We recently caught up with Gillmer Duran as he was preparing for ADT's
Tyranny of the Senses & New Work running April 12 and 13, 2013.
Q: According to your biography, you began your formal dance
training at the age of 21 in Venezuela. Can you tell us a little about why you
were drawn to dance, and how your journey eventually led you to Anchorage and
Alaska Dance Theatre?
A: I truly enjoyed dancing since I was about 5 years old; my
family used to encourage me to perform in parties or in front of whoever and I
just went and did it shamelessly! I did start my ballet formal training at 21.
But, previously, I had studied Venezuelan Folk dances, jazz, and contemporary
dance, then ballet. I always kept dance in my life since I was 11 years old,
until I got out of high school. Then, I decided to pursue dance as a career
thanks to my friend Elliot Ortiz. I saw a performance of a professional couple
from Miami City Ballet that came to my city and that was it- I got bitten by
the worm of dance! I remember it being very athletic and incredibly inspiring.
After graduating from high school, I studied banking, receiving a technical
degree as a credit officer. Then, I worked in a bank for about three years as a
home loan officer. My mother was really happy! Now, since I was already bitten
by the dance worm, I always kept an interest about dance and arts in general.
While I was interviewing one of my former mentors for a fixed loan, she expressed
that if I wanted to pursue a career in dance, she could help me to continue my
training, and then offer me a job in her company. I have been very lucky to
have found very intelligent, encouraging and great role models that affected my
life in many, many positive ways. My professional dance career started about 20
years ago. During all this time, I had the great privilege of working with true
experts in the field. I had to do in about four years what is supposed to take
eight, so I always had to put my actions in front of my words and work
extremely hard to compensate for all the time needed. Along the way, dance
taught me that there is not an easy route in this field. In order to be
successful at something, I had to try my best -always- which is not an easy
thing. To this day, I know that determination, experience and my relentless
drive brought me here to share the gift of dance with this outstanding
community.
