Paul Taylor Dance Company

Fleet Afoot

Native New Yorker Michelle Fleet began dancing at age four.  She later attended Ballet Hispanico, Talent Unlimited High School and Purchase College, where she earned a B.F.A. in dance in 1999.  She also received her M.B.A. in business management in 2006.  She joined Taylor 2 in Summer 1999, and made her debut with the Paul Taylor Dance Company three years later.  TaylorNotes caught up with Michelle (pictured above as a step dancer in Phantasmagoria) following the Company’s recent “I-Tour” (Istanbul, Italy and Israel) and a run-out to Bergen, Norway.

TaylorNotes: Tell us about that whirlwind tour you just completed.
Michelle Fleet: Istanbul was awesome.  It was amazing to visit the mosques, and to see the Byzantine influence after doing Paul’s Byzantium.  I’ve always liked Italy, and it was good to revisit Bari.  We went to a cute restaurant, Hippopotamus, in Modena after the last show.  We were all at one huge table in this empty place, and then a guy walked in with a gun in his back pocket, and we were all like, Omigod!  But he started to recommend dishes to us, saying, “I’m getting that one,” and we thought, Okay then, I’ll get that one!  He came over to our table and opened three or four bottles of champagne!  Israel was definitely the highlight of the trip.  Tel Aviv has one of the best beaches in the world, and Jerusalem was amazing.  I went to Catholic school growing up, so I was revisiting stories I’d read in the bible.  It was a hard tour – we danced a lot and traveled a lot – but it was totally worth it.

TN: And then Norway, through the generosity of Taylor Trustee Yvonne Rieber and her husband Bjarne.
MF: It’s so beautiful and clean, and you can imagine Vikings running through the forest!  We took a boat ride on a fjord.  The seafood was amazing, best ever: smoked eel, lobster, shrimp, scallops.  The sun sets at 10:30 and even then it’s still light out at midnight.  The Riebers are so sweet; they gave us an amazing party at their gallery after the show and it was as if it were Gala night all over again.

TN: You packed the right clothes?  Bettie de Jong told me you never appear twice in the same outfit on tour.
MF: Right!  I loved the shopping; I bought a fabulous pair of leather gloves with crochet on top.  I can’t help it, you find fabulous things on tour!

TN: You also knit and crochet your own things – Bettie’s convinced you’re going to have a shop one day.
MF: I am going to have a shop.  I’m going to do a figure competition one day and use the money I make from endorsements to open a knitting café!  That’s why I got my business degree.

TN: While on tour!
MF: I needed to do something with the free time I had then.  It’s not easy going to school online; you have to be very disciplined, and sometimes there’s no internet service so you hit the books that day instead, but you miss the interaction with students from all over the world.  Some of them came to a show in San Francisco.

TN: You started to dance at a young age.
MF: Dance class was the only thing that tired me out on weekends.  I went to a school in Harlem, and then another one in the Bronx where I spent all of Saturdays and Sundays doing ballet, jazz, African, tap and modern.  When I was 13 I went to Talent Unlimited High School, and after school I’d go to Ballet Hispanico, where we had ballet, Flamenco and Brazilian modern, as well as Labanotation, conditioning and nutrition.  Before I went to high school I knew this is what I wanted to do professionally.  Each year after the big recital my mom would ask if I wanted to continue the next year, and I always said yes.  She said I’d have to give my all because there were going to be people out there who were better; there was always going to be competition.  “You’ll have to work hard, and you have to love it; if you don’t love it, you can’t do it.”  Each year I’d get the talk. 

TN: For college, you chose to go to Purchase
MF: My high school teacher asked where I wanted to go, Juilliard or Purchase; did I want to stay in the City or get out of the City?  He knew I was a Bronx girl and that I’d prefer to get away.  So we tried for Purchase and I got in.  All these Taylor people were from Purchase, but I had no clue at that time.

