The Boyz Of Dance

"Generally when we see a duet with a man and a woman, the man is making the woman look pretty. He's just kind of there for support. It's not like that with all men. Everybody is featured. It means that everybody in the studio has to be as strong as the next person."

Bradley Waller is in his third season with the BalletBoyz, an all male ballet troupe from the UK started by two former dancers in the Royal Ballet. The troupe, known worldwide for its innovative style that combines graceful traditional technique with athletic contemporary, will make their Arkansas debut Thursday at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville as part of the 10x10 Arts Series.

"The very motivation as a dancer is to create new works," says Michael Nunn, one of the founding members of the troupe, by phone from the studio in the UK. "Being in a large establishment is restricting artistically. A larger house revolves around the classics. About once a year you have the opportunity to do new, contemporary work."

Such was the motivation behind the project. Nunn and his business partner, Billy Trevitt, had been dancers in the Royal Ballet together for 12 years when they decided to form their own independent company in 2000 -- a project that would allow them to choose the dancers and choreographers they worked with and to create new, groundbreaking material.

"Billy and I had created so much dance together, we thought if we're going to retire [from the Royal Ballet], we should try to pass some of what we've done along to a new generation of dancers," Nunn says. "We decided at that point to create an all male company. It has a very different dynamic than a mixed company. It's very popular though -- we have many choreographers who want to work with the guys."

For Waller, that different dynamic took some getting used to.

"When I first joined the company, I was so used to partnering women. I had never had the opportunity to partner men the same size as me -- it was a huge weight to get used to," he says with a laugh. "But there was never a moment of me kind of second guessing it -- when an opportunity like that presents itself, you jump at it and don't really think about it."

Waller considers himself lucky the opportunity to work with the BalletBoyz came as early in his career as it did. While some of the men in the company had a more traditional experience getting involved with dance as young children, Waller did not begin dancing until age 16.

"When I first started at the dance school, I would join in with the toddlers and do every class -- not just [the classes] for my own age -- to get a better understanding of the ballet. It was a really interesting time for me as a 16-year-old," he says with a laugh. "It makes it interesting when you're dancing alongside these guys who've been dancing for so long; there's always something to learn."

Waller says the choreography also keeps things interesting for him. Working with different choreographers on various projects throughout the year keeps the movements fresh so the dancers aren't focused on the same style year after year. The show they will be touring in the United States involves two pieces with contrasting styles: the first having some "dark and mysterious" content and involving a lot of floor work and contact, with the second piece offering a more classical and lyrical style.

"Some of the pieces we do, there's no narrative guiding a storyline, the movements speak for themselves," Waller says. "A lot of people might not go out of their way to go to a show they feel they don't fully understand, but you never know when you might just discover something you love."

"Sometimes dance can seem like a big secret if you're unfamiliar with [the medium]" Nunn adds. "But sometimes you need to just watch and not look for a story. Just watch and create your own narratives in your imagination."

NAN What's Up on 01/29/2016