Spend a day with Will Bove, and the word “superhuman” might come to mind.
When he’s not working a shift at J. Crew, studying for exams in his marketing classes or teaching young students at Tari’s School of Dance, he’s holding down the title of youngest regular company member at Of Moving Colors Productions. The 19-year-old talks as energetically as he maintains his packed schedule, with words chosen as deliberately as every movement of his choreography.
“I like being busy,” Bove says. “I’ve always just liked having a lot to do. If I didn’t stay busy, I’d be bored.”
Unlike many dancers who’ve been training since they were small children, Bove didn’t discover his talent for dance until starting high school. It didn’t take long to find his passion, though—in Bove’s senior year, he became the first male dancer to join Parkview Baptist’s dance team.
Perhaps it’s this outside-of-the-box spirit that makes Bove feel at home with Of Moving Colors, Baton Rouge’s leading contemporary dance company.He had a considerable stage presence throughout the company’s season closer in June, “Currant/Current.”
“We’re always about being on the cutting edge,” Bove says. “It’s not your average dance company, especially because all the dancers are all from different backgrounds. Some, like me, are jazzier, but we have ballerinas. We’re all from all over the place, so when we come together, it’s like a magical combination.”
The road to OMC was winding for Bove. After high school, he was accepted into the University of Minnesota’s dance program and made the trek back to his home state. He was taking adult dance classes to work on technique when an instructor happened to notice him and invited him to fill a space in the Minnesota Dance Theatre, and soon Bove found himself performing in Minneapolis among classically trained professionals.
“I Forrest Gumped my way onto a ballet company,” Bove jokes.
Despite his success, Bove soon decided “a piece of paper that says I can dance” wasn’t worth the debt, and he moved back to Baton Rouge. He enrolled in LSU’s marketing program and landed a spot on OMC’s lineup last fall.
Founded in the ’80s, the dance company has garnered a reputation for boundary-pushing performances that take dance out of the theatre, like last year’s season opener performed in the pool at Crescent Condominiums near University Lake.
“We danced on the steps of the State Capitol my first season,” Bove says, remembering the company’s CODE RED performance in April promoting state art funding. “We don’t want to be stagnant. We don’t want to stay in a comfort zone. Learning to dance on those tiny concrete steps we didn’t know how it was going to work at first, but it came together, and it was beautiful. And that work was about the importance of the arts. We’re not only here for entertainment, but we can also take on the activist role.”
Bove is eager to take on the upcoming season, which will include an ’80s tribute opener titled “Like Totally” and the group’s annual “Thriller” classes for the Zombie Bash flash mob. The winter will bring “Kick It Out,” a yearly Motown and Frank Sinatra-inspired community performance.
For their final performance of the year, Bove says OMC is working on a contemporary adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. It’s an ambitious season, but the Of Moving Colors team is up to the challenge.
“It’s going to be hard to pull off, but I think we’re ready to do that,” Bove says. “We’re always going to be taking it to the next level.”
Of Moving Colors’ season starts with the Zombie Bash 5K downtown Oct. 3 and continues this month with “Like Totally,” a performance tribute to ’80s New Wave, at the Manship Theatre Oct. 14. ofmovingcolors.org
