An artist reveals themselves in what they create, how they have conversations, their humor, how they spend their time. Both art and life are expressions of the artist. Every day, I make art and spend time in reflection to stay in touch with myself. When I direct, I come alongside other artists to witness them. I then digest their essence through my lens as a choreographer and dancer, inviting them to step into movement choices that they can take on as their own.

New Orleans marches to the beat of its own drum - or, more accurately, it parades to the sound of its brass bands! Coming alongside Production Club (the creative and production team who developed the SBLIX Opening Concert), we had the honor to be tasked with conveying the essence of this magical, one-of-a-kind city through the platform of the Super Bowl LIX opening concert.

To understand our canvas, I toured myself through all of the angles and potential performance environments of Caesars Superdome. To understand the spirit of our performance, I "got on the ground" of New Orleans and became intimately familiar with the Opening Concert's acts. The city grew a presence in me as I danced and struck conversation with locals, visited music venues, ate at recommended restaurants, toured galleries, and simply walked around. I learned how to weave the Opening Concert's acts into one unified expression of their home by immersing myself in the acts' content and inner workings. One of the assistant directors of Southern University's Human Jukebox (the standard of marching bands) gave me the high compliment of joking that I may have their recent performances more memorized than he. The tour manager of The Soul Rebels reflected to me that the band felt celebrated by how they were integrated into the concert. I met multiple times with the directors of the Fabulous Dancing Dolls (of Human Jukebox) to discuss how they wanted to represent the Dolls. They reflected to me that they appreciated the intention I had for them to introduce their style to audiences not familiar with it while they also showed off their dancers' versatility with choreography beyond their norm. With every other act (listed below), I practiced the same effort to enable them to shine for exactly who they are. The feedback the acts gave our team agreed with the local sentiments we heard after the concert: "The NFL got it right".

Terence Blanchard, Original Pinettes Brass Band, Harry Connick Jr, Master P, The Spirit of New Orleans Gospel Choir, queens and chiefs from multiple tribes of Black Masking Indians brought on by Abstract Nola.

Client: NFL
Producer: Production Club
Project: Super Bowl LIX Opening Concert
Creative Directors: Maria Garcia, Miguel Risueño
Movement Director: Lara Marcin