TN: Is that where you discovered Paul’s work?
MF: My senior year of college we did Company B – I was in “Rum and Coca Cola.”  Then [Taylor Alumnus] Hernando Cortez told me that Taylor was having a “private” audition a week after I graduated, and I said I’d go for fun even though I didn’t think I was right for the Company.  He told me the audition was on Friday and I should I take classes there beforehand.  I had just graduated, I was getting an apartment and looking for a job.  I went to class Monday and there were like a thousand people preparing for this “private” audition!  Tuesday and Wednesday I got shut out because there were so many people there already.  I decided to get to class super early on Thursday so I wouldn’t miss it.  I got there at 9am, thank God, because the audition was that day, not the next.  I had a ratty unitard on, I didn’t have my picture or resume, nothing.  I got a callback, and we learned some repertoire that we showed Paul the following Tuesday; he was going to make his choice on Wednesday.  I ran late that day because I had to meet with our landlord.  Finally I got there and Paul said he wanted me for the second Company!  I immediately quit the waitressing job I’d had for a week.

TN: Did teaching, which is such an important part of your work in Taylor 2, come naturally?
MF: I was a little shy at first but I understood what the job was, and I was so happy to have it.  I used everything my own teachers had taught me.  Having to articulate to others what was taught to me helped me understand Taylor style and become a better performer.

TN: And how did you get into the larger Company?
MF: We were having an audition for Taylor 2 while the main Company was on tour, and I was teaching the fight section from Runes.  We got down to the last group of girls and Paul took two women.  Then he pulled me aside and said, “You’re going to join the main Company.”  I said, “Huh?  What?  Are you serious?  Okay!”  My first show was September 26, 2002 – at Purchase!

TN: So you wound up “auditioning” twice on days you had no idea you were going to audition.
MF: My mom always said I’d better be prepared because you never know who’s going to be in the audience.

TN: My mom always said to wear clean underwear because you never know when you might wind up in an ambulance.
MF: My mom said that too!

TN: Maybe we had the same mom.
MF: Hmmm, I wonder…!

TN: Do you feel that Paul has tapped into different aspects of your personality? 
MF: I’m lucky that way.  I feel like a chameleon in his work because each piece I’m in, I’m someone different.  He sees the more gentle side of me, like in Mercuric, and then there’s the fiery side in that awesome duet I do with Michael in Piazzolla.

TN: That’s one tough duet!
MF: There’s a lot of difficult partnering.  You have to learn when to let him take over, and when to help him; it takes time.  I did that role in Taylor 2, and it’s always different with different partners.  I learned a lot about it from Silvia [Nevjinsky], who Paul made it on.  It’s all about finding the emotional and physical connection with your partner.

TN: What is the emotion?
MF: Lust.  Fire.  At that moment I am completely in love with Michael and Michael alone; there’s no one else around me, I’m completely focused on him and there’s all this tension building between us.  There have been times we’ve kissed each other on stage – it just happens. 

TN: No fear? 
MF: No, I love that duet, I’m not afraid of it. 

TN: You’re now doing the running solo in Esplanade. 
MF: My main concern there is to honor the piece and do it with integrity.  I have so much respect for the people who have done it before me, and for the idea behind the dance.  I’ve gotten to speak to Carolyn [Adams], Ruthie [Andrien] and Lisa [Viola] about it; I just hope I can fill those shoes.

TN: Or bare feet! Bettie asked you to change the solo a bit, bring it back to the original. 
MF: She told me not to skitter so much, just to run, not think about being on the music, just run.  Now I have Bettie in my head all the time yelling “RUN!”  I feel like I’m running for Jesus!

TN: Or Paul!  You’re doing something quite different in Paul’s new piece, Phantasmagoria, which is kind of a dreamscape set to Renaissance music.
MF: I’m doing Irish step dancing with hard-toed shoes.  I had some huge blisters from those shoes!  I haven’t taken tap classes in I don’t know how long!  Andy [LeBeau] helped me count out the music for that solo. 

TN: Is there a role that you feel particularly captures you?
MF: Changes is not all of me but it’s definitely a chunk of me – not what she’s going through, but the energy behind it, the attack of the movement.

TN: You weren’t born yet during the mid-60’s; did you have a frame of reference for the period?
MF: I remember how cool my parents were, and how liberal my mom still is.  My parents were very protective of me but I remember hanging out in the Village with my mom when I was just five.  She took me to all parts of the city, we didn’t just stay in the Bronx.

TN: Speaking of Changes, there have been quite a few here recently, with John Tomlinson taking over the executive leadership; Andy LeBeau assisting him and Bettie; Ruth Andrien taking over Taylor 2; and Lisa Viola running the Summer Intensive. 
MF: It’s interesting to see the changes.  I’ve been around for about ten years now, watching people come into the organization.  It’s fun getting to know them, and watching old friends take on new roles in the administration.  This is one big family, and it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been away.  Once you’re in, you’re in, you’re always a part of the family.

