Rena Butler is a choreographer and dancer currently with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She was the recipient of the 2019 Princess Grace Award for her choreography. I asked her about her artistic process, hobbies, and her work in progress with BalletX.

How are you? How have you been getting yourself through these past few months?

I’ve been going in and out of my stride. Once you feel you’ve managed one emotion, another arises from another event happening in the world. It’s like this game of push and pull.

How did you get into dance and what drew you to choreography?

I’ve just always wanted to be a performer of some kind. I was obsessed with music videos as a child, and my favorite album and artist growing up was The Velvet Rope album by Janet Jackson. The Velvet Rope Tour was the first concert I remember going to with my parents, and I knew that I wanted to dance. In terms of creating, I was fascinated by this television show on MTV called, “Making the Video”, where the episode was a behind-the-scenes look at a band or an artists making a new music video for a new single they had just released. I was drawn to the initial concepts and then how it played out in the episode: which things worked, which things didn’t…how to get your point across, the theme of the music video and so on. I realized then that I wanted to create.

Could we have some insight into your process? How do your works come about? Do you consciously look for inspiration or is it unintentional?

It’s a bit of both! At times, I’m commissioned to make work that the director of the company has prompted. From there, I try to find personal connectivity to the subject matter. Some commissions are easier than others, but the creative problem-solving is the fun part for me. How can I take something tried and true and flip it on its head. There have been passion projects where the ideas themselves come directly from world events and how I respond/react to them. That is the lovely thing about being a creator-I feel that I’m able to participate in a dialogue with the ever-evolving climate/situation of the world I’m living in. I also love to travel and backpack in foreign countries with my partner. These experiences also add so much fuel to my inspiration. Being in new situations constantly, and navigating a country when you aren’t familiar with its language and customs adds a lot of color to my creative palette.

About your work in progress with BalletX - The Under Way (Working Title). Can you tell us more about the piece? How did you begin to tackle such an important subject like the Underground Railroad? How is the pandemic and ongoing Black Lives Matter movement altering the work?

This subject of this work was commissioned by the director herself, which I find to be the most interesting part of this process. At first, I was hesitant, because the subject of the piece was being prompted by a white woman. But, her intentions were very much in the right place. Her goal as a director is to bring more black experiences and stories into the contemporary ballet world, and I appreciate that. So much of what we see in concert dance is derived from a homogenized, classical point of view (I.e. Louis XIV), and that is upheld over anything else. So in researching The Underground Railroad, an integral moment in black history, my history, I wanted to explore how to modernize it and transcribe it into a contemporary classical modality. I was more interested in the psychological repercussions of race relations and all that it encompasses. I’ve experienced so much trauma in my life as an African-American woman born and raised in the United States of America. How does this vicious cycle of racism play outwardly at each other and deep within ourselves? In the editing process, I’ve been cutting from scene to scene as some sort of game of Tetris, because that’s what it feels like from my perspective-a game I can’t rid myself of somehow.

I think the movement has always been in my work. Black Lives Matter is every black person’s experience. We matter! So, in making work, whether it’s about the color green or about something entirely off-topic, there is always a wink or a nod in that direction, because it’s coming from me, a black person whose life matters. And I try to represent for my people, or for anyone who has ever felt like the “other”. In everything I make, I strive for the concept of relativity and how the average Jane or Joe sitting in row ZZZ in the balcony can identify themselves in the work. The pandemic has given me the time and space to make more time and space for my loved ones, differing communities, and myself :)

Who has influenced you during your life and career?

Everyone to a certain degree. BUT, my favorite dance artist would probably have to be Jermaine Spivey with Kidd Pivot. He is an exceptional artists. His artistry is so soulful, eloquent, and very much his own. Plus, he’s such a humble guy! He’s honest in every approach, and has inspired me beyond the words I’m writing right now. Also, Oprah Winfrey and her life’s work :)

You travel quite a lot! Have any trips or experiences stood out to you? I know it can be difficult to choose a “favorite”.

AH! SO MANY! You’re right, that’s a very difficult question. If I could narrow it down to five, I’d say:

My solo trip to Costa Rica last year for my 30th birthday, where I surfed along the western coast
Thailand with my fiancée in 2015—the people we met, the food we ate, the experiences we had!
Taiwan. I studied abroad there for a semester in 2009, and it changed my life.
Sri Lanka. The colors, the food, the customs.
Indonesia. A spiritual experience.

Why is traveling important to you?

It pushes you to get outside of yourself and into the present moment. In order to really see and experience a country for what it is, there needs to be kind of like a shedding of your old skin to make room for fresh experiences. I like the feeling of being uncomfortable in a foreign place where you don’t know the language or the customs, but in order to find your stride, you must learn and be educated from the people you meet along the way. It’s an exhilarating experience! You learn how to shed your ego and learn something new, and it helps you to evolve.

What are your other interests/hobbies?

I love to surf, read short story fiction, cook (trying new recipes from foreign countries is a huge hobby of mine), biking, learning the French language, Ayurvedic medicine, travel, watch old cinematic film from the 1940s-1960s.

Favorite TV Shows?

Narcos, Nip/Tuck, Insecure, Extreme Engagement, Big Little Lies, Living Single, Euphoria

Favorite foods?

Papaya, rambutan, any spicy noodle soup situation, pasta pomodoro with basil, vegetable curry with naan bread, vanilla soy yogurt with fresh blackberries, and popsicles…I love popsicles

And finally, what advice would you give to your younger self?

Stay honest and at your own tempo, go with the flow.

Rena’s work with BalletX will have a virtual premiere on Wednesday September 23rd at 7pm as a part of the BalletX 15th Anniversary season. You can learn more about Rena and find more of her work on her instagram.

Rena Butler On her work in progress, learning through travel, and Her Favorite Things