Spotlight on Choreographer Michelle Dorrance

When stage director James Lapine reached out to the dancer and choreographer Michelle Dorrance to work on his latest project, Flying Over Sunset, “I was instantly drawn to his writing and the nature of the work itself,” says Dorrance. The musical, which just ended its Lincoln Center Theater run, chronicles a fictional drug trip taken by Aldous Huxley, Clare Booth Luce and Cary Grant. The technical process for developing the show was far longer than the dance runs of Dorrance’s own company, which she founded in 2011. The experience has been more than inspiring. “James did also tell me that after seeing my work, he thought, ‘That’s someone who could choreograph a show about LSD,’” recalls Dorrance. “I took that as a great compliment.”