Christopher Rudd’s Story
January 24th 2024
My name is Christopher Rudd, and I’m a Jamaican-born dance-maker who blends contemporary ballet with contemporary circus to speak to relevant social issues. I have the honor of being a 2019 Guggenheim Choreography Fellow, the inaugural New Victory LabWorks Launch Artist, the creator of the groundbreaking works TOUCHÉ and LIFTED for American Ballet Theatre, a current resident artist for both BAM and Chelsea Factory, and was named one of 2023’s 6 to watch by American Theater Magazine. I also serve on the Board of Directors for the New York Foundation of the Arts, the first choreographer to do so. My work as a choreographer is informed by my years of being a professional dancer with the Carolina Ballet, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montréal and Alberta Ballet, as well as for Cirque du Soleil’s “Zaia,” their first resident show in Asia.
In 2015, I founded RudduR Dance to create works of high artistic merit and as a platform to better the world through dance. Since then, RudduR Dance has presented works on four continents, and my works have engaged more than 5 million people. Without hesitation I can say that my story, my journey of navigating the world as a Black immigrant ballet dancer, would not have been possible without the loving and protective arms of Ruth Wiesen and Armour Dance Theater (ADT). ADT wasn’t just a high-caliber school of ballet that taught me the language of dance and readied me to perform on some of the world’s most notable stages. It was a home that prepared me for the many obstacles that lay ahead — obstacles that, for me, were unforeseen, but that Ruth had the foresight to prepare me for to navigate the culture of ballet, especially when dealing with race.
As a man, I can look back, understand and appreciate the battles that she fought behind the scenes every time she got even a hint that race was the obstruction in my path. As a child, that information was kept from me and my only job was to enjoy the process of becoming an undeniable talent. Through ADT, she made sure that I had every opportunity to be in the rooms that were usually shut to Black people, and made sure that we had a connection to Dance Theatre of Harlem, a place where we could shine AS Black people. Not in spite of being Black. At the age of 11, I became the first Black child to dance the lead role in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. I remember thinking that it was strange that it had taken so long for a Black child to be cast. I didn’t think about the ground I was breaking, just the fun I was having being the lead.
When I left my home in Miami and joined the professional world, Ruth and ADT were always just a phone call away. And to this day, that remains true. When I started my Company, RudduR Dance, Ruth said to me, “Jump and you’ll learn how to fly on the way down.” Since then we have been soaring and deliberately challenging audiences in an attempt to tell more diverse stories. The aforementioned TOUCHÉ & LIFTED, are such examples. TOUCHÉ was the first explicitly gay work done by any ballet company. LIFTED was the first ALL BLACK work done by any predominantly white ballet company. It made me proud to have Ruth in the audience for both those works at Lincoln Center. Her investment in “her children” doesn’t end when they graduate. It’s a lifelong relationship that the world should be taking notice of, especially when it comes to the racial reckoning that many are “now claiming” to be trying to confront within their institutions.
Again, I sit here as a man writing this testimony without equivocation, because I know my story, my journey would not have been possible without Ruth and ADT. For this, I am truly, truly grateful.
CONTACT US
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