Trey McIntyre Project
When dancers from the Trey McIntyre Project discuss artistic director/choreographer Trey McIntyre, they describe a part prophet and part Zen guru with an approach to dance unlike any other. When you hear McIntyre discuss his philosophies on dance, you may agree with his dancers. The 37-year-old, however, sees himself more as a mentor and, at times, a student, who learns as much from his dancers as they do from him.
The celebrated choreographer and former Houston Ballet dancer has created some 70 ballets in the past 17 years for companies around the world. He is
resident choreographer at The Washington Ballet and Ballet Memphis and choreographic associate at Houston Ballet. McIntyre says he started the part-time TMP in the summer of 2004 because he wanted to work with a consistent group of dancers that would support him in making new ballets.
“There are things as a choreographer that are just basic to you,” says McIntyre, “ideas about technique and ways of moving that are important to the process that I feel I can only build on and grow as an artist with my own group of dancers.”
TMP’s 10 dancers, all handpicked by McIntyre, moonlight from major dance companies around the globe. They are all dancers McIntyre says he clicked with on past projects.
“Beyond their talents and being the kinds of dancers I love working with, it is their way of working in the studio that is liberating for me,” says McIntyre. “I have really high expectations of each of them and expect them all to go to a place in their dancing they haven’t gone before.”
Although TMP is officially based in McIntyre’s hometown of San Francisco, he considers it essentially nomadic, calling home the various places the company gathers for residencies and performances each summer. That’s when the group creates new work, engages in educational outreach and bonds as a unit.
A strong work ethic unifies TMP’s dancers, says company member Dawn Fay: “Because the company is part-time, every moment we have together is precious, and we all strive to make the most of it.”
Fay says she was drawn to TMP because of McIntyre’s unique movement style and musicality, a feeling shared by fellow TMP member and general manager, John Michael Schert.
“The way he can portray honest emotion is interwoven into each of his works,” says Schert. “I feel he is really coming into his own golden age as an artist.”
Fast-paced and daring, McIntyre’s choreographic style mixes classical ballet with a number of contemporary movement idioms. Arm pumping, twitches and a flutter of gestural movements populate his ballets, which range from elegant to nouveau funky. But TMP is not just about creating dance works, states McIntyre.
“The process of the company is not just those minutes in the studio,” he says. “It is about our entire experience in working together. Making a dance
I feel I can figure out anything about the world.”
McIntyre envisions TMP one day becoming a full-time company, but for now, like his approach to making ballets, he is content to leave things open and see where that leads him.
