Hi, dance friends. I’m Margaret Fuhrer, editor and producer of The Dance Edit newsletter and podcast. Welcome to the 13th episode of The Dance Edit Extra!

In this episode, I talk with Francesca Harper, who last fall became the artistic director of Ailey II, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s second company. Ailey II has been through a lot in the past few years—not just the pandemic, which of course has been especially hard on young dancers just beginning their careers, but the troupe also dropped its former artistic director following allegations of sexual misconduct.

When Francesca was announced as Ailey II’s new director, it just felt right. For starters, she has a fantastic professional resumé, which includes directing her own company, The Francesca Harper Project; dancing with Dance Theatre of Harlem and Ballett Frankfurt under William Forsythe, as well as on Broadway; and choreographing for numerous companies, including Ailey and Ailey II. And in addition to all that experience, she also has this profound connection to the Ailey organization, because she essentially grew up there. She trained at The Ailey School while her mother, the great Denise Jefferson, was directing it.

So now Francesca is leading the young artists of Ailey II with an eye to the rich traditions of this institution that shaped her as a young artist. She also told me, as you’ll hear, that she prides herself on creating safe spaces for dancers, which is an especially important part of this job. I hope you enjoy hearing about her vision for this company, not to mention her incredible stories about her time as an Ailey baby. Here she is.

[pause]

Margaret Fuhrer:
Hi, Francesca. Thank you so much for stopping by The Dance Edit Extra today.

Francesca Harper:
Oh, it’s my absolute pleasure. I’ve been a fan for a long time.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Oh, thank you—that’s so kind. I can’t tell you, too, how much I appreciate you making the time, because you are in the thick of it right now. We’re talking just before Ailey II begins its national tour, your first as director of the company, which means you must be essentially living at the studio.

Francesca Harper:
Oh, I am. Chained to the building, happily chained to the building, seriously. It’s such an interesting thing because it is really just incredibly humbling, and exciting, and really just joyful just to be here. It’s a dream really. So, it’s always fraught. There’s a lot of work, but you see already kind of the benefits of the work, like immediately. Yeah. It’s more joyful than it is challenging.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Yeah. No better place to be a prisoner, really.

Francesca Harper:
Right, exactly. Shackled.

Margaret Fuhrer:
I think a lot of people were excited for many reasons when you were named the director of Ailey II last September, but one of the reasons people were excited is that this is in some ways a homecoming for you. You essentially grew up at Ailey. Can you talk a bit about your time as an Ailey baby?

Francesca Harper:
I would love to. It was really surreal, the whole process—I’ll share just a little bit about the process before I talk about growing up at Ailey. I think a friend kind of lightly mentioned, “Oh, well, have you thought about this?” I said, “Oh, well maybe. Oh, it sounds like it could be a really nice job.” And I kind of took it as more, “Let me apply.” The deeper I got into it, the more profound it got, and the more my heart opened up, and the more I fell in love. I had forgotten how profoundly supportive and moving my time as a child there was at Ailey.

I grew up in the theater—sorry, I grew up at the Ailey building. We were on 59th street in Lexington. So I have all of these memories. My mother was a teacher. She was a Graham dancer. She was also dancing with the Pearl Lang, who was the associate artistic director of Ailey, and had her own company at the time. I remember growing up as an Ailey baby. It was like everyone had their own companies. We were going to concerts every weekend. I think it was affordable at the time. So people were just renting out studio space. It was Fred Benjamin. It was the Graham Company. It was all of these incredible artists—Ailey, Martha Graham. But they were very intimate, these concerts. It was a very kind of close community. I have these memories of just really this hard work, and authentic integrity that these people had, they were doing and creating works.

Especially then—the civil rights movement was happening. There was deep purpose and social justice that was living at the foundation of every concert of everything they did at that time. And my father was a civil rights lawyer at the time. My mother had divorced him, and come to New York. I think also in the Graham company, feminism really drove her, and her colleagues. So it was also growing up with this real sense of my mother being very clear about achieving her dreams, and achieving her dreams, she really fell in love with being a teacher. So that was really interesting for her to kind of analyze, and talk about what that process was like.

