RH: I was never formally trained in dance. I fell into Kathak coincidentally when I was young. My mum had bought a ten pass dance class for my sister and she didn’t want to go so I went instead. I was originally drawn in by the costumes, the energy, the theatricality of the dance, rather than the form itself. I loved the way the Kathak skirts looked during Kathak pirouettes and spins. I grew to have an appreciation for all these disparate elements and though we call it dance, it’s actually theatre when you consider the musician, the dancer, the audience and the entire space working together.

I didn’t ‘officially’ consider myself a dancer until after high school, when I was coincidentally cast in West Side Story. After that, I started working with Indigenous choreographers, in particular Vicki Van Hout, who I still work with today.

Not having been formally trained in dance and not having a dance degree gave me a greater perspective on dance outside of the regimented, institutional understanding of dance. For me, dance is a lifestyle and it’s in the everyday. I saw movement and gestures even in the rituals of my mother cooking everyday. I came to see the importance of process, rather than outcome. I came to see that my body holds knowledge and lineage.

Dance also allows me to explore tricky and touchy subjects. There is a certain ambiguity and fluidity that allows me to explore topics that I couldn’t otherwise.