For Edmund Melville, it all began in Brooklyn, New York at the Martha Graham School of Dance. For a young man who knew that all he wanted to do was "Dance like Martha," everything was unfamiliar territory. But to be the best, you have tackle the worst, so Edmund just considered his beginning temporary.

At sixteen years old, without an ounce of formal dance training, he did not know how far his talent would take him. He quotes the late Mrs. Melissa Hayden with the all too familiar saying "A Dancer is a Dancer is a Dancer." Dancing has taken Edmund all around the world and he is now back where he started, but now with a long and admirable career.

Education is what has brought Edmund back to NCSA ­ he graduated with the class of Œ96 with an arts diploma and is now graduating with the class of Œ07 with a BFA. Edmund, at the age of 32, is beginning a second life in a field that many would consider far from the world of art. But to Edmund it's right next door.

Social work and Education are his next pieces of choreography which he hopes to add to his repertoire. Not only does he hope to generate a wave in the arts world, but he aspires to generate a wave into the next generation.

Kudzu Gazette: What led you to Dance?
Edmund Melville: I started dancing at a public high school and I had friends that were cheerleaders and they would always have a stretch class after school. So one day I decided to go and stretch with them. The cheerleading coach was also a dance coach, so I started doing little after school performances. We would dance and choreograph everything ourselves and then perform in the evenings. We were very fortuitous young people, I guess! And then one summer, I was at home and I was watching television and Martha Graham was going into the hospital because she had bad arthritis - this was a big news clip. I was curious and called the school and asked how I can learn to dance like Martha Graham. They said, "You can't actually learn to dance like Martha, but we have a special teen scholarship that you might be interested in." I never had any formal dance training but I decided to go to the audition and two weeks later I got a full scholarship - that's how I started dancing.

KG: Did you come from an arts background?
EM: I'm the only artist in my family. Dance was a very foreign idea for a young male coming from a family with no money; and if I said I wanted to dance, it would be unheard-of. It wasn't until I started working in the profession that some of my family members began to fully accept it as a valuable career choice. It was really out of the ordinary but I enjoyed it a lot, so much that after a year and half at the Graham School I came to audition at NCSA's college program. I think it was February of Œ92. At that time there was a big Graham influence with the professors that were here. It was a perfect fit.

KG: Was it a hard transition?
EM: I always liked coming on campus because I felt I was in a big community of artists. I was able to immerse myself into the arts thing and found out what it's about and who I am. However, being at NCSA for the first time in high school, college or grad school is a major transition for anybody. I have to say it's a whole new school from the time I was there. Right now I find it very conservative in comparison to what it was. People were really searching for an answer and a majority of those students were searching to break a mold.

KG: Were you one of those students?
EM: That's a hard question. I don't know if I really thought about that. I just knew that I wanted to dance and I knew that NCSA was an excellent training institution. A career was almost a guarantee. I saw Michael Thomas [Œ88] who used to be with the Ailey Company and his movement was so exciting that I felt I wanted to be trained in that way. I had never seen anything like that, ever! I began to learn about other alumni and I began to see my place in that and how I might be able to make my way into a similar training scheme.

KG: Were you admitted under the BFA program?
EM: Actually, I was admitted under the Diploma program because at that time I wasn't really interested in school - I just wanted to dance. I was going to train here until I was ready and I wasn't really interested in staying here for four years. In fact, each year that I came back was a surprise to me. After my second year I thought, "Well maybe it's time for me to go start auditioning!"

KG: You felt ready?
EM: I don't know if I was ready, but in my mind, at that time, I thought I was. But I came back because I started to realize that I didn't just want to dance. I had the opportunity to complete my bachelor's degree, so I took it. My first two years I was so busy trying to figure out where I fit in the arts scheme that I hadn't given one thought to the academics; it was a draining experience. I came from a place that wasn't exposed to all of the arts, and this was a very classically based institution. The reality for people of color is that the classical ideal may not fit with their body type. This includes experiences of your cohorts, who surrounded you everyday and many of them whom have been more familiar with the arts than you have been. But it's a process of finding where you fit. Lynn Jackson, who was the rehearsal director for Alvin Ailey, said, "There's a place in the dance world for everybody if you want it." It's really that simple, you can make excuses but if you really want it you have to make your place.

KG: Well you went through that experience, but you ended up staying the full four years.
EM: Yeah. I left in 1996 and ended up realizing that I was going to have to come back. I had been considering coming back for a long time but the nature of the beast is that one gig leads to another. As soon as I thought I would definitely be coming back, I would get a gig somewhere ­ Tokyo, for example.

KG: When you left you went overseas?
EM: No. I went back to New York for three years and danced a lot of concert dance. My first job out of school was with a choreographer that is very dear to me- a man by the name of Douglas Dunn. Brenda Daniels also danced with him. It was because of her training that I was able to get that job! I was also teaching dance at a public school after school program. In fact, in Œ97 I brought that group here and we did a performance in The Well.

KG: So after three years you picked up and went to Greece. What was the justification for that drastic change?
EM: In 1999 I auditioned for a Greek choreographer, who did choreography for famous Pop singers in Athens. I got the job so I went for sixth months as a backup dancer.

KG: That must have been amazing. How did you hear about auditioning for a Greek Pop singer?
EM: I was cleaning Zvi Gotheiner's ballet studio in order to receive free ballet classes. I saw a sign up, called the guy and then it happened. I went there for six months and enjoyed it so much that I started dancing for other Pop singers. One thing led to another and I started choreographing for the Pop singers all throughout Greece.

KG: You were all over the place!
EM: Beautiful country and beautiful people. I ended up staying for three years. Traveling is the best teacher; it's knowledge you can't learn in any institution

KG: At what point did you decide that you wanted to come back and receive your degree?
EM: After my travels I realized that social work and education are important. Now I need to speak about contemporary social issues without putting a mask on them. We live in a society where, at the end of the day, we're all the same- that's what people fail to accept. By going into social work and education, I want younger black dancers to realize that they have worth, and that they don't have to fit into a larger scheme to be appreciated. Because of all of the psychogenic pain present in their minds as a result of racism, poverty, and low self esteem, I would like to play a role to enable them to see themselves clearly, and think clearly. A couple of years ago I changed my mind. I had done as much as I wanted to do in the arts. I wanted to speak in a different way.

KG: Speak in what way?
EM: Speak as far as communicating. Essentially through the arts; a medium of communication, whether it's dance, drama, or music, you want to have your voice heard.

KG: But in a different light?
EM: Yes. But I since found another route in social work and education. I find that it needs to be a bit more direct because in the arts it could be a bit esoteric. For example: whether or not somebody understands or interprets the piece that one choreographed.

KG: So you want the resources to be available to understand it?
EM: Absolutely, because there's too much to be said and that can be lost if it isn't said directly!

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