Myself as a child, I would be in the studio, and it was magical just watching the mind behind an artistic process. I can really, literally, as I’m speaking with you now, I remember this studio. It was on the highest floor of the Lexington Avenue Building. I see Gary Deloatch, who was a superstar with Ailey. I see him in a leotard and a head scarf he used to wear, like working and processing a new role. I could see the sunlight in the window. Renee Robinson, these people—Keith McDaniel, Sharrell Mesh particularly—these were these incredible dancers, and they were really at the height of trying their best and achieving just powerful moments. To watch the process of an artist learning how to do that with teachers and coaching and support was just incredible.

I think what was most incredible for me about that was the psychology behind the work, and how I started to discern, or I could start to see, what people were thinking, but were not saying. That would come out through the embodiment, or would not, or where they would hold back. It was just very interesting to watch that human process going on behind in the work.

I remember also, I took classes as a child there. I started in the children’s program. I remember taking African—because I was studying ballet primarily—I remember taking an African class for the first time. Even now I’m just getting chills. I had never felt so at home in dance in a way. It just felt like it was right, and I could feel it in my skin, my DNA. It was just… and that for me was magical. I’ll never forget that. It was in the lower studio on 59th street on the first floor.

But just, these memories, I tell you. These memories are incredible. I had another memory when I was in the studio the other day with one of the second company members, and just was watching them dance. I remembered Desmond. It reminded me of Desmond Richardson who was… we were shoulder to shoulder studying together when we were teenagers. I just saw that kind of talent and that kind of generosity of spirit that I had recognized so much in Desmond’s dancing and artistry.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Oh, I hope you told the dancer that. It would must have made that dancer’s life!

Francesca Harper:
Oh, wait till you come. You have to come to the season. You’re going to see the new generation!

Margaret Fuhrer:
So you have all these core memories in this place, where you’re getting these master classes every day.

Francesca Harper:
It’s surreal. Because sometimes I still walk into the building, I like a child, a kid, I do! Because also some of my mom’s friends are still here working. You know, Ana Marie Forsythe. I always, like, put my shoulders up, and waving to them from afar and hoping I was doing well in their eyes. I’ve had to really kind of do some deep thinking around that, about kind of stepping in and not reverting to that, kind of also remembering what I’ve experienced independently since then.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Yeah. Actually that is my next question, is talking about what you’ve experienced independently in the meantime. Because you carved out your own beautiful distinct path through the dance world. You have this incredibly varied resumé. Can you talk about what was sort of the through line? What were the values that guided you in that career before you then came back to Ailey?

Francesca Harper:
Oh, my goodness. Well, the ethics that I felt growing up at Ailey, I felt really carried me. The ethics I had experienced, and seen, and witnessed as a child, and then as… I think that was the same. My first job was with Dance Theatre of Harlem. So that was very much an alignment with what I had experienced at Ailey.

I’ll tell you a funny story. When I was a senior in high school, the Ailey audition came around. So we had been in the school, and it was just the thing we were all going to do, this audition for the Ailey company. It was the time. We were 17, 18. It was younger then. I went to the Ailey audition in my de-shanked pointe shoes. [laughter] Yeah, no, you laugh. But that’s what I did, I went to the Alvin Ailey audition in de0shanked pointe shoes.

I finished the audition. Alvin took me into his office and he said, “Fran, I know you have a place in our second company”—ironically—”You have a place in our second company, but I know you want to dance ballet. We need more trailblazers in ballet.” I cried, and I think I leapt into his lap. He like hugged me and cradled me in his lap. I said thank you to him.

Margaret Fuhrer:
He pushed you out of the nest.

