More than forty years ago, dancer Richard Jessup traveled to Seattle for a show, fully intending to leave once the run was over. “I wasn’t planning to stay,” he says, “but other theater and dance opportunities started to come around, and it turned out to be a great city for me to work in.” More than a decade after putting down roots, Jessup spoke with a friend about how there weren’t as many opportunities for men in concert dance as there were for women. “‘We said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could get the men in the community together to perform?’” With that, Jessup gathered a group of eight local male dancers and choreographers to discuss what this evening would look like. After the meeting, Jessup and a colleague applied for a grant from the King County Art Commission, and when they received it, they launched Against the Grain/Men in Dance. 

Now in its 28th year, Men in Dance returns this weekend with three nights of performance featuring nine choreographers from around the country. While Jessup — MiD’s founder and producing president — applied for the King County Arts grant in 1994, it took the organization a couple of years to get off the ground. “1996 was the first year,” he says of the inaugural showcase, which happened at Freehold Theatre and included work from Christian Swenson, Jack Yantis, and Wade Mattson, “and it was such a big success. The community responded positively right away, so we went forward with our non-profit status in 1998.” 

Dancer and choreographer Jameel Hendricks performing in the 2023 Men in Dance Choreographers Showcase.

Photo by Joseph Lambert / Jazzy Photo

Jeremy Zihao Yuan rehearsing for the Men in Dance Festival.

Photo courtesy of Men in Dance

That same year, Men in Dance added female choreographers to the lineup, and extended its run from one weekend to two. As popularity grew, the program evolved, moving to Capitol Hill’s Broadway Performance Hall, which gave the group access to an outdoor plaza that they started to activate with pre-show programming. “We had 16 choreographers at our height,” Jessup says, “plus some of those performers in the plaza. Things were moving along well — and then the pandemic hit.” Like all performing arts organizations, Men in Dance had to pivot. They adopted a digital festival format, which ended up a resounding success. “We were able to reach audiences that we couldn’t reach otherwise,” Jessup says. “Choreographers from around the country found out about us and now are applying.”

Currently, Men in Dance alternates every other year between the festival format and a showcase where the audience provides the artists with feedback and a live discussion. This is how guest artist Jameel Hendricks — one of this year’s festival choreographers — first got involved with the organization. 

“Showcasing my choreography and building that community with other men in dance is such a huge thing,” says the Philadelphia-based Hendricks who has been dancing since he was three years old. “Growing up, for a lot of my early years in training, I was the only boy in my ballet class. Having other people to relate to over certain struggles that come with being a man in the field of dance, whether in the studio or outside of it, to have that community is amazing. It took a lot of resilience to really stick with dance, and the process with the showcase, getting to keep the feedback cards. I can look at those and realize that I have a purpose for doing this — I should keep going, I’m touching people’s hearts and souls.”

Jessup can relate to Hendricks’ experiences, as he was often the only boy in his childhood dance classes. “You get a little more opportunity because of that,” he says, “but on a personal level you have to be really strong in your conviction to do it.” This is part of the reason that he launched the festival in the first place — to give men in the dance community an opportunity not only to showcase their work, but to connect over the artform they’ve dedicated decades of their lives to. 

This year, Jessup says, they received more than 40 submissions, winnowing the final selection down to nine choreographers including Darion Smith (artistic director of Janusphere Dance Company), Seattle-based dance artist and teacher Jeremy Zihao Yuan, and Damir Tasmagambetov, a dancer from Kazakhstan who will perform a traditional Bharatanatyam-style dance. Hendricks’ piece, titled Nirvana, features four dancers (himself included) and depicts the spirit leaving the physical body and crossing into the spiritual realm.

“Dance is a vessel for people to connect on a human level,” Hendricks says. “For me as a choreographer, this is an important festival — it expands the world of dance and puts you in touch with so many different cultures and experiences. I still keep in touch with people I met last year. Building those relationships and connecting over a love of dance opens so many doors.”