DJ Gray

DJ Gray recently returned to UCSD to assist with the west coast premiere of the Broadway musical “Xanadu” at the La Jolla Playhouse. DJ serves as the musical’s Associate Choreographer, but you won’t find her name in the alum lists of the university’s dance or theatre department: she studied Visual Arts. (She received an MFA in Acting from the University of Irvine. )

Ms Gray recently choreographed the “Steven Colbert Christmas Special,” served as the Associate Choreographer with the Tony Award winning, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” plus numerous regional theatre productions from the repertory of American musical theatre.

In a recent email interview, she revealed how the show approached its 1980s dance style and the importance of a kitty toy.

How did you become part of the “Xanadu” creative team?

I have assisted (choreographer) Dan Knechtges for 6 years in various projects. The first big break, being Tony award winning "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."

What is the "language of collaboration" during the creative process?

Dan and I spent many hours in pre-production, looking at the story of each song, and researching the movement vocabulary we were to use. We looked at the story of the muses, and considered the history of how muses were represented in dance. We used (modern dance pioneers) Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey and George Balanchine as a base of movement. Then, we researched Solid Gold on Youtube, as the model of 1980's movement, and fused the varied dance forms together.

What is the most challenging aspect of choreographing the show?

Since this is (the) first time we re-created the show, it was a thrill to improve on the original ideas. One interesting challenge was the orientation of the space... On Broadway the oval stage was created on an angle, jetting out into the audience. Everything was asymmetrical. In this new space, the oval is parallel with the audience. The space demanded the choreography to become symmetrical, and forced us to make choreographic changes (to) make sense of this new space.

How did an undergraduate degree in Visual Arts and a graduate degree in Acting lead to your job as an assistant choreographer on a Broadway show?

“Let's add to that question. I was a swimmer for most of my young life. I “swam” all the way through college. I was a four year All American (athlete) for UCSD.

The answer: All of these areas of focus fed into each other. The discipline of swimming gave me the focus of how to train my mind and body. This is an ever important skill for anyone who is envisions a career in theater. But who knew at this point of my life, that I was going to be involved with a Broadway career?????

I fell in love with dance in college. It was a form of self expression I found liberating. Finding dance began my journey of defining who I was, and I was invested in my passion for story telling.

At the time, UC San Diego had no dance department. We danced in the gym. The course was considered part of the PE department... But what credits did I need from PE? I was a swimmer for the University. Nonetheless... I danced, and danced, and danced. And swam. And (trained) in Visual Arts.

Visual Arts/Media helped further my technique in story telling. Visual Arts helped me think "outside the box"... funny when you think of visual arts being viewed in a box... It stretched my ideas of structure, pattern, subject and point of view. Editing my video/films/animation has a lot to do with timing and intuition. This element, I found in dance. Aha.

Full circle. At least one full circle. The next natural progression for me was to further my passion for performing. I knew I loved dance, and especially, musical theater. So I began a Master's course in Acting from UC Irvine. As an actress, one strives to be well versed in every field of theater... acting, singing and dancing. Eventually, I found myself in a choreography class. With this, I combined everything I had accumulated in my years of self-discovery. I thought I had it all in this class. I had a point of view outside of the box, I knew how to talk to the dancers as actors and I knew I could be the example of how I wanted the steps to look like...

But what I was missing was the steps... I could give you steps with an interesting story... but they were steps I had gained from my short 4 years of learning movement vocabulary. So, I didn't have it all. Not yet.

So, I did what most people do when they receive an acting degree. They begin their career in theater. So, I stayed in California for 4 more years, and gathered as much experience in as many roles that I could. I was lucky to land a job choreographing for the High School I went to. I had at least 23 steps in my vocabulary, so I knew I would be ok with choreographing for the kids.

I then branched out into teaching for College. This challenged my vocabulary, but I was gaining all the while, being involved in performing in local musical theater productions. The glory of being in these productions was working with Broadway choreographers. Everything fed into each other. Once again, I say full circle.

I then moved to New York, with dreams of making it to Broadway. My first roommate was a choreographer (Dan Knechtges ). He too started out the same way I did, with Broadway dreams. But he quickly altered into choreography, when he found himself teaching, and choreographing for theater groups and colleges in the New York area. I shared with him my video art footage, and the material choreographed for high school and college groups. He asked me to assist him in a few things around town. Most significant was Princeton College. It was as close to a new musical, and a creator's dream that you could ask for. I had no experience with new musicals. I only knew of what was written in the past. I didn't know you could ask for a musical tap dance break, with ragtime feeling that moves into a swing that moves into a kick-line finale. Thus begins the adventure with my roommate Dan Knechtges. I was locked into the adventure of storytelling and creating dance music, and most importantly, establishing a movement vocabulary that combined Dan's history with mine. Dan got the call to do his first Broadway musical, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” Who does he ask to assist? The swimmer. Me. I didn't see this as my career. I assisted Dan, while I still pursued my own desires of being ON Broadway. I did. The swimmer made it to being on a replacement contract for “The Producers” for 4 months. After that, Dan asked me to assist him (on)a workshop show of “Xanadu.” It eventually went to Broadway.

Ever since “Xanadu,” I have been following the path of choreography. It's all very full circle. Kind of like every stroke, you take in a swimming pool.”

What projects are you developing?

I am teaching at Pomona College this year. I enjoy inspiring future artists. I also find that teaching in this kind of environment allows me to stretch myself as a choreographer.

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You can see samples of Ms Gray's work at:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/dj-gray-choreographer/179975037