Biography
Alastair J Watt has been dancing since he was 9 years old starting off in tap and then exploring the different genres that would be presented. After graduating High School he explored many opportunities in dance, working at a haunted house as a hip-hop dancer, teaching contemporary and jazz at Studios, being a guest artist at Alma College, C.A.R.E. Conservatory of ballet, and the hip-hop group at Central Michigan University Common Ground. Eventually this all lead his way to Western Michigan University where he studied many genres of modern, ballet, and jazz dance. He has traveled from Coast to coast dancing in LA and taking classes at Paul Taylor in New York. Not only that, he has also been around the world in where he taught and performed in Taipei, Taiwan and Chengdu, China. His most recent work, Immurare, a collaboration with composer Cassandra Kaczor was featured on Chronicle of Higher educations website. Now having his Bachelors of arts degree, he is pursuing a dance career in choreography, performing, and teaching. Having a background of 9 years of music performance, composing, and editing along with his theatrical history of performance and writing have had a huge influence on his dance ideas. Its not just a dance its a performance, a show
​
​
Dance is my meditation, where I let each thought spill from my limbs, my face, and my movement. My goal is to bring the beauty the choreographer sees to the stage and express it with my artistry. My choreography is a fusion style of modern, ballet, hip-hop, martial arts, tap, theatrical, improv, contact improvisation, and partnering. I explore new innovations through technology may it be a concert, commercial, or a theatrical piece. I have a clear movement style from all my influences, ballet technique, Paul Taylor, David Parsons, Carolyn Pavlik, and the dancers involved as part of that style. The ideas behind my movement or creation of movement may be taking from historical stories, ideas, and different movement exercises to manipulate the dancer in a fashion more suitable for the piece. Using an abstract perception of these ideas I experiment with the original goal of the piece and use the struggle to obtain a finish product to transform the piece into something much more, a performance piece. Collaborations with musicians or technicians is not limiting but creates a more expansive way for me to create a more narrative piece. My choreography is often dramatic in nature, coming from a theatrical background, I use the idea of emotional memory to provoke a thought in the dancers face or movement, and may it be abstract, comedic, or serious.
​
Artistic Statement
