Dani Rowe with dancers Sofiane Sylvie & Aaron Robinson @sfballet,Image by Liz Hafalia

Australian born, Danielle Rowe was promoted to Principal Dancer with The Australian Ballet Company, later moving to Houston, Texas as a soloist. She was quickly promoted to Principal Dancer once more. She then joined Nederland's Dance Theatre, moving to Den Haag, Holland. With a dance career spanning two decades Dani made the transition from dancer to freelance choreographer. She has spent time as the director of SFDanceworks and currently creates dance pieces with various companies around the world. Dani is tenacious, strong and very well respected in her field. We asked her a few questions and she has generously shared some of her insight.

What qualities do you find important when auditioning?

I am immediately drawn to fearlessness and dancers that are open and willing to try. Also, dancers who are fearless enough to be vulnerable, which is a really hard thing. I know that it wasn’t easy to be like that as a dancer. It really takes guts, it takes guts to be willing to make mistakes and launch your body into something that your unfamiliar with. That is something that I really respect and enjoy watching and especially when you’re creating new work. It's such a pleasure to work with dancers who have no inhibitions, or few inhibitions.

What makes a good dancer, performer or artist?

The qualities for auditioning apply but also, I like watching thoughtful dancers and I love seeing refinement and I think refinement comes from thought, time and investment in the work. I also like taking the body in new directions or extending upon what the body already knows. I think fearlessness, vulnerability, thoughtfulness and refinement make a good performer.

What is something that changed you as a dancer?

Well actually, it was one of my favorite coaches saying, “Just take it off Danni!”. I was covering myself up because I was insecure about my body and my dancing as well and she used to say “just take it all off, you have to look and just confront it!”. She encouraged me in her own special way to strip down and start doing class in leotard and tights and it did really transform me. I had to look at parts of my body that I wasn’t really happy with and it wasn’t so much about how I looked but more about how I was working. Instead of just doing the stuff that felt good and that I was good at, it forced me to look at my weaknesses and work on those areas. It really transformed me as a dancer and it helped shape the dancer I eventually became.

The other thing that impacted me was the shift from dancer in a fulltime company to freelance dancer and now freelance choreographer. I think there is some pressure in society today to multitask and do many things at once, we’re all running around, stressed and anxious because we feel we need to do so much in such a short amount of time. I came to terms with the fact that I can’t multitask, I’m very bad at it and I end up being less productive. I fear that a lot of people are the same way. Once I realized that if I just slow down and focus on one thing at a time and do that one thing as well as I can with a schedule and a daily plan and also importantly, hold myself accountable, my work really transformed. This approach also impacted the quality of my personality and my moods.

Dani Rowe 2022