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March 24, 2025 15 mins
2025 year marks the 10th anniversary of MOVE | NYC |, a leading-edge arts and social justice organization, with a mission to cultivate greater diversity and equity in the dance field and beyondOur guests are MOVE | NYC | Co-Founders Chanel DaSilva and Nigel Campbell. For more, including their 10th anniversary performance calendar, visit movenyc.nyc.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome and thanks for listening to Get Connected. This year
marks the tenth anniversary of Move NYC, a leading edge
New York City based arts and social justice organization whose
mission is to cultivate greater diversity and equity in the
dancefield and beyond. Our guests are Move NYC co founders
Chanel da Silva and Nigel Campbell. Thank you for being

(00:33):
on the show.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Thank you for having us.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Nina, We're very excited to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
You can find out more about the organization at moveenyc
dot NYC. So happy tenth anniversary. Congratulations, it's a big deal.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
We'll go more into depth, but let's go into the
history a little bit. How do you describe Move NYC.
What kind of work are you doing? What did you
want to do in the beginning?

Speaker 4 (00:58):
Well, a very quick historation. Well and I have been
best friends since we were ten years old. We met
at church in Brooklyn doing a church musical together, and
from there we joined a dance studio in Brooklyn called
Creative Outlet Dance Theater of Brooklyn. From there we went
to LaGuardia Arts High School together, and from there we
went to the Julli Art School together. So we really

(01:19):
spent our formative years together in New York City, growing
up in this mecca of diversity in the world. And
it wasn't until we got into our professional career, Chanel
dancing all over the United States and myself dancing in Europe,
that we recognized that we were often the only or
one of the only people of color in the room.

(01:40):
And so in twenty thirteen, during the rise of the
Black Lives Matter movement, we asked ourselves. We sat down.
Chnell came to visit me in Sweden, where I was living,
and we had a burger and beer at an Irish
cub in Sweden, this boy from the Bronx and this
girl from Brooklyn, and we asked ourselves why more people
from our communities didn't have access to the beautiful life

(02:02):
that art had given us. And it was there that
we sparked the seed for what would become.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Move And y see, I would like to drill down
just a little bit on that too, because you talk
about not seeing your own stories reflected on stage, and
I think for people who are a little bit outside
this world, what does that actually mean in practice in
your work?

Speaker 3 (02:21):
So what does that mean in practice? Well, you know,
our dance industry is, while it is quite diverse and
where it is in the world, in the nation, sometimes
when you go to see performances, especially in classical ballet
and classical contemporary forms, it tends to have one story
being told, usually that of a demographic that is attending

(02:43):
that show, which is usually affluent white people. And we
know that the arts are for everybody, and we know
that talent has no boundaries, no red lines, Talent goes everywhere.
But it's when we start looking at who has opportunity
and access into that genre in that medium, that's it
starts to become a little bit niche. So we were
looking at performances that we ourselves were in and we

(03:05):
were like, this is not really our story. This doesn't
tell where we are from and the places that we've
been that are multicultural, multifaceted. So what can we do
to help our industry diversify our offerings to our constituents. Basically,
because if we keep it so niche and so small,
eventually it will die off, and we don't want that.

(03:25):
So really, diversifying our field is essential.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
So you started as danswers with no background necessarily, I
assume in organization and getting all this stuff together. So
you were prompted to act, which is a huge leap
of faith. Can you talk about kind of what you
wanted to hit first and just getting that organization started. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
So when we've started asking around about the lack of
diversity that we were seeing in the field and at
the collegiate level at the time, back in twenty thirteen,
the answer that we were getting from all of the
directors was not that many people of color were auditioning,
and the ones that were auditioning weren't quote unquote ready
for the type of work that was being done in

(04:06):
those companies. And so, you know, we didn't objectively think
that all of our directors were racist, right, so we
had to ask ourselves, you know, Okay, let's dig a
little deeper. There's some extra work that needs to be
done that's maybe not being done to identify why they're
not auditioning and why they're not quote unquote ready. And

(04:26):
so what we did was go backwards and we looked
at the high school age group for education, specialized education,
and dance, and what we found was that it's extremely
expensive to make a dancer and if you don't have
the money, access to the resources to train in this

(04:47):
very specific way during those formative years of thirteen to eighteen,
by the time you're auditioning for colleges and conservatories for dance,
there were gaps and so that was creating a barrier
for entry to those colleges and conservatories for dance, which
was only exacerbated by the time they got into the field.

