Mission Statement

The works of The DanceWright Project are highly political. However, we are not talking about the “capital P” politics of the cause but the small politics of fitting in. It is an underrated subject in the world of “high art” but, at its core the need to belong is what keeps people up at night, what makes them hurt, and even what drives them to the tribes of causes, the value of any particular cause notwithstanding. With this in mind, the work of The DanceWright Project often asks audiences to view the dances with their own their inner lives in mind.

Another touchstone in the work is a conscious attention to beauty—beauty of dancer and beauty of movement. Dance need not be deconstructed to be relevant. No matter the subject of a work, it is possible to retain the exquisite beauty of the athletic human body and it can be done in a modern feminist context.

With this in mind, The DanceWright Project is creating a new paradigm for contemporary dance movement. While retaining much of the ballet vocabulary and combining it with other movement inspirations and gender neutral casting, dance is placed in the context of natural situation. The music comes from the most enduring examples of popular culture from around the world—blues, new age, 1930s club jazz, electronica, bossa nova, and more. The costuming is “street- friendly.” With very few exceptions, nothing is worn of stage that wouldn't be appropriate on the street, in the “real world”.

The result of this approach is a fusion the draws in the non-dance fan and the casual dance watcher, while providing a great deal of substance for the dance aficionado. In making this outreach a priority, Jamie Ray Wright seeks to expand the audience for dance and its image in the general public, while continuing to do the job that the artist is meant to do—provoke conversation about the issues and images of the day.

Ripple Documentary—The Dancewright Project