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COMMEMORATING THE GREENSBORO SIT-INS THROUGH DANCE:

What I proposed to do was make a work that celebrated young people because the people who organized the sit-ins were young people. They were college freshmen not that far out of high school. I proposed to do this by two things. First, a large part of my company is made up of young people out of college, we also have a few young professionals in the company as well, and a large number of African Americans are in the company. So, I wanted to not only create something that would educate the audience about an important part in civil rights history, but to also give that experience to the young artists in my company.

We also went to several high schools, even outside the region . This performance part came with an education packet or study guide that had information about the sit-ins. T here was improvisation involved, there was dance technique, and they also learned how to write poetry.

WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A DANCER:

It requires daily training. Your body and mind should be in shape, so there should always be training in some kind of style and probably more than one style. So, I always study ballet and modern dance, African, jazz.

A lso you should eat properly. You have to educate your mind, so it's important to go to a museum and see other art forms, other disciplines. You read and understand culturally and socially. So, you should know about politics, you should know literature. I think all of those things inform the dancer because a dancer is really just an actor moving, and an actor cannot tell you about a character if he doesn't understand the world.

HIS MOTHER'S INFLUENCE ON HIS CAREER IN DANCE:

I lost my mother when she was young, but she exposed me to the arts as a child. She took me to dancing schools in New York, she took me to see musicals and Broadway productions. The very first show I saw on Broadway was "The Wiz," which was an African American version of "The Wizard of Oz," and I'll never forget it because there was so much beauty and singing and dancing and acting.

MEETING DANCE LEGEND ALVIN AILEY:

I had wanted to be in Alvin's company, and had auditioned several times . But Alvin saw me perform with my first mentor Alfred Gallman's company, and he invited me to dance with his company.

He had me come to work with all these people I had seen as "stars," and he had me performing in front of all these people, and I was dancing my best and had my best dance clothes on, and near the end of one of the rehearsals, Alvin said, "So, Duane, what are you doing right now?" and I said, "Alvin, I'm waiting to get into your company." Then he said, "Well, Duane, what I want you to do is walk around the studio so I can see you with the other dancers." My legs were as shaky as they had ever been. When I was finished, he said, "Good, you're in the company! Now, come back at three o'clock and sign your contract."

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO DANCE:

To me, it feels like your body is at its prime. You're operating at this high function. Your senses are fully aware. You can see better. You can hear. Your skin is almost bristling, every atom in your body is bristling with this energy and life of performing. It's like this uber-awareness.

- Carla Kucinski Seward

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