On April 28, I had the pleasure of speaking to Dallas McMurray, a dancer and member of the innovative Mark Morris Dance Group, MMDG. He took time out of his rehearsal schedule in New York to give LADC insights on his background and the company as they prepare for their tour to Los Angeles with “Pepperland” at the Wallis Annenberg Center on May 16, 17, and 18, 2025
JD: So wonderful to meet you Dallas. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy rehearsal schedule. I’m so interested in hearing more about you and your experience with the Mark Morris Dance Group. You’re in New York rehearsing and preparing to come to the West Coast, correct?
DM: Yes, we just finished rehearsing.
Mark Morris Dance in “Pepperland”, choreography by Mark Morris – Photo by Mat Hayward.
JD: Well, let’s get started, I’m sure you’re about ready for dinner after a long day of rehearsing. So, initially I always love to hear where a dancer starts out, a little background …and where they got their training.
DM: Well, here’s a quick overview. I’m from California…El Cerrito. I’m the youngest of six kids. My older sisters danced and my brothers and I also did musicals. My studio was a competition studio… so I studied jazz, tap, ballet…and musical theatre during the summer. When I graduated High School, I went on to California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts) and got my BFA in 2006.
I guess my struggle after Cal Arts, since we did more modern dance, choreography and improv, all of that stuff, was what my possible direction would be. And when the José Limón Company came, and they auditioned us and we did Missa Brevis… Dancing with the Limón company, well… I got really excited. I always had an inkling about New York. I guess I wished I could have been there in the 80’s. When I was in school, I took a school trip there and spoke with working artists about producing your own choreography, but I was more interested in dancing for a company.
After graduation I went to the Hong Kong Dance Festival and ran into Sam Black, a friend, who told me about the audition in New York City for Mark Morris’ company. At that point I knew I really wanted to go, and I knew by then that I would rather be in a modern dance company, so I bought a one way ticket and auditioned for Mark.
I flew out on Saturday…. auditioned on Monday, a real cattle call… and on Tuesday… I got the call that I got the job!!! And I started work with the Morris’ Group on Wednesday. I was the youngest in the company. I was also the youngest in my family so there was nothing different for me.
Mark Morris Dance Group in “Pepperland”, choreography by Mark Morris – Photo by Mat Hayward.
JD: Oh my gosh! That was truly amazing!
DM: It was like a dream, but it actually happened. So… I auditioned in July, I was performing at Lincoln Center in August of 2006 … Now, it’s nearly 18 yrs later.
JD: Remarkable, and it happened so fast. Now I’m curious, you’ve already had a full-fledged career in those 18 years, having done Mark’s incredible repertoire. What was it like to work with him… a genius of an artist?
DM: Well, I’ve done a lot… I’ve worked with Mark in the creative process since my first year with the company at age 22, and now I’m 40. It does not get old! He has so much information and experience. When he starts out, he tends to say, I don’t know… but he really does know. He knows so much. Also, his sense of humor keeps you on your toes and is very entertaining. I like to have fun while I’m working, and Mark is about having fun. But he also still takes his work very seriously.
What’s important to him is he likes realism in gestures of his movements. He’ll say, “act like you’re just picking up something,” He just wants you to do a task like a real person. And then develops the movement from that. I really enjoy that, it’s about being specific. I also like the musicality. I love what he does with rhythm, even if it’s Baroque or Classical music, he finds those hidden rhythms and he shows you where they are.
Mark Morris Dance Group in “Pepperland,” choreography by Mark Morris – Photo by Robert Torres.
JD: He’s so multi-talented. I understand he can work off a musical score…and is a conductor and master musician, besides being a wonderful choreographer.
DM: Yes, he conducted Dido and Aeneas as well as Gloria. Such musicality and rhythm. Sometimes the rhythms are not as apparent. Not everybody has that high base line, but it does grow. And he passes it on to his dancers…we even have music and singing lessons with our Music Director, Colin Fowler. We do humming and vocalize exercises.
JD: What wonderful training and so unusual for a dance company to provide this kind of growth experience. Reflecting on what you know now, how do you think your training helped you in the company?