Francesca Harper:
The level of generosity, for him to send me on my way. I went up to Dance Theatre of Harlem, and I got a job the next week with Arthur Mitchell. I was so clear and I was so happy. I just wanted to wear those pointe shoes that I wore at the audition. So that’s what led me there.

Then I think that was—right, like I say, the ethics were very, very much alive in the work that we were doing at Dance Theatre of Harlem. My godfather was Walter Raines, who too he was, yes, my mother’s best friend. So he was also running the school at the time.

Then when I saw Frankfurt Ballet, and I saw William Forsythe’s work—I know my mother had told me, she said, “You will know in your gut when you find the right place.” I remember seeing his choreography for the first time and saying, “This is it for me.” Yes. There was this level of respect or inclusion in the approach, and taking ballet, and having Thom Willems’ music that had these deeply complex kind of drum rhythms. I think that for me as a young woman of color at the time was like, I think that’s what really spoke to me, was the fact that it was… I could feel. I found out later that Bill was really influenced by hip hop. He always loved hip hop. That was just one of his loves.

Margaret Fuhrer:
I never knew that!

Francesca Harper:
Yeah.

Margaret Fuhrer:
I feel like now I’m thinking about his work in a different way.

Francesca Harper:
Yeah. Isn’t that so interesting? I thought, “Wow, okay.” So that was living in there, all of those… We, historically, at the time, out of 30 dancers, there were 10 of us that were people of color. I remember we looked up onstage at the time… So, when we talk about this through line and the ethics, already, there was William Forsythe. He would talk about the stage being a platform for social change or social platform for change. It was very apparent when I first saw his work that this diverse group was—Tony Rizzi, who was small Italian. We got Stephen Galloway, who was African-American and 6’4‘‘, and then Nicky Champion, who was in his forties or fifties at the time dancing with the company. It was like, I remember seeing that diversity on stage—kind of like, I think, Bill T. Jones—but similar, the courage to put that out there. So my father’s social justice was also always with me, and thinking about, right, that’s important to me. We’re beautiful dancers and art makers, but there’s something where a cultural purpose, an intention behind the work. Yeah.

Then my musical theater—I went, after Bill, who had really exposed me, exposed me and broadened my mind when I was working with the company. He had me acting and saying text. He was like, “Fran, take this text and go to the center of the stage and speak it when the curtain goes up.” Yeah? Oh, okay. “Alone at the table.” Okay. I’ll do that. Singing, he had me singing on stage, and then also collaborating. We would sit around—it was funny, because I had two memories that I now implement with my dancers. When I was a child in the school in Caverna Magica, Alvin Ailey had us sit around, and asked every one of us what our dreams were for the future, every person in that workshop. So that was acknowledging and giving voice to everyone in the room. Bill Forsythe used to have us in a circle. He would sit down and he would ask all of our opinions as we were in the middle of a world premiere. Like, what do you think? What’s your feedback? I had never experienced that, having gone to these institutions that I was told to be obedient only.

I’ve been teaching this one improv class—although I have been doing my own thing in my own company, or working with my own company for many years, I always taught one improvisation class at Ailey, once a week. So no matter where I was, or whatever, I got a sub when I would travel here and there. But I was in Ailey once a week in my improvisation class, and I would have the dancers sit down and we would ask their opinion. That for me is really my mission. That I really learned from William Forsythe, that gave me voice in the room. That I want to empower the next generation by not only having them be obedient, but actually implementing, and creating these spaces that they are able to utter and share their voices and opinions.

So I think that that is another connection that is definitely deeply influenced from Alvin and Bill. And I think also just running my company for 15 years. I didn’t give up. That same thing, the ethics, the integrity. I have relationships still with Eriko Iisaku, who I’ve been working with—she’s like been assistant director, and muse for many years. It’s been over 10 years. She was a student of mine at Ailey. And Tim Stickney, who works with Complexions. He works with me all the time, and he was one of my students at Ailey.

