As a twirly 3-year-old, Madi Hicks says, she didn’t select dance, however dance selected her.
“Everybody within the studio known as me the ‘Ding’ lady,” Hicks remembers. “We have been doing this dance the place you play a keyboard after which hit a ‘ding.’ I used to be entrance and middle and screamed ‘Ding!’ to the entire auditorium. To today, they nonetheless name me that.”
Rising up in Dallas, Hicks attended Booker T. Washington Excessive Faculty for the Performing and Visible Arts earlier than incomes her BFA in dance from Juilliard. After performing with L.A. Dance Mission, her ardour for choreography led her to California Institute of the Arts, the place she accomplished an MFA in choreography.
Now primarily based in New York Metropolis, Hicks is targeted on educating, creating, and increasing alternatives for different artists.
We caught up together with her to study her choreographic journey and strategy to educating.
On Her Love for Choreography
“Choreography speaks to me as a result of I really like to steer. I’m the director of my very own firm [Moving Forward], and I’m captivated with arts training and management on the whole. Improvising got here naturally to me, and the combo of wanting to steer and discover my instinctual motion language drew me to choreography.
“…In the end, whether or not it’s educating, directing, or choreographing, I put on all these hats as a result of I need to create alternatives for dancers. There’s a scarcity of jobs in dance and I need to do every thing I can to open doorways for others—whether or not that’s hiring dancers or collaborators, or internet hosting workshops. I need to spark extra conversations round dance and fill extra rooms with it.”
On Shifting Ahead
“I based Shifting Ahead in 2017 and have at all times been its director, although great individuals have helped me alongside the best way. It began in Dallas as an academic program, with a mission to convey trade professionals in to bridge the hole between highschool and school for younger dancers.
“I needed to convey extra live performance alternatives to the competitors world I grew up in. I really like that neighborhood; it’s so particular, nevertheless it’s vital to study different dance worlds, too.
“Everybody has insecurities—and, after all, I do too—however I’ve by no means had impostor syndrome, particularly after I was youthful.
“In highschool and school, impostor syndrome can maintain individuals again. However after I was in school, I stated, ‘I need to begin this nonprofit, so I’m going to do it.’ I by no means questioned whether or not I used to be ok or certified. I had this fearlessness that’s helped me all through my life.
“Since then, Shifting Ahead has grown into three branches. We nonetheless have our academic program. We even have an rising artist program to help new choreographers by way of festivals and choreographic positions at our summer season intensives.
“We even have The Collective—my skilled firm below Shifting Ahead—which presents work by me and my collaborators. Every season appears to be like totally different, however we at all times run not less than one workshop a 12 months, often extra, and pop-up occasions all year long.
“…It’s a small group, and I need to preserve it that means. I’ve large goals, like opening my very own studio at some point, however for now, it’s a phenomenal ardour mission.”
On Completely different Forms of Educating
“I’ve at all times liked to show. Folks ask if I favor educating or choreographing, however I truthfully can’t select; they’re neck and neck. I’ve taught for twenty-four Seven Dance Conference for 3 seasons and in addition educate open lessons on the studios in New York, which I really like.
“Each house brings a distinct type of educating. I really like the conference world, nevertheless it took time to regulate. At first, I didn’t really feel a powerful reference to college students, however, over time, seeing college students return turned fulfilling.
“I’ve gotten higher at being sincere in regards to the house I need to domesticate. The individuals within the room at all times change, however I can keep consistency if I present up with an open coronary heart and persistence.…As class progresses, I discover what I must dial up or down. Possibly I would like extra persistence—or vitality, readability, or a conversational tone. I often take the primary half-hour to evaluate, then I regulate as wanted.
“Generally, I feel life—whether or not it’s motion or speech—is about quantity. It’s all simply quantity knobs. What I would like to show up right this moment would possibly change tomorrow. It’s about studying the room and adjusting accordingly.”
On Future Targets
“I speak about targets on a regular basis—my household and accomplice hate it as a result of I at all times need to sit down and speak about them. I really like targets.
“Proper now, my largest one is breaking into the Broadway world, each as a dancer and choreographer.
“Lengthy-term, I need to choreograph a Broadway present. I’m nicely conscious it’s going to take time. To get there, I’d like to associate-choreograph, associate-direct, dance, or help—any hat in that world.
“I really like the storytelling, the reveals, and the manufacturing worth. I actually consider modern dance belongs there. I look as much as choreographers like Sonya Tayeh and Andy Blankenbuehler, who convey a up to date lens to Broadway.
“My different large dream is to show at a college and develop into a professor. That’s the following chapter I’m working towards!”