(05:10):
And so we identified that what we needed to fill
the gap that we needed to fill was to eliminate
the monetary roadblock for passionate, talented young dancers starting in
New York City between the ages of thirteen to eighteen,
and we started as a tuition free summer intensive which
has grown into a year round mentorship and college program,

(05:34):
absolutely tuition free for New York City teenagers.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
It's fantastic. We'll talk about that in a moment. Let
me remind everybody who we're speaking with really quick. We're
speaking with Chanelle the Silva and Nigel Campbell. They are
co founders of Move NYC. Chanelle the Silva is also
CEO of Strategy and New Initiatives. She received a BFA
and Dance from the Juilliard School and was the recipient
of the prestigious Martha Hill Award. Nigel Campbell is Artistic

(05:58):
Director and CEO Programming and Artist Development, a graduate and
adjunct faculty member at Juilliard, teaching essentials of Entrepreneurship in
the Arts, and currently serves on the Princess Grace Foundation's
Arts Advisory Council. You can find out more about the
organization at MOVENYC dot NYC. You're listening to get connected
on one O six point seven Light FM. I'm Mina

(06:20):
del Rio and Shanell I interrupted you. You were getting
ready to add to what Nigel was going to say.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
Now, I also just want to say I grew up
with my mom listening to one of six point seven
light fms, so this is very full circle for me.
So I'm really happy to be here. But you asked,
you know, Nigel and I were raised as dancers. We
were a professional performing artist and we did not go
to college for business administration arts administration. That was not
our strong suit. But what drove us is this idea

(06:48):
of activism. You know, for he and I we were
not really called to the protesting side of activism, though
that is beautiful for us. We really wanted to really
pair that were down to its very simplest origin, which
is to act, which means to do. And we were like,
what can we do? What can we actively be doing
to participate in the shifting of our culture. And so

(07:13):
even though we had no experience, we had an incredible
social capital. We had people across our networks that said, yes,
they believed in our mission, they believed in what we
wanted to do, and so we were able to galvanize
all of the right people to help us do this,
including the incredible dance education community across New York City.
We do not do this work alone. What move NYC

(07:33):
does is adds to what these young people need, the
essentials of what they need in order to matriculate into
college and into the field. But real talk, real talk, Nina,
we were figuring it out as we were going. We
were flying the plane while we built it.

Speaker 4 (07:49):
Yes, and shout out to our executive director Ni Nicholson,
who really filled a lot of the gaps that we
had in terms of administration and leadership in that way.
And so you know, Chanelle and I were spearheading the
artistic part, but we had and I are really helping
us build out the administrative infrastructure.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
So it's great to hear, you know. I think for
anybody thinking about starting anything right, you don't know everything
and you sort of have to build it as you go.
You have to take a leap of faith or else
it never gets done and you just yell, which is great,
but action doesn't necessarily happen. Right. The other thing about
dance is dance is like so many arts communities, it's
kind of small. You talked about your partners. It is

(08:30):
not only an expensive field to study, but later on
the pay is not so fantastic, so you kind of
have to, you know, have some footholds or have some
assistance with that. How do you help people stay connected?
What opportunities are you helping them with later as they
try and get their careers going and keep them going.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
All great questions and really something that Nigel and I
were thinking from the beginning is our mission is to
diversify the field, both in the dancers that you see
on stage, but also the leadership of the field. Because
we understood that those are the people who are actually
going to be the change makers. So from the very beginning,
while we were training these young people physically for the dance,

(09:10):
training mentally for all of their professional development needs, we
were also hoping to breed young leaders to have them
already thinking about taking agency over their experience in this field.
You know, you're not just a receiver. What are you generating?
What are you giving back? Already even as a teenager,
because we knew that though we didn't see the change
that we were hoping for just yet, by planting these

(09:32):
seas with these young people, Nigel and I can go
see a show at the met or at City Center
or Lincoln Center when we're you know, sixty years old,
and we can then be like, this is the world
we envisioned when we were in our late twenties and
we decided to act. So, yes, dancers, while they're in
the profession, the pay is a little bit tumultuous. You know,

(09:55):
we certainly don't sign up for this field to become millionaires.
You know, we do it because it's it's something that
we wake up and we must do. But if you
continue to go through the career trajectory of dance, and
you get to places like where Nigel and I are
fortunate to be now, where we are leading the field,
the pay increases and your livelihood is actually quite robust.

