The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company dancer has posted a dance video a day ranging from two to nine minutes in length to his Facebook page.
“I don’t want it to be a polished thing,” said Green, a native of Midlothian near Richmond, Va. “I just want to be expressing myself.”
There are no tricks or edits. He tries to paint a true picture of dance and a dancers’ struggles and successes.
Green, who will start his 13th season with DCDC in August, said he moves the way he feels in the videos.
He started on Jan. 1 and has already posted more than 180 videos. By the end of the year, there will be 365 videos.
“I wanted to have a year to just dedicate my Facebook page and my online presence to my dance career,” he said.
The Kettering resident has danced in his kitchen, in parking lots, in parks and recently at the bells at Carillon Historical Park.
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“I kind of just go out and find a location that says something to me or the Dayton community,” he said.
Green said the compliments he has received from people who have seen him dance in person has been inspiring.
“I want to show a young African-American man uninhibited. Your ability to share your gift should never be stopped because other people are watching,” he said.
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“It is often an experience that is very gratifying that someone is appreciating you, but also humbling that someone has taken the time to notice you.”
A dancer since he was 4, Green is using the video as a reset.
Credit: Submitted
Credit: Submitted
“I wasn’t being myself as I was dancing,” he said.
Green said he has no plans of ending his career with DCDC, which he has been with since graduating Indiana’s Butler University in 2007.
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During his career, he has toured the world with DCDC and performed Donald McKayle’s “Rainbow Round My Shoulder” at David H. Koch Theatre in Lincoln Center in New York City.
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Green trained at the Boston Ballet, Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg Russia, the School of American Ballet, the National Taiwan University of the Arts, Ballet Austin and Interlochen Performing Arts School.
Green says he does not plan to hang up his dancing shoes.
“I am hoping to use this to keep my body moving,” he said. “I could get another 15 years out of it. I want to dance until the body says I cannot any more.”
The improvised dances lean toward modern or contemporary dance.
“I would never put it into any strict category because it is just me moving my body,” he said.
Credit: Submitted
Credit: Submitted
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