So it’s those communication skills. I’ve learned spreadsheets, Excel spreadsheets, but I had to do all those little intricate things and minutiae in running a company, and speaking to presenters and all of that. So I think these all have just been kind of contributed to being appointed the artistic director of Ailey II.

Margaret Fuhrer:
So, being a director at Ailey, which is this huge heritage organization—how did leading your own company, leading the Francesca Harper Project, how did it prepare you for that? And how did it not prepare you for that?

Francesca Harper:
Oh, right. Yeah. Well, I think I had to work—I was very hands on with my company in every department. I had to do business and talk with my administrator, but do budgets and this and that…

Margaret Fuhrer:
Spreadsheets.

Francesca Harper:
Right. I had to get in the studio. I had to teach them, I had to create and choreograph. Then I had to make sure, like, call people when they wouldn’t show up for rehearsal. I got very used to this kind of tight, almost micromanaging that I had to do to survive.

That does not serve me here. It’s not bad. I have the skills, but I just need to know when to put them away, and to slow down. I think what is remarkable, and this is a positive thing, is that I never had this kind of support in my life to create art, and think about art, and help others to kind of grow as my only job. I think that’s why I say shackled to the building, because it’s the joy to be envisioning and in the middle, in the center of everything that I love to do. But that slowing down is really my learning curve.

I think I had to listen. Listening is the first thing that I’ve had to really implement since I’ve been here. That I’m also new, and they’ve had immense success for years in sustaining an organization, and still upholding this wonderful mission that I kept one foot in the door just to be around that mission. So I think that really also still are the bones of Ailey. I can feel that being back here.

But that slowing down for me is also of recognizing, I think, that on the other side of the spectrum, things just have to take more time in this organization. That’s not a bad thing. It’s like I have to pass through this person who has to pass by this person. They have to think about it for a moment. Then they get back to me, and then, “Oh, I have some… oh, right, okay.” Then I come back and then maybe I’ll call a conversation. But we have this deep insight into whatever we’re doing that just kind of keeps getting deeper, and richer. It’s just remarkable.

When I left our tech rehearsal at NJPAC last week, I was so humbled by the level of excellence that I felt, and polish and soul and care that had gone into every aspect, from the costumes to the lighting to the music. To making sure everything was complete, because that is what they’re proud of, putting these performances out there in the world. It was such a different thing than me just like, “Okay, well, if we have to let that go…” No, they don’t let anything go, every detail. And that was so wonderful. Even in just five days, I went from kind of feeling like I thought things would go one way—by the third day, I was just kind of jumping in and out of different shoes and asking, “Okay, lighting, did you get what you needed? Tell me if you need anything else.” Then going over to our company managers, “Everything okay?” Priding myself on just stepping out. It’s not just about me. The dancers: “Are you okay? Is your costume—the hem? How is the hem?”

It’s just fantastic. Here I am just supporting, and providing that support, and also learning about just other people. They’re so skilled that I don’t have to even supplement in any way, which is exciting. Sumaya Jackson, our company manager, is like—I always ask her, “Is everything okay, do you need anything?” She’s like, “No, I just want you to do your job, Fran.” Okay, Sumaya. Thank you. I will. So yes, it takes time here, but it’s really worth it.

I’m really looking forward to… it’s nice to feel settled. It’s nice to feel settled. I feel like it’s healthier for my brain in a lot of ways. So I’m really looking forward to kind of creating in this new settled environment, a settled place in my life really.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Yeah. It’s interesting too, because as you said, the company has been incredibly successful over the past many years. But you also came in following a really turbulent time for the company—in the middle of a pandemic, the previous director had been pushed out of the job. How did you navigate all of that, and how did you—do you still—make sort of a safe space for your young dancers in the middle of all of it?

Francesca Harper:
Oh, I pride myself in making safe spaces. That’s easy for me. That’s my life’s mission. I think that’s probably also… I’ve always related to Robert Battle that way. I think he’s a very kind human being, and I’ve always appreciated that. I think that I relate to him with that kind of as my leading principle.

