By Madison Huizinga, DWC Blog Editor

For over 25 years, Evergreen City Ballet has provided high-quality dance education to the South King County community. Following “innovation, collaboration, and community building” as the pre-professional ballet school’s pillars, Artistic Director Bennyroyce Royon strives to redefine dance education in the PNW by centering a variety of cultural histories and promoting holistic training.

Bennyroyce’s true connection to movement began with learning folk dances as a young boy in the Philippines. “For a while, I was saying that I started with ballet, but I didn't,” Bennyroyce states. Moving to the United States at 12 years old, Bennyroyce describes the process of being “Americanized” and exposed to Western styles of dance. “I forgot about my actual beginning connection and… root in terms of movement,” he explains. Having this recognition of the true origins of his connection to dance is “informing the way he’s moving forward right now,” as an artist and teacher.

Growing up, Bennyroyce always had a knack for expressing himself through music and couldn’t find himself connecting to American sports. Around 16 years old, he stumbled across a piece in the Auburn Reporter saying that Evergreen City Ballet was auditioning teenage boys and offering scholarships. His interest was piqued. Bennyroyce remembers calling ECB to introduce himself and mildly exaggerating his dance experience and technique level. Upon being asked if he was flexible, Bennyroyce laughs, recalling placing his leg on the kitchen counter and thinking “yeah, I’m pretty flexible.”

After his audition, Bennyroyce was offered a scholarship from Evergreen City Ballet. His teachers, including Founding Artistic Director Wade Walthall, “instilled the love of ballet [in him].” His training became more rigorous as he dove deeper into the practice and attended summer programs. On one occasion, during a field trip in New York, Bennyroyce recalls standing in front of The Juilliard School and telling his friend “I’m going to go there next year.”

“I had a lot of work to do, it was very tough,” Bennyroyce emphasizes.

And he certainly put in the work. Bennyroyce was accepted at Juilliard, where he worked with major choreographers like Mark Morris with Paul Taylor, Ronald K. Brown, Elliot Feld, Jessica Lang, and many more. He danced with teachers who worked under some of the masters of American dance, such as Martha Graham and José Limón.

After graduating, Bennyroyce’s first job was at The Metropolitan Opera, and he later danced with companies such as Rasta Thomas’ Bad Boys of Dance, Carolyn Dorfman Dance, and Sidra Bell Dance New York. He danced in Montreal with Cas Public, and later with Armitage Gone! Dance Company, before beginning his choreographic journey. He began the project-based dance company Bennyroyce Dance in 2010 and has received choreographic commissions from Atlanta Ballet and Ballet Hispánico.

Following his time dancing on Broadway in the original cast of The King and I, Bennyroyce began “meditating on [his] impact and…[his] legacy as an artist.” An opportunity opened up at Evergreen City Ballet to become the artistic director. After advising and consulting for the ballet school, he applied and got the role.

“My goal is to bring the world of dance here [to ECB and the City of Renton] and really serve the South King County region because that’s where my heart is,” Bennyroyce says. Being able to provide “access to dance of the highest caliber is really important and transformative,” he stresses.

Bennyroyce shares the obstacles he has faced in the dance world, including anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia. He describes himself as an “atypical” artistic director, in the traditional sense, pointing out that he has a “booty like J-Lo” and feet that aren’t as flexible as others. An encouraging message he strives to share through his work is that “whatever body type, color, size, or expression you [have], you can do it.”

A large part of Bennyroyce’s vision in dance is “provid[ing] opportunities to a diverse group of individuals.” He shares how much the American dance industry favors European aesthetics, which is why he decided to stay in the United States to “contribute to the American landscape of dance in [his] own little corner.”

Since its conception, Evergreen City Ballet has offered “rigorous, well-rounded, and holistic” dance education for toddlers at 20 months old, all the way up to adults. Live accompaniment and an expanded modern program are aspects of ECB that Bennyroyce particularly takes pride in. In the coming year at ECB, Bennyroyce hopes to expand the definition of a “pre-professional ballet school,” to show the community that “ballet is just one of the foundations of dance.”

Next year, Bennyroyce is excited to announce that Afro dance will be a part of Evergreen City Ballet’s curriculum. “The African diaspora has been a source of inspiration and foundation for some of the movement styles we have now,” Bennyroyce stresses. “I think it’s important for my students to access that.”

Evergreen City Ballet also plans to offer programming on wellness, including classes on nutrition, meditation, and cross-training. Bennyroyce believes it’s important for ECB students to harness a holistic approach when understanding self-development in dance.

The ballet school is also looking forward to continuing putting on its annual student-choreographed show, “Elevate.” Evergreen City Ballet also offers an annual production of The Nutcracker that tours locally to Bellevue, Renton, and Auburn, as well as a spring production and showcase.

It’s important to Bennyroyce that his students leave ECB being “intelligent, articulate, empathic, and compassionate” individuals, whether they become professional dancers or not. What he hopes to see in the local dance community is a “more connected network of artistic directors, educators, and artists.” He is “brimming with ideas” about how to provide more opportunities to Seattle artists, and is excited to reveal them in the future.

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Evergreen City Ballet’s Bennyroyce Royon on Promoting Diverse and Comprehensive Training