Oneonta native David Gouldin made his professional debut in the dance industry last month, as part of the Botanica II tour through the company Momix.
Momix, under the direction of Moses Pendelton, is a dance and visual illusion company, according to its website, that is based in Washington, Connecticut.
Gouldin, who is trained in modern and contemporary dance, said the production style is still fairly new to him. The choreography is rooted in the Pendleton’s imagination, using a variety of props and projections to create a visual atmosphere. Gouldin said the show combines elements of jazz and modern.
Botanica II is grounded in nature, Gouldin said. It does not have a “concrete storyline throughout,” he added, but each section spotlights a different element of humanity and the natural world.
“There’s flowers,” Gouldin said. “It’s really beautiful.”
He said he was trained very technically as a dancer, and the work the show demands is physical. Gouldin said prop work was very new to him. In one of the sections of the show, he performs with a fan that spans more than 20 feet strapped to his back. One of the hardest parts of the production was learning how to partner with an inanimate object, Gouldin said.
“Even though it doesn’t have a brain to move itself, it moved in an authentic way,” Gouldin said.
Another challenge was achieving a balance between finding the joy in the professional work and not “feeding into the exhaustion that it brings,” Gouldin said.
One of his favorite parts of the show, he added, is a men’s section called Hornets. He said it contains a lot of dancing and shows the “physicality behind a dancer,” while highlighting performance factors as well.
The Italian leg of the tour begins at the start of April, running until the end of May, Gouldin said.
Gouldin started taking some classes at the former Oneonta Dance Center when he was young. After stopping for a bit, Gouldin said, he began dancing at Jillian’s Dance Arts in the sixth grade. Around eighth grade, he moved to a studio called Perkins School of the Arts in Norwich, where he was introduced to modern dance and partnering.
Gouldin said he realized dance was something he would want to pursue more seriously.
“It’s obviously a little bit hard to do that in a small town in Upstate New York, because there’s just not too much access to the arts or dance education,” Gouldin said.
In about 10th grade, he said, he auditioned for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Gouldin said he was accepted into its high school contemporary dance program, which he attended his junior and senior years of high school.
“That was when everything changed,” Gouldin said. “That’s when I was really immersed into the world of professional dance, and I was able to become educated on modern techniques and just learned more about myself as an artist.”
The transition from dance studio to conservatory marked a major shift in his dance education, Gouldin said.
After graduating from the high school program in 2022, Gouldin continued on to complete the college bachelor of fine arts program for contemporary dance. He said this allowed him to pursue only three years in the college program, graduating in December.
Gouldin said his teacher reached out to him during the summer, encouraging him to audition for Momix. For the initial audition, he added, he provided a reel of his previous dance work. He was then invited to audition again in August, received a callback shortly after and was later asked to attend a workshop with the company. It was a quick turnaround, Gouldin said.
He premiered with the company Feb. 21 and Feb. 22 at the Warner Theatre in Torrington, Connecticut.
The company houses him in an Airbnb with other company members during rehearsals, Gouldin said, and he would go back and forth between rehearsals and home. He added that he teaches private lessons for some dancers in Oneonta.
Growing up, his parents were huge advocates for his work, Gouldin said. He said he hopes to show them his dedication to his craft and how grateful he is for their continued support.
Gouldin said his father, who wasn’t a dancer himself, is his “biggest supporter.” In the future, he said, he hopes to teach dance in a college setting or own his own dance studio to “educate the next generation of dancers.”
“The passion coming from little David dancing in a dance show in Oneonta, that little kid in me is what still inspires me and really pushes me to continue this,” Gouldin said.