I also was very much groomed to manage challenging situations. That’s what my mother did. So I was at home, and she was just… it was challenge after challenge after challenge after challenge. Part of me at this point in my life almost really is… I chuckle when there’s a challenge. I say that now—of course there are challenges that are not something you chuckle over. But there’s no way you can’t deal with it. You just have to. That’s also what I signed up for, is to find solutions.

I think my mother was really good at that. So, I have a great example. Judith Jamison, I saw her—she and Sharon Luckman and my mother were this incredible triangle of ferocious, fabulous female leaders. I have them to kind of call on, the great work that they did together.

Then also just Bennett Rink and Robert Battle are very much close advisors to me now. Letting me know how they’ve managed things, and giving me space to also… I think they really are excited about even the fact that I have had so many experiences, and looking now, especially in the global pandemic, to kind of defining some new kind of hybridity.

In the pandemic I created 16 virtual films. I think that’s also indicative of the fact that when there’s a challenge, I really lean in. That was important to me, that the dance world, as a member of the dance community, that I just like really lean into finding a new mode of expression and format for the dance world. That was really an exciting moment.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Yeah. Running toward the challenge, not away from it, always toward.

Francesca Harper:
Oh, yeah. Yes.

Margaret Fuhrer:
All right. So here’s the meat of the interview really.

Francesca Harper:
Okay. Here we go.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Tell me about your vision for Ailey II. And tell me about how that vision—I think you’ve started to talk about it already, but tell me more about it, and then tell me how it both aligns with and departs from the company’s history.

Francesca Harper:
My vision for Ailey II, I think it distills down to… I remember I was talking in my interview process about legacy shaping the future. Which is really, that’s what I just shared with you, is that these memories and these incredible people that inspired me as a young person, that helped me have the career, and experiences—or courage to pursue the career and experiences that I have.

That also includes, especially—it’s a wonderful kind of innovative, also, dance institution. Although it’s now more of a traditional one, but we always have choreographers that are looking to create new languages. I’m right in the middle of a kind of innovative hub for new voices. So that’s really exciting to think about that.

I think that I also may be different for this position, or depart from Ailey, the history, with my ballet background that I shared with you. But that’s why I wanted to share that story with you, that it will be interesting over the next few years to think about like, what that means for the company. I’ve had some of the dancers actually ask me about like pointe shoes. I was like, oh. Then Lakey Evans was like… I was like, “Oh, no, it’s Ailey.” Lakey was like, “Well, why not?” I was like, oh. I said, okay. Well, who knows, who knows, we’ll see. That may be part of the evolution.

I do think that the vision will also include technology, which is something I love. I think this hybridity that I’m talking about is, with film work, or I’ve constantly had film as another voice in my work in creating video, montages to project on the screen in the background or films. So, that will be a part of, I think, Ailey in the future. Also I’ve been talking with technologists. Last week I had a meeting with the technologists, and talking about motion capture and what that means. Starting to experiment with that.

I’ve been working a long time—I think I pride myself in working with a lot of multidisciplinary artists independently, like Carrie Mae Weems, and Nona Hendryx, and Carl Hancock Rux, that really had their finger on the pulse of Afrofuturism. So already I was already thinking, “Okay, what are we finding? What are we looking towards the future?” My work with Nona Hendryx is—she is very much a collaborator of mine. She’s been working as a professor at Berkeley. She’s a rockstar, but she’s been also really interested in technology. So she’s also helping me on a new piece, kind of traverse that. I think that’s down the line. I think making our dances, and making sure that the dancers, especially with the global pandemic are really solid and safe first. But these are things that I’m contemplating, and thinking about.

