Sydnie Mosley

LLAB Ep 6 – The Front of the Room: Getting There and Staying There Pt II w/ Candace Thompson-Zachery &; Sophie Myrtil-McCourty

In our previous episode, we explored the stories and experiences of two Black dance leaders, their leadership styles, how they navigate their Blackness in their workplaces, as well as ways that they advocate for their Black dancers. Today, we’re peeling back another layer, getting to know two dance leaders in dance advocacy and dance management. We examine how our culture influences our work, and what it’s like to represent and advocate for Black dancers, and dancers of color, on both a local and global level.

Candace Thompson Zachary is a performer, choreographer, fitness professional, cultural producer, teaching artist, Caribbean dance specialist, and Manager of Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives at DanceNYC. Sophie Myrtil-McCourty is the President of Lotus Arts Management, where she represents leading dance companies such as Ronald K. Brown / EVIDENCE, AIM by Kyle Abraham, Reggie Wilson Fist & Heel Performance Group, Bereishit Dance Company, and CONTRA-TIEMPO.

LLAB Ep 3: Navigating the Professional Field while Black Pt I – w/ Rena Butler and Maleek Washington

In our previous series on the LLAB, we spoke with Black dancers about their experience as dance students in undergraduate and graduate programs and the challenges they faced being minorities in those spaces. This week, we started a new two-episode topic, re-centering the conversation on what it’s like to be a professional dancer while Black. We meet concert dancers Rena Butler and Maleek Washington, and talk about their unique experiences dancing with both predominantly Black and non-Black companies, as well their experience of being overqualified.

Rena is a dancer, director, and choreographer dancing with Gibney Dance Company. Maleek is a dancer, choreographer, and educator dancing with Camille A. Brown and dancers.

This is the 3rd episode in our new fall series, The LLAB with Antuan Byers. LLAB stands for listening, learning, and building. The overall goal of this series is to create a space to share marginalized Black voices, to learn from their experiences, and dream for ways in which we can move forward.