Today we’d like to introduce you to Zoë Brielle Payne.
Zoë, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in a small town in north central West Virginia, Belington. My mother is a landscape/installation painter so I grew up in galleries and among other artists. I started dancing when I was 2.5 at a studio in Buckhannon WV, The Dance Factory, where I trained up through my senior year of high school under the direction of Nina Scattaregia.
When I was 9 I started dancing more after watching STREB, an acrobatic/dance performance where I realized there was more to dance than just westernized dance styles.
From there I started looking into more dance opportunities, taking whatever I could get within my rural area from krumping to traditional Appalachian square dancing. My consistent training in West Virginia included ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, musical theatre, and modern at The Dance Factory as well as TDF’s Augusta Youth Ballet Company. I also learned how to square dance and flatfoot within the community. During this time I also started teaching at The Dance Factory and started my own dance outreach program at a rural school in Barbour County WV.
My summers were spent in summer intensives in Kentucky, Atlanta, and then in NYC at Joffrey Ballet School as well as state programs that were more academic based including Governor’s Schools of Math & Science, Arts, and Honors Academy. When it was time to look at college programs, Peabody was a perfect fit. The program was new and the focus was primarily on unraveling the westernized predominantly white narrative of dance. Luckily my hard work paid off and I was able to get a full-ride scholarship to Peabody.
I started my BFA in the fall of 2019. Upon transitioning to Baltimore, I started looking for opportunities to connect with my new home. When the 2020 pandemic hit I felt that having to move home would completely disrupt the progress I had made that fall. However, I found a new interest in creating dance films and reconnected with my love of teaching through virtual classes at The Dance Factory, and started to collaborate with my peers who make music at Peabody. When I came back to Baltimore in the fall of 2020, I continued to create dance films and started helping with classes at the Peabody Preparatory. In the spring of 2021, I met the principal of Sisters Academy of Baltimore principal Jeanne Dolamore in my laundry room of all places where we connected to start a dance portion of their newly re-established after-school program!
Those teaching opportunities led me to be able to also work with the Pilgrim Christian Day School as well as a mentor for AileyCamp Baltimore that same summer. Coming back for my junior year of Peabody, I still felt that there was more to do so I joined Vaught Contemporary Ballet under Katie Vaught where I am currently still part of their project-based company and I am working on writing grants for her right now. That same fall, 2021, I started my own company of dancers, also from Peabody to create work with. Through creating ZBri Dance Company, I have been able to create films and this past May I produced a Show at Le Mondo in Mount Vernon as well as doing a site-specific immersive experience of John Cage’s Songbook.
For John Cage’s Songbook collaboration with the voice department of Peabody, I painted my dancers and clothing for all vocal/musician participants. The first half of my own show produced was all set choreography, but the second half made up my own process that I called “In Progress”. In Progress was inspired by JHU’s 2021/2022 Common Question that they use to bring together all of their different associated schools, it was “What is progress?” To me, I found that my progress was in my process so I wanted to showcase just that. In the second half of the show, I gave myself an hour to choreograph and compose on the spot. I had two guitarists and a drummer that I composed the music on as I also choreographed the dance.
This year, I have plans to take my company into the school, Sisters Academy of Baltimore, in November as well as performing this October as part of one of my culminating shows this year at Baltimore Theatre Project. Next spring, I have plans to take my company to perform site-specific work in WV as well as Philadelphia and Baltimore. I also plan to produce my own show this spring that will include visual art alongside my dance choreography. As well as performing and choreographing, I will be continuing my work with the Peabody Preparatory’s dance program as a teaching associate. I will be teaching a class on Saturdays, and I will also be continuing my dance programming at the Sisters Academy of Baltimore. At Peabody, I am also taking on more of a leadership role this year as Peabody General Assembly President. As President, I meet with the executive board to work out student issues from anything academic, to also planning events and meeting with the deans.
I am excited about what is next for me in terms of my professional career as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer but I feel that if anything that has already started! Coming from such a rural area, I feel that Baltimore has been such a welcoming place for me to grow my artistry. I also run so I have really gotten to know Baltimore geographically and community-wise but also in the little places like swing dancing at Mobtown Ballroom, helping with archives at local churches, and creating site-specific work around town. It really is a special place that I know no matter what, I will always circle back to!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
As a rural Appalachian, I’m sure it is of no surprise that getting out of Appalachia with enough strong dancing to get a full ride to a competitive conservatory wasn’t easy. In West Virginia, as much as my dance training was fantastic, it wasn’t enough to get to where I am today.
I am so thankful that my family supported my crazy ambitions of going outside of WV, let alone to NYC in the summer or Baltimore for college. However, a lot of the opportunities I got came from me either making them happen or working very hard. I taught to be on full scholarship at The Dance Factory and went as far as to win an essay contest to be able to train for 4 weeks in the summer at Joffrey Ballet School.
For college, Peabody became an option because of local scholarships from back home in WV as well as scholarships that Peabody BFA Dance Chair danah bella opened up for me. However, as much as I have had to carve my own pathways and opportunities, I also recognize how much the support from those around me I have had.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I would consider myself an interdisciplinary artist. As a performer, I lean towards more contemporary/modern dance with a strong emphasis on technique. As a choreographer, my work is always very physical and leans on a more technical background with lots of precise turns and lines.
However, I like to incorporate another element such as live music or a visual component including painting my dancers with body paint or gold leaf to create another dimension to my work. As an Appalachian, I also find myself gravitating towards site specific work; creating choreography/movement outside that molds to the environment that it is in. My teaching career is just as much an essential part of my overall practice as performing and choreographing, it informs by own movement patterns and keeps me on my toes.
I think I am most proud of the work that I do with my company and outreach programs. I am finding out more and more about myself by diving into my own creative process. This process relies on being able to translate my choreography onto others to bring my vision to life. I am specifically pleased of my process, “IN PROGRESS”. It is unique to me, and is something that I will do for the rest of my life as an ever-evolving example of my practice in real time.
My outreach program has successfully engaged middle school students for the past few years and continues to grow in numbers year after year. I am excited to see how this program can continue and where I take my outreach work next!
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I think my biggest advice for finding a mentor or networking would be to put yourself in places where you are uncomfortable. We can only grow, if we are forced to explore what we don’t know. Go to a concert or show that is in a style you have never seen before, attend workshops where you don’t know anyone and dare to say hi! The hardest part is actually getting the courage to introduce yourself, but the more you do it the easier it will be.
Staying authentic to who I am as a person and artist has really helped me create lasting connections. The hope is that if you stay true to who you are, your reputation will precede you, and I have definitely found that to be true. It is so fulfilling once you start to get calls and recommendations for shows/positions from people who have just heard about you from someone you have worked with before!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.zoebriellep.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoebriellep/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoebrielle.payne/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi1Vu83YFK2FqMg3QghULog
Image Credits
@eandrewmurray and Paul Wegner
