NEXT STEP 2024: Creativity on the Horizon

Kicking it up a notch. Elevating one’s game. Rising to the next level.

It’s all right there in the name. NEXT STEP offers members of the PNB Company more than just studio space, talented dancers, and support from PNB’s incredible costume, lighting, and stage management departments. This is an opportunity to push forward in dance, and one that can have a substantial and long-term impact on a dance artist’s career.

NEXT STEP 2024 is well underway, and the selected choreographers have already begun their creative journeys. This year, audiences will see original work from Lily Wills, Noah Martzall, Luca Anaya, Melisa Guilliams, and the co-choreographer teams of Elle Macy/Dylan Wald and Amanda Morgan/Christopher D’Ariano.

NEXT STEP is a laboratory, a place where both new and experienced dancemakers can hone their craft and have an opportunity to be ‘in the front of the room.’ This can be a very challenging place to be, regardless of one’s professional dance experience. NEXT STEP serves far beyond the process of creating a new work. Choreographers explore how best to communicate their vision, build and execute a creative idea, and learn how to inspire and pull out the very best from their dancers.

The dancers are, in this case, the remarkable and gifted students from PNB School’s Professional Division. They hail from all over the US and beyond and bring with them a knowledge and experience that only dancers of this caliber can offer. Their involvement in NEXT STEP is in addition to the high demands of daily classes and a rigorous rehearsal schedule with the Company. The uniqueness of NEXT STEP provides the only performance of the year in which the Professional Division students are center stage. If you have ever attended a NEXT STEP performance, you have seen these dancers bring a breathtaking vitality and fearlessness to each piece they present. (See photos!)

NEXT STEP 2024 will be presented at On the Boards (100 W. Roy St.) on Tuesday, June 4 at 7:00pm. This is an event not to be missed! Save the date and treat yourself to one of the best and most original performances of the year!

– Eva Stone, NEXT STEP Program Coordinator