TN: What are you especially looking forward to dancing next season
MF: I’m most excited about Orbs, an epic piece that we’re reviving.

TN: I’ve seen an old black-and-white film of it on DVD – are you learning the piece from that?
MF: Yes, the film is kind of jumpy and grainy, but at least it has music, unlike the silent film of Scudorama we used two years ago.  But I’ll be able to get information from Carolyn, who originated the role I’m doing, so that will be really exciting.

TN: Who were your idols growing up?
MF: It’s kind of embarrassing.  As a teenager I loved Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson and Prince, and Patrick Swayze – I don’t know how many times I watched Dirty Dancing, I think I broke the tape.  And I loved watching Baryshnikov.  I watched White Nights, with him and Gregory Hines, over and over.  I’d say, “Mom, did you SEE that?”  I’d go to the performing arts library and rent different videos.  I was so in love with Baryshnikov – what girl wasn’t?  Four or five years ago when we were at City Center, he came backstage with Paul as I was on my way to the dressing room.  I just froze.  He said, “Good show.”  I thought, Is this really happening? Did he really just say that?  He’s a dancer just like you, Shell – you’re a professional dancer, you’re cool, you’re fine.  I said, “Oh, thanks.  See ya later.”   Growing up, I really looked up to my mom.  She raised me, and through my parents’ divorce, my mom was in control.  She did an awesome job.  She raised me in the City, and that’s hard; I can’t imagine raising children in the City.  No wonder she was so protective.  I totally look up to her.  My birthdays were amazing, I would have sworn we were millionaires.  I credit her for my creative side; I’d see a pair of jeans I liked, and next thing you know we were at the craft store and making them ourselves.  She nurtured my talents. 

TN: Does she come to all your shows?
MF: She lives in Washington State now, but she comes to see us in Seattle and sometimes she flies in to see us at City Center.

TN: How do you define success?
MF: I think I’m successful in the sense that I’m happy and I love what I do.  When the day comes that I’m in love with something else, I’ll know it’s time to move on, but I’m still in love with what I do.  I like sharing what I have to offer.

TN: The other day I heard the opening notes of Sunset coming from the studio, and I thought, This is one of the world’s great poets, and his dancers are the way he shares that poetry with us.
MF: I hope I’m successful at communicating his vision.

TN: Some quick questions: Most interesting person you’ve met through the Company?
MF: Ruthie, Carolyn and Dan Wagoner. 

TN: You also met Rahm Emanuel, the President’s Chief of Staff.
MF: Yes, outside of the Company there’s Baryshnikov, Rahm Emanuel, Martha Stewart.

TN: Rahm Emanuel puts you one degree of separation from the President of the United States.
MF: I know!  Obama needs to come to a show.  We met Barbara Bush once, but I need to meet Michelle Obama.

TN: That was one historic election night!
MF: I was crying on the phone with my mom.  Harlem was one huge party.  Everyone met in the main square on 125^th Street to celebrate.  You just knew there would be no wrong that night; no one was going to do anything stupid, we were all happy and filled with positive energy.  I didn’t go to bed until 4 or 5 in the morning.

TN: Worst job you ever had to support your dancing? 
MF: The mailroom at Purchase.

TN: Favorite book? 
MF: “Push” – they made it into the movie Precious.  I don’t want to see the movie because I have my own images in mind.  It’s a sad book but I love it.

TN: Favorite poem?
MF: One by Maya Angelou, “Phenomenal Woman,” which makes me think of my mother.

TN: Favorite piece of classical music?
MF: There’s a beautiful section in Sibelius’s 3^rd Symphony, which was part of the score for Public Domain.

TN: Place you’d like to go?
MF: Morocco.

TN: What would people be surprised to learn about you?
MF: Other than the fact that I love to box, I love to fish, and I love paintball?

TN: If you could have dinner tonight with anyone who ever lived…
MF: It would be with my grandmother.  She passed away when my mother and aunt were kids, and apparently I look exactly like her. 

TN: Let’s end with something Bettie said about you. “I admire Michelle tremendously – she’s a super person.  Very steady, and right there, always ready to present herself and always ready to work.  She’s a very positive force.”
MF: You’re making me cry.  I love Bettie!