KINDNESS, HUMILITY, RESPECT, REGARD

June 5, 2025
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Montrose Star
Posted in MONTROSE STAR EXCLUSIVE
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A conversation with ISHIDA Dance Company’s Brett Ishida

By SA Tripi

I love dance. Modern. Ballet. Jazz. Tap. All of it. The performances of the ISHIDA Dance Company at the Asia Society will be my second time seeing the company, and I am already looking forward to my third.

Brett Ishida is a phenomenal choreographer and I have had the distinct honor of talking to her about her craft, her great dancers and this lovely, intelligent company that Dance Magazine has called ‘25 to watch.’

You grew up in California. What made you choose Texas as a home for your company?

As I looked around the U.S. I observed Texas, in general, and Houston in particular has history of supporting traditional arts. Yet in Texas, there is also an increasing openness to the modern and contemporary. I wanted to do something really significant in the world of dance and I thought this is the right time and place.

It seems as if dance and movement have always been a part of your life. What made you take that step to start your own company?

I started ISHIDA because I didn’t see a dance company that was doing what I was imagining dance could do — provide a visceral, emotional experience tied to narrative that enables me to learn something about myself and gain empathy for otherness in visually cinematic productions executed by world-class contemporary dancers who have a foundation of classical ballet training.

You received a scholarship to The Kirov Academy at the age of 15 and from there you went to the School of American Ballet (SAB). What were the differences in training?

The Kirov training was more traditional classical Russian. SAB, founded by George Balanchine utilized speed and being off your leg; the two styles juxtapose one another. But one difference at SAB is that, in addition to dance training, you are exposed to a broader world. My first interaction with Julie Kent was at SAB. Select students from the school were given an opportunity to intersect with American Ballet Theatre (ABT). During one of those times, one of my SAB classmates was injured before we started company class. Julie, who by that time was already a famous principal at ABT, had gone out of her way to inquire and be kind to my friend. That really stuck with me.

The other thing about SAB is that you are housed in the same facility with the Juilliard students, so you are involved not just with dance people, but also with musicians and theatre actors. We got free tickets to all the performances at Lincoln Center and you can become involved in the broader New York City arts scene. It’s probably part of why I approach choreography, not just as dance, but as a broader artistic statement.

What is your process for putting together your company? How do you choose your dancers and who will choreograph?

I love this part of the job. Social media gets a bad rap for a lot of perhaps legitimate reasons, but it’s amazing for keeping abreast of dancers and what is happening in choreography. I frequently watch other companies’ performances live or on-line.

My goal is to enable Texas audiences to see world class choreographers not often presented here. I am extremely ‘choosey’ about my dancers. Typically they are classically trained with beautiful lines and classical form, can move in interesting contemporary and fluid ways and also dramatic ways. Overall, culture is really important to ISHIDA, so for both choreographers and dancers, I am looking for kindness and humility, respect and regard for others, as well as an openness to creativity and learning.

Do you use the same dancers from program to program?

I have some dancers carry over from one program to the next. But we are using highly sought after dancers who have limited availability, so we are always bringing in new dancers in each program. Our goal is to grow ISHIDA to four to five programs a year, which would allow us to hire dancers on a full year contract, thus allowing us greater dancer continuity from program to program. But even when that happens, our plan is always bringing in at least some guest dancers. As our reputation has continued to grow, we are able to recruit some of the best dancers in the world. It’s exciting to be able to present those dancers as part of our program.

You went to UCLA and graduated with a degree in literature. Does that degree help you in your approach to choreographing a piece?

While I was dancing, I was fortunate to be able to work with some of the most celebrated contemporary choreographers in the world, so I was exposed to great choreography. But the impetus in starting my own company came when I took a break from dancing. After I stopped dancing, I studied literature, poetry and ancient Greek philosophy at UCLA. Over time, I realized that perhaps movement could express some of those existential and metaphysical ideas and deep pathos in ways that are highly relatable to modern audiences. I looked around and I didn’t see anyone, especially in the U.S., doing anything like that, and I thought, in awe and humility, that I can make a valuable contribution to the art form.

Julie Kent commissioned you (while she was the artistic director of The Washington Ballet) to create a ballet for one of her programs. Now that she is the co-artistic director of Houston Ballet, is there a possibility that we might see a collaboration between you and Houston Ballet?

That’s a prescient question. I premiered a new work for Houston Ballet’s Jubilee of Dance gala in December. It was extremely well received by the audience and dancers and it will be returning to Houston Ballet next season. I appreciate the opportunity to work with Houston Ballet — such a world-class company.

How do you select the music for your pieces?

My work is dramatic, so music is very, very important to my work. Although people notice the dancing, music and lighting are nearly as important in a great dance work. Because my work is often dramatic, I use a lot of music from film. I mostly draw from, what I term, contemporary classical, but I also have used the Rolling Stones. This upcoming performance has work by contemporary film composers Agnes Obel, Oliver Coates and Park Jiha as well as Scanner and Einojuhani Rautavaara.

Where do your ideas come from to make a piece and how do you put your programs together when you use multiple choreographers? Is there a through line in your program or is it more like a repertory program?

Where does any artistic idea come from? From our experiences, from our collective unconsciousness. My Catholic schooling taught me only God can create ex-nihilo, the rest of us are building on what we learn from others and our life experiences. I keep notebook(s) where I write down ideas. They may be there for years, and then I’ll be visiting the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland, and something or someone will somehow bring that idea to life. My work is about the human experience: loss, love, fear, struggle, and regard for others. So ultimately, it’s the stories in life that provide my ideas.

In terms of the artistic framework of the programs, everything we present in a program meet a high level of quality and it should be interesting to my audience. Beyond that, I am trying to keep a balance between enough similarity and continuity that it doesn’t feel disjointed, but I also don’t want it all to be the same. I work under a model that audiences are diverse, and different works will impact audience members differently. I love the fact that after an ISHIDA performance, there is debate about which was best or more meaningful and why.

What has been your most challenging project?

I feel like all my programs are challenging. I am giving all of myself to every project. I’m doing the artistic/creative as well as the marketing and administrative, so there is always a high level of excitement and stress. I am a perfectionist and worry about every detail; I lose sleep and weight on every project. I am always wanting the next project to be better than the last but worry it won’t be as good. But I love it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

WHAT: ISHIDA Dance Company’s “inside my walls”

WHERE: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore Blvd. Houston 77004

WHEN: June 12-15, 2025

TICKETS AND INFO: ISHIDADance.org