So yeah, those are some of the new ideas. I think—also, oh, sorry. I did forget one thing. I also want to feature young choreographers that maybe we haven’t heard from before, new voices, really important. I think definitely women of color, and women, female choreographers. That’s next season. People can look out for that, that one, because that’s a big initiative of mine.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Yeah. Well, let’s talk now about the repertory for this season that you’re about to start right now. Because it seems like it reflects so much of that vision already. Actually, a lot of the programming feels very personal. You have some of your own work, there’s Forsythe—it feels like, if we’re looking at the program, someone might be able to tell, “This looks like a Francesca program.” Can you talk about how you put it together?

Francesca Harper:
That’s good, right?

Margaret Fuhrer:
Yeah!

Francesca Harper:
That’s it. Yeah. I tell you, I went out to lunch with Sylvia Waters—and I’ve known her since I was a little girl, I grew up with four blocks away from her. So it’s really, like, second mom. It’s just been incredible to have her as an advisor. But she was saying to me, “It’s important to program what’s in your heart.” You really have to make sure that you share that with your audiences. So you can really speak about, and speak passionately about, what you want to share with them.

So, I also thought, this inaugural year, I called it the other day, my sampler plate. It’s a little bit of a sampler plate season. I think also celebrating Robert Battle’s 10th anniversary, that’s also been a big inspiration for this season. We commissioned—I had been teaching at Skidmore with Carolyn Adams years ago. I remember seeing Hallelujah on the students there. I think Elisa Clark had set it. And I thought, “Oh my gosh.” I was just so impressed by that piece. So I reached out to Robert and said, “Can we do that piece?” He said yes. A little hesitant first, but I convinced him.

We’re doing The Hunt as well, which is nice. And he choreographed a brand new world premiere called Search Light, dedicated to my mother.

Margaret Fuhrer:
About you and your mom.

Francesca Harper:
It was unbelievable. He came in the studio, and it just came pouring out of him. I just actually read the article in the Washington Post that Samantha Figgins said, in For Four, it was just like, he comes in and channels. That’s it. I said, “That’s exactly what it was.” He walked into the studio and he actually talked about an open door, like how there’s a time that these ideas come, and then the door closes, and he has to stop working. I think that that was just amazing to see that, that he could make such a jewel in such a short period of time.

Then of course I had to call William Forsythe. He shaped me as an artist and his work was the most kind of invigorating dance work I performed in my lifetime. So we had some wonderful times with him. We had workshops with him, and he got to watch and coach us, which was really lovely. Thomas McManus, a colleague of mine, came and worked with us last week. So that was really exciting.

Then I think the last element here is my work, which I wasn’t sure I was going to share the first season. But after some preliminary conversations, I think Robert felt that it was important this season to introduce my work. So this is kind of the circuitous crazy route back to this piece. But I had this piece that was more of like this immersive work, called Freedom Series, that I had… It was my first installation that I choreographed at Ailey. We reconfigured the space here. Robert was like, “Oh, Fran, that’s exactly what I want.” There was house music in it, and the audience would get up and dance.

Then Omicron hit. So quickly we had to go, “Okay.” A little bit earlier than that, we had the realization, “Okay, we’ve got to really create this work.” So I had to adapt it to proscenium. So I think there was about 15 minutes in an hour long evening—no, even longer, like a half an hour of that was just interacting and people up dancing. So I had to create all these pieces to make it a proscenium work.

So I ended up kind of also thinking, “Well, if this really is authentically my first foray and an introduction, I’ve got to make this a collaborative experience with the way I experienced it with Bill.” So I kind of created these vignettes, and these memories that I shared with you today. The whole piece is like kind of this through line of memories that shaped my life. Also a hybrid. Some of the dancers also… one solo I created with one dancer who really needed to share something personal. I thought that that was important also as a support to her personally, and artistically. We talked about what was happening. I also shared some of mine. So we created this piece that represents both of us in our lives. So I really had this moment to get close to the dancers by creating for and with them. I wove it together with my life’s journey. Because they are now part of my life. Yeah.