(10:17):
So that's what we try to tell our young people
as they're looking ahead fifteen to twenty years. We try
to tell their parents that as well, because it can
be very daunting to invest in this career and not
know how your child is going to do financially. But
for us, we are products of that. We're products of
that leap of faith. We're products of following our dreams.

Speaker 4 (10:36):
Yeah, and I want to add to that that when
you think of the lifespan of a dancer, right, your
performance career is your twenties and you know, into your thirties.
For some people longer than that if they decide to,
but for many people, you know, by the mid thirties
you might be thinking of transitioning. So when Chanelle talks
about these leadership roles that are really a lot more sustainable,

(11:01):
we're talking about people who are in their mid thirties,
which is when people are getting to those salaries in
their life anyway potentially, so in the times that you
might not be making that much money. You're in your twenties,
you're torn the world, You're doing what you love, You're
going to beautiful parties and galas and meeting incredible people,

(11:23):
and there's just more than one way to quantify. Well,
it's a very rich life. And I feel fortunate that
I made that investment in experience when I was younger
that prepared me for a more sustained future as I
got older.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
There is also other opportunities right along the way, even
whether you're younger, you get older. And let's talk about
some of the events you have coming up, including ten
world premieres by emerging choreographers, a couple that come out
of your incubator, your residency program. So there's something going
on in July.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yes, Yes, so moving Why I see his grown so
much over the past ten years. You know, Nigel and
I look up sometimes and we're like, how did we
make all this happen in ten years? So while much
of our focus of move NYC, the cornerstone a bit
is our young professionals program in educating them and readying
them for the field, we now have alumni who are
in the field, and though they are college grads and

(12:18):
they're out in the field, they still need access to opportunities,
and we listen to them often say what is needed. Now,
We're watching as some of them become young leaders, become
choreographers and are looking to shape the field in their
own ways, and so again MOVE felt it was our
duty to support them. So we created a choreographic incubator
lab called Sweat Lab, in which we select two emerging

(12:41):
choreographers both or who are alumni of the Young Professionals program,
and we give them a six day residency studio space,
access to dancers who are also alumni of the Young
Professionals program in a beautiful studio that hopefully often culminates
in a show that is fully produced with lights and
a stage. We give them a free video of that

(13:02):
work that they create. We invite an audience to come
see it for free, because this is the type of
experience that you need to be able to catapult yourself
into the world. But if you don't have the money
and the resources and the time to make that happen,
you're just kind of at a standstill. And so, you know,
MOVE answered the call again for those those young those
young emerging leaders who needed that access. Also in July,

(13:25):
move has expanded outside of New York City, so we
are also we also have a presence in the DMV
and we host a two week tuition free summer intensive
in Washington, d C for young dancers there who are
also pursuing a career in dance, and that will culminate
in a performance at Dance Place in Washington, d C.
So we are programmatically in July, there's quite a bit

(13:46):
going on. But before that, Nigel.

Speaker 4 (13:49):
Yes, so we're celebrating ten years and in June we
will be hosting our gala at City Winery in Chelsea,
and we're doing a really exciting thing, the show Ye,
where we're going to do retrospectives of the last ten
years of work. So while we're celebrating and looking forward,
we're going to look back on some of the greatest hits.

(14:10):
And this is going to be a really wonderful event.
It's going to be our first full sit down dinner
with a three course meal and a premium open bar.
It's a beautiful space overlooking overlooking the Hudson, So we're
really really excited about it. And you know, anyone who's
in New York, we hope that you can join us

(14:30):
on June tenth at City Winery.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
I congratulate you on ten years of Move NYC, and
I congratulate you on your friendship, a lifetime of friendship
which a lot of people whoof you know, don't even
make it that far, so that's a fantastic thing too.
Chanella Silva and Nigel Campbell are co founders of Move NYC.
You can find out more at moveyc dot NYC. Thank
you for being on to get connected.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
Thanks Nina, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
This has been Get connected with Nina del Re on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one o six seven lightfm dot com.
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