Principal Artist Katlyn Addison shares experience with “Reframing the Narrative” at the Kennedy Center

Katlyn Addison in Play on Impulse | By Beau Pearson

Principal Artist Katlyn Addison performed in the “Pathways to Performance: Exercises in Reframing the Narrative” production at the Kennedy Center earlier this month. When she participated in the experience two years ago, its impact left an indelible impression on her dance career.

“I felt like my spirit was lifted, I trusted in myself even more, and I felt more confident after leaving and working with the program [in 2022],” said Addison during a recent interview with “Conversations on Dance.” “I also felt like I wanted to take even more care of dancers of color that I have here in my space at Ballet West and make sure I’m being that example in the studio. Luckily here at Ballet West, there is that space for dancers to be themselves.”

As curator of the event and founder of Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet Theresa Ruth Howard said during an interview with WTOP News, “The title points out that sometimes people who are marginalized aren’t actually writing their own story. The story that gets written about us: the lack of Blacks in ballet or that maybe we don’t like ballet, we don’t understand it or we don’t want to do it, is incorrect. We need to take the moment and have the agency to scribe our own story, so that’s what we are doing.”

During an interview earlier this year with Conversations on Dance, Addison recalled her experience working on the project with Howard. “This is such a unique invitation that Theresa has invited me to be a part of and we are so lucky as dancers that will be there this year because it is such a rare opportunity as we learn and work with one another,” she said. “Yes, I’m a Principal Dancer, but I’m still a student and still have things to learn. Everyone does. There’s going to be something I’m going to get from this and that I can share and bring back to Utah as well.”

To learn more, eleven black dancers from historically white ballet companies commissioned by The Kennedy Center to create and perform the brand-new ballet in just two weeks share their story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNb13SDoPBI