Meet the 2024 NEXT STEP Artists: Elle Macy/Dylan Wald
In this blog, you’ll learn more about PNB Principal dancers Elle Macy and Dylan Wald and their new work for NEXT STEP! NEXT STEP provides opportunity, infrastructure, and support to grow tomorrow’s choreographic talent while providing a unique performance opportunity for PNB School’s Professional Division dancers. This year, Professional Division students will perform original work from company dancers Lily Wills, Noah Martzall, Luca Anaya, Melisa Guilliams, and the co-choreographer teams of Elle Macy/Dylan Wald and Amanda Morgan/Christopher D’Ariano. Learn more about this exciting step in Elle and Dylan’s creative journey below.
What themes/concepts are you exploring in your Next Step Piece?
Dylan: Style, jazz, rhythm, quirkiness, joy
Elle: Drawing inspiration from Bob Fosse and classic jazz
What is your choreographic process like?
Dylan: It starts with the music and the theme. Then, building the characters and the structure. Lastly, getting in the studio and seeing what actually looks and feels good to the dancers.
What choreographers inspire you?
BOB FOSSE. Our old dance teachers from the 90s! Twyla Tharp and Jerome Robbins all come to mind.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
Some of our first exposures to dance were through movie musicals. We both thought we were headed to the Broadway Stage! Dylan auditioned for Billy Elliot. Elle wanted to be a Rockette or the gal in the black pointe from Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ Out.
What’s your approach to choreographing as a duo?
It’s actually going smoother than when we first started dancing together! We have been having the best time collaborating, casting, and building the world together. It’s brought so many fun memories of our young dancing days back to the forefront… it’s been great to both reminisce while also sharing this style we love with students who may have experienced this or who may be dancing this way for the first time.
