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DAY IN THE LIFE OF DANCE: Joshua L. Peugh with Boston Dance Theater & Jock Soto’s Living Legacy
By Christine Jowers/Follow @cmmjowers on Instagram
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Published on September 23, 2025
Photo credit: Peugh by Ameia Mikula-Noble l Soto by Jordan Mount
The Storytellers
Joshua L. Peugh with Boston Dance Theater
The Dance Complex in Cambridge, MA
Open Rehearsal on August 1, 2025
Joshua L. Peugh has always been curious about iconic stories and their characters. During an open rehearsal with the Boston Dance Theater at The Dance Complex in Cambridge, MA, the choreographer ponders the transformation of classics like Romeo and Juliet or Sherlock Holmes. "What about the source material demands retelling and reimagining?" he asks.
Today, the studio audience, along with the BDT dancers, prepare to "attend the tale of Sweeney Todd." Known from the Broadway version by Stephen Sondheim, which premiered in 1979, and the 2007 film directed by Tim Burton, it's the story of the vengeful barber who cuts his clients to pieces, then contributes their remains to the baker woman below his shop, who rolls the flesh into her meat pies (not your typical boy-meets-girl, boy-marries-etc. theater fare). Turns out the human ingredient delights the pie-eaters of London.
The characters first appeared in the mid-1800s, in a penny dreadful romance called "The String of Pearls." Penny dreadfuls defined the pop literature of the Victorian age. Produced in weekly serials and printed cheaply, these accessible stories contained tantalizing exploits that kept readers hooked.
As the company enters day five of exploring "Sweeney...", it's playtime. Peugh enjoys working from text and draws inspiration from including everyone in the game. “Let the curiosity become contagious!”
He asks the audience to gather closer to the dancers and share words that come to mind when thinking Sweeney Todd. We brainstorm.
"Meat Pie"
"Sharp Edges"
"Crazy, Father, Love."
"Food Chain"
The dancers respond. Peugh edits and comments. "Make a people choice over a dance choice" is one of my favorites. Emphasizing human motivation over dance steps, cutting anything that doesn’t seem real, Peugh aims to create a composition that allows the psychology to emerge from the choreography, so that we, the audience, can immerse ourselves (safely, no razors allowed) in the story.
BREAKING NEWS:
Boston Dance Theater recently received confirmation of a $25,000 contribution from Movement Arts Creation Studio to directly support the commissioning of Joshua L. Peugh to continue his work with the company.
Also, audiences can look forward to BDT's new program STRANGE CLASSICS, an evening-length production featuring original works by Joshua L. Peugh and Rena Butler.
"This evening reframes classic narratives — one through the cool tension of Hitchcockian cinema (Butler), the other through the dark humor of Victorian pulp fiction (Peugh). Together, these works revel in mystery, moral ambiguity, and the performative nature of danger," reads a statement from BDT.
An Evening with Jock Soto
The Legacy of a Navajo and Puerto Rican Dancer
Presented by the International Museum of Dance and ChromaDiverse
at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico
August 23, 2025
While balletomanes the world over know Jock Soto as the former principal dancer of the New York City Ballet, famous for his sensitive partnering and dazzling storytelling through dance, they may not realize that his dance roots extend back to New Mexico, where, before he discovered ballet, he began hoop dancing at the age of five. He was taught by his Diné Navajo mom, Josephine (who performed even though women in her culture were not traditionally allowed to hoop dance).
The audience at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe — friends, dance fans, members and dignitaries of the Navajo nation, other Native and government leaders, and young people from across the state — are quite aware where Soto comes from, and of his devotion to the development of dance in New Mexico and beyond. The feeling of pride in the theater is palpable, as is the realization that there's nothing "former" about Soto's contributions.
To acknowledge his legacy, the event's presenters, the International Museum of Dance and ChromaDiverse, announce the launch of a Jock Soto Scholarship. This award will support the continued education of an indigenous dancer chosen annually by Soto. This year, the very first recipient of the award was Heloha Tate of the Chickasaw Nation, a young dancer, classical musician, and traditional stick ball player, who has performed not only at Chickaswa cultural events but also , with the Oklahoma City Ballet, and at Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.
Tonight we are treated to performance, videos, an interview, tributes, and proclamations. The evening commences with a Native blessing by Medicine Man, Ben Willie. Although I don't understand his words, I deeply appreciate their spiritual weight.
Steven J. Yazzie's 2021 short film, Following Enchantment's Line, travels through Santa Fe's distinctive cultural landmarks to the unparalleled sky, desert, and mountain vistas of the state. The film features Soto and dancer Harrison Coll moving as if in ritual to a captivating soundscape composed by Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate (also father of Heloha Tate). Soto and Croll's dance, rich with images of Native American and contemporary ballet movement, flows with an eloquent reverence and appreciation of the majestic surroundings.
Later, Soto gently shares notes with Zac Bigbee and Athena Dunleavy of Ballet Taos in a rehearsal of his choreography, I Lost My Shadow. Observing his connection to the dancers and the change that his subtle direction elicits absorbs us. When the two perform without Soto, they transform the bare stage with their poignant search.
Festival Ballet Albuquerque's Christo McMaster and Dominic Guerra also perform an exquisite duet choreographed by Soto. Their assured technical mastery and strength is balanced by a vulnerable camaraderie.
For an artist of such impact, it's surprising how quiet and unassuming Soto is. Except for a brief interview with Lensic Arts Center director, Joel Aalberts, he remains wordless and gracious. When he does speak, Soto disarms us with stories of being young and green in the intense swirl of the New York City dance world. It is hard to believe that the man who inspired the New York Times to say, “Ballet is a man called Jock,” was once so nervous in a solo (his first with the New York City Ballet) that he completely froze on stage, only moving when he heard Mr. Balanchine from behind the wings implore, "Do something." He decided to hop. So he hopped and hopped until he remembered the choreography.
One of the Native leaders, moved almost to tears by the performances of the young New Mexican dancers, describes Soto's influence to that of a thrown stone skipping across the water. It doesn’t make much noise, but creates a radiant, rippling effect.
