It’s hard to leave her classes at Broadway Dance Center or Peridance without a new favorite song—partially because she has great taste, and partially because of the experiences she builds around what she plays. Music artists have taken note: Sudeikis […]

American Ballet Theatre soloist Skylar Brandt’s dancing is clean, precise and streamlined. It’s surprising, then, to learn that her taste in music is “all over the place,” she says. (Even more surprising is that Brandt, who has an Instagram following of over 80k, is “in the dark ages” when it comes to her music, and […]