Meet the Characters | Reckless

Hear from the dancers about the characters they are portraying in Julianna Rubio Slager’s newest work, Reckless. Company Apprentice Miranda Rubio shares about her character.

1. What role/character will you be dancing in Reckless?

In Reckless I'm part of the Greek Chorus. That means that instead of being one character for the whole ballet I get to be many different people and sometimes objects throughout. One of the main people I embody is a woman who is deeply involved in the adult film and escort industry. She can be seen strutting along the streets or inside the brothel that Gomer is brought to. Later I play the right side of a train door, it's an exciting challenge to try to find the emotion and physicality of something inanimate. I like to think that the feel a train door has while in motion is similar to how a dog feels sticking its head out the window for a drive in the country. Summer for a train is pure bliss, sun, wind, happy tourists. Then if you think about winter it's different, the wind has more bite to it. Steel scraping on ice, all the moisture threatening rust! Later I take on a more abstract personality when we, as the Chorus, speak to the audience. You suddenly become larger than life, less person, and more part of a collective warning, pleading, or weeping as the story unfolds.

2. How did you research/prepare for your role? What is something that stood out to you in your research?

I did a lot of research on true stories of people who have been trafficked, or people who have chosen to work in the sex industry. Documentaries, articles, and youtube videos listening to their stories. They operate in a whole different mindset, so you have to really work to understand an alternate perspective, that way when you're put in various situations in the ballet, you don't react with your own natural instinct. It's not fair to those you're portraying to overlay your own worldview on their situation. I've found it to be very interesting how many stereotypes and preconceived notions we have about traffickers and their victims. The truth is so much more insidious than we are led to believe by most media.

3. Describe the movement/style of the choreography. Is it different/the same as what you've done before? What is the most challenging aspect of the ballet?

I'd call the movement "post-classical." The roots of classical ballet are there but then we take everything and add more intention to it. An arabesque is not just a pretty line, it's a way to speak. Now you have to choose what it will say. Is it sad? Joyful? Intimidating? Seductive? The options are endless and that's what makes it difficult. You have a whole world of movements and intonations, finding the exact balance to speak the story clearly is tricky, especially when you multiply that across a whole body of dancers

4. Why should audiences see Reckless?

Art has this special way of speaking that goes beyond what words can say. It can tap into an inner world that few other things can. Reckless is looking at an immense and tragic subject, the cycle of abuse endured by those whose bodies have been made into a consumer product. The trade is age-old, the problem has been here for a long time. This ballet is asking two very important questions. Are these people too far removed from the love of God? And how are we being asked to reach out to interrupt the cycle of abuse? The answers are not trite, Reckless should make us all take pause to truly consider to what extent does unconditional love go?