DM: Well, I went to a competition school, but it was completely different than now. There were a lot of boys. That encouraged me. Boys my own age…you know, that support you, so you don’t feel alone. We did everything! We were doing partnering and old style things, private tap lessons with old vaudeville performers, we learned tap riffs from a man playing stop time. That kind of rhythm training. So that prepared me to translate material for Mark, just being able to guess what he wanted.
JD: So, bridging all those skills together, I just have to ask you about Mark’s “L’Allegro,” “IL Penseroso” by Handel. It’s quite complex, and very different from “Pepperland,” and the Beatles. Did you get to do “L’Allegro?”
Mark Morris Dance Group – Dallas McMurray, Mica Bernas, Domingo Estrada in “Trout” – Photo courtesy of MMDG.
DM: Oh yes, doing “L’Allegro” is a magical experience. The history… seeing the original film when it was first created… then putting it on the stage. It’s all amazing! The sets… the extra dancers. The piece requires 24 dancers, so we have to bring in extra people to fill out the company.JD: And In contrast…tell me about doing “Pepperland.” It certainly is unique to his other work, not like anything he had done up to that time.
DM: About “Pepperland,” Ethan Iverson who was the former music director with MMDG and was also in a jazz trio called the Bad Plus. Ethan was there many years before I joined the company. So, when Liverpool commissioned the dance in celebration of the anniversary of the Beatles ‘Sgt Pepper’s’ album, Mark knew he didn’t want to do strict pop songs, so he worked with Ethan to make his own arrangements of the songs.
I was one of the original cast members in 2017 when Mark first created it. It was interesting. I wasn’t sure he would ever make dances to popular music because he had usually done classical pieces. But he picked a handful of songs from the Beatle’s album…and he started with “A Little Help from my Friends.” At first he asked us to grab a partner. To start out, he gave us some basic steps, then asked us to try doing them on diagonals, then as canons and other variations…he tried different things just so we could get started.
JD: How did he work the music for those iconic pieces?
DM: Ethan had his own music career and was somewhat of a master-mind in some of the ideas. I don’t remember exactly whose idea it was at first, Ethan’s or Marks. But after that, Mark felt comfortable going onto his piece on Burt Bacharach’ and most recently, “Moon” for the Kennedy Center which celebrated the first moon landing where Mark also used music from the 20’s and 30’s as well as music by György Ligeti, and Marcel Dupré.
JD: How have you seen Pepperland change since the first performance?
DM: Well, from the original cast… we’re again putting it together now…a majority of dancers are first timers – 4 from the original cast – two just joined…and a couple have done it once or twice. We’ve seen a lot of new people from the original Liverpool cast until now. Some little things are changed… some exits, and some because of the people doing it. I happen to know it very well. It’s more because I’ve done it 93 times – In April/May of 2019, we toured the UK and Ireland for 6.5 weeks, with approximately 33 performances at that time.
Dallas McMurray – Photo by Beowulf Sheehan.
JD: It’s most likely very organic for you now. So where do you think you’d like to go from here?
DM: Oh, I definitely think I’ve found a home. The company and the work is still there, still challenging and important. I like sharing, and as for me, I still have more to discover. Just finding what you feel you want to bring to this…a sense of honesty to my performances with true emotion. What keeps me going is that I’m always learning something. The makeup of the company is different, a new generation, and they bring something new for me and I’m always learning a great deal from Mark and from them.
JD: Well, thank you so much. It was wonderful hearing your take on working with such a wonderful challenging company. You’ve been more than generous with your time. I’m truly looking forward to seeing the Mark Morris Group’s “Pepperland” at the Wallis. Thank you so much and see you on stage. All the very best to you.
DM: Thank you so much. I really enjoyed our conversation.
For more information and to purchase tickets to see “Pepperland” by Mark Morris, please visit The Wallis website.
For more information about the Mark Morris Dance Group, please visit their website.
Written by Tam Warner for LA Dance Chronicle.
Feature image: Mark Morris Dance in “Pepperland”, choreography by Mark Morris – Photo by Robert Torres.
