Central Oklahoma Ballet Theatre showcases original choreography and marginalized voices

Sterlin Mosley got off to a late start as a ballet dancer.

"I didn't start dancing until I was 32 years old, so about eight years ago — I will be 41 ... on Aug. 27 — and that's obviously quite late to start dancing. I actually went to a ballet performance at OU with my grandparents. This a cheesy story, but I literally was watching it and something just clicked inside of me and said, 'I'm supposed to be doing that,'" he recalled.

"I took some ballet classes at a local studio in Norman, and it became pretty clear to me and my teacher that I had some facility and talent. ... I went to New York City and took classes at the Joffrey (Ballet School) and went to any ballet intensive I could find. I was in classes with literal 7- and 8-year-olds learning with them from the beginning. I was just really dedicated and obsessed with it, and then started taking classes with Oklahoma City Ballet."

Although a professional dance career was out of reach at his age, the University of Oklahoma alumnus and professor created other ways to share his passion: In 2018, Mosley, Catie Tramel and Aaron Addonizio founded Central Oklahoma Dance Company, a community-oriented professional and recreational ballet academy and company based in Norman.

Along with its mission of providing quality contemporary and classical dance education, the nonprofit arts organization's inclusive professional ballet company, Central Oklahoma Ballet Theatre, performs in the summer. This year, Central Oklahoma Ballet Theatre will perform "Flux," a series of original, interconnected short contemporary ballets, Aug. 11 in Norman at the Reynolds Performing Arts Center and make its Oklahoma City debut with the new production Aug. 12 at Special Care Inc., a nonprofit organization that serves children with and without special needs.

As Central Oklahoma Ballet Theatre's creative director, Mosley talked with The Oklahoman about the making of "Flux," guiding a young nonprofit through the COVID-19 pandemic and showcasing underrepresented artists:

Q: What do you want to offer people with your summer shows?

Mosley: In the past, we've done two different themed shows in the summer. ... Last year, we did a show called 'Arcana,' based on the tarot, and it was audience interactive. People drew tarot cards ... and depending on which cards they'd hold, we'd choreograph different movements and different music. We put it together on the spot, and that was really fun. ...

During COVID in 2021, we did a show called 'MMXX,' which is Roman numerals for 2020, and it took the audience through a retrospective of 2020 and all the emotions that we felt. We had pieces about people being stuck at home and about people getting sick. Of course, we had the Black Lives Matter protests, and so we had some politically evocative pieces.

For me, the artistic vision is to show human experiences through ballet. ... All of our shows are all new choreography, and we wanted to set ourselves apart from someone like Oklahoma City Ballet or Tulsa Ballet, whom we love because we share a lot of dancers. But we wanted to just give the community something different to consume in terms of dance.

Q: What can people expect from this year's show, 'Flux?'

Mosley: It's about the changing nature of human relationships, human emotions, as told through the four seasons. So, we're playing with, 'What does fall mean for humans?' ... or spring being about new relationships. ... I'm choreographing on Alex Schooling, who's in the corps de ballet of Oklahoma City Ballet and also choreographing for our show. She's just a beautiful dancer, and the theme that I'm working with is the isolation of our work life.

So, the piece is centered around this female character who is so embroiled in her career and the day-to-day drudgery that can come from maybe losing our passion for something. ... I use winter as my metaphor for that ... but, of course, I want the viewer to take what they want from it. So, it's up for interpretation as well, which all the pieces in the show are.

Q: How did it come about that the company is making its OKC debut at Special Care?

 Mosley: Our program director, Penny Askew, made the connection with the people over at Special Care. They have this beautiful theater: It's a small theater, but a fully equipped theater with theater seating and lights and a proscenium stage and all of that. She did her recitals for Askew Ballet Academy there ... and we were looking for venues. And venues are expensive. We're still a small organization and didn't want to blow half our budget on a big venue.

So, we reached out, and they were very kind and gave us a great deal. ... Both shows are open to the public ... but I hope some of their families get to come, too.

Q: Who are the dancers in your company?

 Mosley: Sometimes in the dance world we call it a pickup company, where you pick up dancers during the summer and create a show. ...  A lot of people don't realize what a robust dance community there is in Oklahoma. We have two big professional dance companies here, so we're lucky to be able to have this pool of dancers.

Summers are often pretty sparse for choreographers and dancers ... and we work for them to have opportunities to perform, to keep them employed, to keep them in shape and keep their creative opportunities going.

So, most of our dancers do come from Oklahoma City Ballet, and we've had the great fortune to be able to work with someone like (former OKC Ballet dancers) Jonathan Batista and DaYoung Jung.

Walker Martin, who's a former soloist at Oklahoma City Ballet who was just at Diablo Ballet in California and now is going to be in Dallas, is performing and choreographing in our show this year.

We also have some dancers that are coming in from out of state: We have a dancer, Emma McGirr, coming from Nevada this season, and then Julia Meister, who's coming from California and was also at Diablo. So, we're starting to get some attention, and we've had inquiries from dancers from all over the country, actually, as word spreads about what we're doing.

Q: How have you bounced back from COVID-19 as a young organization?

 Mosley: It was a struggle. ... In 2020, we shifted to some online classes for our kiddos, and it worked for a little while. Then, people really burned out doing online Zoom ballet classes, so we lost over half of the students we had — and we didn't really have that many. So, we just decided to shift the focus of the company.

At that time, we saw a need, because dancers were not working, choreographers weren't working. And we said, 'Why don't we just make it a full performance-focused company?' We still had some classes that we did ... and, luckily, we were able to get it together and keep ourselves afloat during that period. And it worked.

Then, we were back in the studios in 2021, and we did two live shows in 2021. And we have endeavored to do two live shows every year since.

Q: Central Oklahoma Dance Company is a minority-run dance organization. Why do you think that's important to have in an arts community?

 Mosley: It was really important for us to make sure to give opportunities to marginalized, minority voices in dance — which is, honestly, most voices aside from white men — and have women choreographers and LGBTQ choreographers and people from different racial backgrounds as choreographers and as dancers. ...

I identify as a Black, queer man, and I know that I don't see — and didn't see — a lot of other Black or brown people in a lot of ballet classes. ... There's been a big shift in the ballet world to showcase more women's voices and LGBTQ voices, but it still needs some work.

Especially, I would say, in Oklahoma, it's important to elevate those voices and give them a stage and give them the opportunity to have the exposure that they deserve, because there's a lot of talent out there that's just not seen.

CENTRAL OKLAHOMA BALLET THEATRE'S 'FLUX'

• Norman performance: 7 p.m. Aug. 11, Reynolds Performing Arts Center, 560 Parrington Oval.

•  OKC performance: 7 p.m. Aug. 12, Special Care Inc., 12201 N Western Ave.

•  Tickets and information: https://www.okdance.org/

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Central Oklahoma Ballet Theatre staging new original ballet 'Flux'