So that’s the Freedom Series. Then a little excerpt version of “Fly,” which is really exciting, and Andrea Miller, and Yannick Lebrun. I saw Yannick’s duet and I said, “Oh my gosh, this is gorgeous. We need this.” So that had also been created last year. And also, same with Andrea Miller. She had created Psūkhe, that—I just have been a fan of hers. She walked through the street, I just was fan girling, but, I just love her. She’s so bold and fearless. We’ve also been freelance choreographing, and kind of both ended up… we ended up at Boston Conservatory at the same time. She was a mom. We were both moms. Just related—Juilliard at the same time. So we just have had these kind of parallel paths, so to speak. So that was also important. But we really also kind of revamped it in a way. She has new costumes for the work, and got to relight it.

So, it was important for me to kind of come in and really nurture these choreographers in these new works. We had time. We had from October till now, which was really nice, to have this long extended rehearsal period. So I thought, let’s really, really incubate now. Yeah. And that’s, ah, that’s what we did.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Oh, it feels like there’s a lot of fate almost in that programming. I’m just thinking about the way the Freedom Series evolved, and it was the universe telling you, “Well, this is the way you are going to introduce yourself to these dancers, and then introduce the dancers and also yourself to the audience.” It’s—

Francesca Harper:
I can’t even tell you—okay. So now you really just opening up a Pandora’s box here—not Pandora’s box, but no, actually, kind of this divine channel. Because that’s what the piece is. You’ll see. It’s all about alignment. You’ll see, I created this world in which I felt like the constellations, things were in alignment and working astrologically even for this moment to happen.

At one point I will tell you—like never, and I’ve been applying for some other roles, and I’ve gotten to the finals for things. But during this process, at one point, like at the height of the most pressure-filled moment, I don’t know what happened, but all of my stress left me and joy took over. I remember in that last interview, I was not nervous. I was so happy. I walked in with like… and I had never experienced that. I was always so stressed and hard on myself. I wanted to make sure everything went well, but the joy just started leaping out of me. I’ve never experienced that in a kind of a pressured-filled environment.

So, I do think there’s something very kind of divine that’s at work. I felt it also too. I think Robert Battle is really… that’s his gift, is to kind of listen to deeper resonance and voices. So, I think who knows? Now that’s my thing. Just get out of the way.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Let destiny do its job.

Francesca Harper:
Trust, because trust is really the thing that we always worry about in our society, I think. For me, just even the more kind of clear articulate way, for me it was really that deep sense, or channel of trust that it’s just… this is the moment, and it feels right and trust. Trust your heart.

Margaret Fuhrer:
I have two more questions for you.

Francesca Harper:
Yes. Go ahead.

Margaret Fuhrer:
But you know what? I think you’ve actually already answered them. I feel like this actually is kind of the most natural ending point. I’m going to trust my instincts right now.

Francesca Harper:
Oh my goodness. Well, thank you for that moment. I think that was really amazing that you said, that you felt, that you sensed that, that is literally what I’ve been saying in the studio to them, talking about alignment.

Margaret Fuhrer:
I can’t wait to see this piece, obviously. Listeners, Ailey II will be on tour from now through April 12th. They’re visiting theaters all over the country. We have links in our show notes with more information about when they’ll be heading your way. And oh, Francesca, we can’t wait to meet all these beautiful dancers and to see where you take them.

Francesca Harper:
Oh, they are so beautiful. I’m so proud of them. And keep up the great work. This has been wonderful. It’s always really informative, and transformative. These questions are just wonderful. So thank you for doing the work that you do.

Margaret Fuhrer:
Thank you so much, Francesca.

Francesca Harper:
Of course, of course.

[pause]

Another big thank-you to Francesca for her generosity and openness in our conversation. As promised, we’ve linked up all the information about Ailey II’s national tour in the show notes. They just left Colorado and are about to make several stops in California before coming back east for their New York City season—they’re heading all over, so make sure you take a look at the full schedule.

And thanks to you all for subscribing to The Dance Edit Extra. I’ll see you back here in two weeks for another new episode. Have a great weekend, everyone.