Multi-award-winning choreographer, dance educator, and former dancer with Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, on Broadway, and dance companies in Chicago and in Greece, Christian Denice is known across the dance world for his inimitable style and superb artistry. Just now he is heading up the summer dance intensive at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. I was lucky enough to pull him aside for a chat about the new ballet he’ll be creating for the Marigny Opera Ballet this December.
Your premiere at the Marigny Opera House this past December was a huge success. You’d never really been to New Orleans before you started rehearsals here in 2024. What were your first impressions of the city?
New Orleans is alive in a way that few places are. Art, dance, and music aren’t hobbies or side activities—they’re woven into the daily fabric of life. The city doesn’t just preserve culture—it creates it constantly with joy, resistance, expression, and improvisation. There is this pulse and energy in the city that you feel everywhere you go. It breathes art and culture, and it has such a vibrant identity that connected me to something deeper than myself. Just walking around left me feeling inspired and electrified.
And how about the Marigny Opera House and the Marigny Opera Ballet?
There’s something profoundly sacred about being inside the Marigny Opera House. Its history seems to resonate through the walls, creating a space that feels deeply connected to the past, but fully alive in the present and open to the future. It’s as if the building itself is calling for art and music to fill it—reminding us of how essential creative expression is. I was moved by the dancers of Marigny Opera Ballet. Each one brought such joy, light, and generosity into the process. Their artistry felt honest and expansive, naturally becoming part of the work and the process. These dancers are among the kindest and most dedicated artists I’ve had the privilege to work with.
How did this project come about?
I was approached by Diogo de Lima, who expressed interest in my work and creating for the company. After some phone conversations, I felt this was a great fit for me and my work, and I was excited for the opportunity to collaborate with Ted Joyner on an original score. Something about having music created for you that makes the creative process feel so limitless and expansive in the most beautiful ways.
Your ballet, ECHOES, has been described as a lyrical, evocative dance with shifting moods. Is that a fair description? I mean, what was your original conception?
Yes, I think that’s a good way to describe ECHOES. My idea was to create a meditation about time—how we hold onto some memories and how others can vanish in an instant. I wanted to show how our past shapes who we are now, and how memories can blur the past, present, and future. In the end, ECHOES is an invitation to think about the moments that matter most to us, and how we all want to leave something behind—a lasting echo.
You worked directly with composer/singer Ted Joyner to create the ballet. What was that process like?
Working with Ted Joyner was a great collaboration; it was inspiring. He brought great artistry and creativity to the project, and we explored the themes and ideas of the ballet together from the start. Ted was always open and curious and generous, and his music–– so poetic and textured— opened up new pathways for me to explore. I was lucky: his style fit perfectly with my approach to dance, and I couldn’t be more grateful for how it all came together.
Well here it is a year later, and you’ll be back here creating your second work for the Ballet, opening in December. And this time it’s a full-length holiday ballet. What can you tell us about it?
Yes, I’m really excited to return and create a full-length holiday ballet. This new piece is inspired by the Winter Solstice, using the shift from darkness to light as a way to show the emotional journeys that happen during the holidays. I want to explore feelings like stillness, memory, loneliness and hope, and the story is going to move from quiet and reflective moments to a sense of transformation. I’d like to show how winter can bring both joy and nostalgic sadness, and how our memories and the traditions we share help us cope with these feelings. The ballet will focus on the power of coming together while also honoring the quiet moments we all experience. Just as the seasons change, so do our emotions—moving through loss, renewal, and the return of light.
Your composer will be Mahmoud Chouki, our New Orleans-based guitarist/oudist/composer. What do you think about this new collaboration?
I am so thrilled and honored to be working with Mahmoud Chouki on the score for this ballet. His work is full of different sounds and influences that I think will really capture the themes and tones I’m hoping to explore. I am excited to see how my own work and artistic voice will grow in the collaboration.
You’re always on the road, choreographing all over the place – the US, Europe…After your new ballet opens in New Orleans, where will you travel next? Any holiday plans?
The day after I premiere this work I will be heading to Philadelphia where I’ll be premiering a new work for BalletX. Then I’ll take some time back home in Los Angeles with my family for the holidays before life picks up again. It’s an exciting life, to be able to travel and create and share with different artists and communities. I feel so grateful for all the opportunities I get to use my artistic voice but I’m also very much looking forward to a little downtime spent with family and friends.