{"id":1074,"date":"2022-06-22T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/?p=1074"},"modified":"2025-04-08T15:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T15:32:13","slug":"gregory-richardson-on-music-from-the-sole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/22\/gregory-richardson-on-music-from-the-sole\/","title":{"rendered":"Gregory Richardson on Music From The Sole"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite having grooved onstage with tap icon Michelle Dorrance for over a decade, Gregory Richardson<\/a> doesn\u2019t consider himself a dancer. The composer and multi-instrumentalist is the musical director of Dorrance Dance<\/a> and has been composing and performing with the company since its 2011 inception, having met Dorrance when they were both playing in the indie band Darwin Deez. In 2015, Richardson joined forces with Brazilian choreographer Leonardo Sandoval<\/a> to create the Afro-Brazilian tap company and live band Music From The Sole<\/a>, which was recently awarded a National Dance Project Production Grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts. With steady support from Jacob\u2019s Pillow<\/a>, The Yard<\/a> and Works & Process at the Guggenheim<\/a>\u2014where Music From The Sole performed its third commissioned evening-length work in April\u2014Richardson says he feels more confident than ever in what they are creating.<\/p>\n

My main goal<\/strong> is usually to make sure the dancers and band are all one sonic force. If someone comes to a Music From The Sole show, they\u2019re going to get right off the bat that the tap dance is the percussion of the song, and it\u2019s not making it overly complicated. What we don\u2019t want to look like is a dance company with a back-up band.<\/p>\n

A unique part<\/strong> of our process is seeing how the musicians move. We do a lot of body percussion\u2014slaps, claps and snaps\u2014and give everyone movement to do together, so we embrace what the nondancers, including myself, add to it. We found out that our drummer is a fabulous mover and just naturally adds these little flourishes and hip movements. He\u2019s extremely fun to watch, so we incorporated that. He\u2019ll be spotlit in the next show.<\/p>\n

We blur the lines <\/strong>when it comes to who is composing, too. There have been pieces where I wrote out a percussion part, recorded it, took it to Leo, and he choreographed the movement so the taps could replace the rhythm of the song. On another song, Leo came up with a melody, and I was able to notate, arrange and put chords behind it. That\u2019s turned into this huge, beautiful piece. So, we\u2019re both doing melodic and rhythmic work.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re collaborating,<\/strong> you never get to use every single one of your ideas. But since Leo and I really get to have the final say, it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve been able to stake out certain priorities that I simply don\u2019t sacrifice. It\u2019s a lot of pressure, but it\u2019s also a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned to trade drafts often<\/strong>. If you rehearse the band and dancers separately and things evolve, you can start to get on different pages. You can be totally enamored with what you\u2019ve made, but when you come back together, it\u2019s dissonant and someone has to give up more than they\u2019d like. As soon as I\u2019m excited about something, I show it to Leo right away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Traditionally, a musical director<\/strong> makes sure the music is being executed right, runs the rehearsals and takes care of personnel issues with the band. But Michelle is such a killer musician, dancer and percussionist, she\u2019s at the helm in a full rehearsal with Dorrance Dance, stopping the musicians to adjust tempo or dynamics. She has a vision for what she wants the whole show to be\u2014and good instincts\u2014and that just makes my job easier.<\/p>\n

Michelle has definitely<\/strong> been my model for growing and leading a company with integrity. Like when you go into a new venue, introduce yourself to everyone from the front-of-house manager and sound engineer to the lighting assistant. Bring them in like they\u2019re your team, and they\u2019ll be excited to help execute your vision. And when someone gives you an opportunity, you better wring it for every drop it\u2019s worth. If they give you a week of residency time, you better be in there for 10 hours a day.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The post Gregory Richardson on Music From The Sole<\/a> appeared first on Dance Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite having grooved onstage with tap icon Michelle Dorrance for over a decade, Gregory Richardson doesn\u2019t consider himself a dancer. The composer and multi-instrumentalist is the musical director of Dorrance Dance and has been composing and performing with the company… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1075,"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074\/revisions\/1075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fullrenovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}