When the Big Muddy Dance Company launched in 2010, it featured just six dancers who performed around the St. Louis area building momentum for the grassroots organization. As it enters its 14th season, the company is ready to enter a new era of innovation and excellence. To mark this transition, it rebranded as Saint Louis Dance Theatre. T&S spoke to executive director Erin Prange about what’s next for the dance company.
What is the mission of the Saint Louis Dance Theatre?
Our mission is to invigorate life through dance. We do this in many different ways, including mainstage productions, outreach and education. Saint Louis Dance Theatre is an instrument of optimism through inclusivity and artistic excellence.
Why did the company rebrand from Big Muddy Dance Company?
It’s been a journey. Saint Louis Dance Theatre is actually the name we legally incorporated under before changing to Big Muddy, so this is a full circle moment. Big Muddy was a wonderful name during our growth. It got people interested and asking questions, and it gave us regional identification. In 2022, Kirven Douthit-Boyd became our artistic director, leading us with a vision of what could be possible in St. Louis when it comes to dance and the arts in general. Our goal is to make artistic excellence happen and build infrastructure to bring a new generation of dancers to St. Louis. We wanted to include St. Louis in our name because we’re working to put the city on the national map of arts destinations.
How is dance changing in St. Louis?
In general, I think dance as an arts discipline has been underrepresented in St. Louis. When Big Muddy first started in 2010, we saw a surge in small companies being founded, and there was a lot of growth behind the scenes for the local dance community. Now, we’re seeing another surge of growth, but it’s happening in more public spaces. We are transitioning to establishing St. Louis on a national and global level, and that means a lot of great partnerships between organizations of varying disciplines. The arts community really is leaning into collaboration instead of competition. That’s one of the beautiful things about St. Louis.
How has the Saint Louis Dance Theatre evolved?
The amount of growth we’ve accomplished in our short history is pretty outstanding. Our founder Paula David had visions of what could be done in St. Louis. She was a former member of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. With that experience, she promoted the idea that we could grow confidently, and Douthit-Boyd has guided us into a new caliber of dance. Every season has been vastly different, exploring new ideas and collaborations. It’s an exciting place to be.
What can people expect from the upcoming season?
We have a lineup of nationally and internationally renowned guest artists coming in. These include Jiří Kylián, one of the greatest contemporary dance choreographers and a former artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater; Jamar Roberts, who was a resident choreographer for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Robert Battle, who was the artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater until 2023; José Limón, who is a pioneer of modern dance; and Norbert De La Cruz III, who is the most emerging choreographer of the lineup, but we’re excited to see what he does. We’re also working with Jazz St. Louis for a production of Duke Ellington’s interpretation of The Nutcracker. The season kickoffs Oct. 24 to 27 with our fall concert (Re)Claim, and our annual Movers and Shakers Ball is Oct. 26 and includes a mainstage production. We’re presenting various programs, so each evening will be unique.
For more information, visit saintlouisdancetheatre.org.
Photos courtesy of Saint Louis Dane Theatre