A 33-year-old dancer has become the first with Down syndrome to direct a mainstage work for a professional dance company.
According to ABC News, Chris Dyke began taking dance classes when he was 12 years old. In 2021, he went to his friends, Kyle Page and Amber Haines, at Dancenorth studios with the idea of a “big show” with “lights, sound, costumes and set.” That idea became his show Lighting the Dark, inspired by Dyke’s favorite superheroes, musicians, and street artists. It’s the first time Dyke has collaborated with a full ensemble of dancers.
When he heard Dyke’s idea, Page, artistic director for Dancenorth recalled, “We said we have to make it happen.”
He noted, “As far as we can tell — we’ve done a bit of research — this is first time that a choreographer living with Down syndrome is creating a mainstage work on a contemporary dance company. First time ever, anywhere. Which is kind of crazy to think this is the first time that this happening.”
Haines, Dancenorth associate artistic director, said the intention wasn’t to make history with Dyke as the first person with Down syndrome to direct such a show, but does think “it will break down boundaries absolutely…”
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She said working with Dyke is like moving through a “labyrinth of brilliance. You’ll start going down one path with an idea with him and then he’ll have a moment of genius and cut through and we’re going that way.”
She added that Lighting the Dark celebrates the “beautiful aspects of being human. And the purity — Chris on his own, in his element just as he is, and that being celebrated and ripping everyone’s heart out.”
Page added, “[Chris] always offers something wildly unexpected and the creativity just doesn’t stop. Even in the lunch break [he’s] still making — there is no pausing the creative energy of Chris Dyke.”
Dyke explained that heroes operate in the dark so that others can enjoy the light and he hopes that Lighting the Dark will inspire others to find the hero in themselves.
The show premiered at Brisbane Festival in September, but Dyke hopes to take it across Australia and perhaps worldwide.
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