Early in his tenure as music director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Stéphane Denève met with Kirven Douthit-Boyd—choreographer and artistic director of Saint Louis Dance Theatre, formerly Big Muddy Dance Company—to discuss how the two organizations might best bring contemporary dance and ballet into the world of symphonic musical performance.
Their artistic relationship, which began in 2021 with Douthit-Boyd’s choreography for DANCE (a cello concerto written by the English composer Anna Clyne), followed by his work with Denève for Adam Schoenberg’s Picture Studies in 2024, has yielded tremendous success. And on January 10 and 11, the symphony and Saint Louis Dance Theatre will reunite at Powell Hall’s Jack C. Taylor Music Center for their third collaboration, Music in Motion, a reimagining of Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassical Pulcinella Suite.
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“Kirven does wonders in finding the right energy of a piece,” Denève says. “This time I wanted to do a full concert based on music that is balletic and from the same period of history—the first part of the 20th century—and make it a kind of concerto: Instead of having the soloists, we have the dancers.”
For the performance, company dancers will share the stage with a slightly pared-down orchestra. “That is the trickiest thing,” Denève says. “And for Kirven, I must say, it’s very kind of him to adapt, because you have to compromise with space.”
Denève, who has pursued the confluence of artistic disciplines since taking up his post in the symphony’s 2019–20 season, is no stranger to the coordination that complex productions require. He’s conducted fully staged operas at major operas houses around the world, including the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, La Scala, and the Opéra national de Paris.
“When Stéphane and his team reached out to us, it was a no-brainer,” Douthit-Boyd says. “Being able to respond to the orchestra’s layering of sounds with motion and movement and bodies in space is really fun for me as a creative. I’m responding in a way that is classical, in terms of the movement vocabulary, but weaved in with some contemporary dance forms.”
Douthit-Boyd began his professional career in Ailey II, the junior company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, before becoming a member of the famed New York–based company. He joined the Center of Creative Arts in 2015 as co-artistic director of dance with his husband, Antonio Douthit-Boyd, and became Saint Louis Dance Theatre’s artistic leader in 2022.
For Love Languages, this season’s performance series, the dance company has also collaborated with Jazz St. Louis and The Muny’s Technical Theatre Training program, which provides instruction and mentorship to high school students.
“Now that there’s this expanded space at Powell Hall, I’m very curious to see what dance in other parts of the facility would look like—specifically, something staged in the education center, where folks can come in and have a closer experience,” Douthit-Boyd says.
In addition to Pulcinella, January’s symphony performances include Stravinsky’s “Dumbarton Oaks” Concerto, Claude Debussy’s Jeux, and Albert Roussel’s Suite No.2 from Bacchus et Ariane, op.43. Douthit-Boyd will talk about his chorographic vision during a free panel discussion before the January 10 performance.
“In my career as a dancer, performing with live music was one of my favorite things to do,” Douthit-Boyd says. “I’m interested in pushing forward, being progressive, being bold and daring in the way that we come together.”
Our Talent Shows
“St. Louis is a community that has incredible art,” says Saint Louis Dance Theatre dancer Spencer Everett. “But I don’t think people immediately make that connection between high art and all our access to it.” Here are several chances to experience that creative breadth.
Great Artists Series: Anthony Roth Costanzo and Bryan Wagorn
January 25
Acclaimed countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo appears in recital with Met Opera pianist Bryan Wagorn for an evening of virtuosic artistry. 560 Music Center.
Unfinished Business
January 26
This Chamber Music Society of St. Louis program features local and visiting musicians and is known for its warmth, adventurous curation, and devoted audience. 560 Music Center.
Dare to Dance Festival
January 30 & 31
Modern American Dance Company brings in choreographers from across the country for this weekend of premieres and boundary-pushing contemporary work. COCA.
