It’s no secret that professional dance (and ballet in particular) is historically an exclusive club where the most svelte, long, and flat bodies receive VIP entrance and the best seats in the house while graceful but muscular or curvaceous bodies are often denied entry entirely. Veteran dancers, Christopher Montoya and Joshua Grant, want to change that. Partnered in business (and love), Montoya and Grant opened Dance Conservatory Seattle (in 2021) and their nonprofit dance company Dance Theater Seattle (in 2022) as a supportive training ground for dancers of all types who want to learn and innovate from their own unique perspectives.
“We want to create thinkers rather than soldiers,” Montoya said during our teleconference interview. “Josh and I are soldiers, you know?”
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