Today we’d like to introduce you to Harper Watters.
Hi Harper, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Dover, NH, but I was born in Atlanta, Georgia and adopted at an early age. Both my parents are former English professors, and my dad taught at the University of New Hampshire, so we would go to all the performances that would tour to the college. Alvin Ailey 2 came, and I was obsessed. The music, the dancers, I saw myself up there and wanted to do whatever it took to make that happen. I’m very grateful to have had my parents allow me to explore dance; it’s something I’m well aware not all parents let boys do. I connected to it immediately.
The studio was where I could turn the volume up on Harper to a full 10. It gave me a sense of community and a sense of purpose that I didn’t get in any other area of my life at the time. So being the persuasive child I was, I asked to audition for the Walnut Hill School for the performing arts in Natick, Massachusetts. I attended the school for two years before auditioning for the Houston Ballet summer intensive in 2009. After that summer, I was accepted into the second company of Houston Ballet, which oddly enough had our first touring performance to the University of New Hampshire on the same stage I witnessed Alvin Ailey as a young boy. I was offered an apprentice contract with the main company in 2011, a corp contract in 2012, promoted to Demi-soloist in 2016, and to a Soloist with Houston Ballet in 2017, which is the current rank I am at now.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been an incredibly challenging road but equally rewarding. Moving away to boarding school at 14 and then to Texas at 16 was daunting. I knew it was a huge risk to say I want to be a professional ballet dancer. That, along with my identity as a black queer ballet dancer, made it incredibly tough.
At times I felt isolated or misunderstood, and I struggled with trying to edit who I was to be the dancers I saw at the top, dancers who I shared barely and similarities with. Social media was a huge saving grace for me. The power of discovery and visibility that it provided gave me the courage to express myself authentically. I began to bring elements of my self-expression from social media into the studio and it helped tremendously. The moment I started owning who I was as Harper, my dancing began to be better. Identity is something I still struggle with ten years into the game, but it’s something I know I need to conquer to achieve my goals of being the best dancer I can be.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am currently a Soloist with the Houston Ballet; I’m a professional ballet dancer. I work 44 weeks out of the year rehearsing full-length ballets like Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, along with world premier ballets by the world’s leading choreographers. While some might know me as the ballet dancer, some might also know me for occasionally throwing on a pair of pumps and running on a treadmill.
My social media has been notorious for exuberant videos of me dancing and delivering iconic fashion moments. Through my social media, I’ve been able to connect and collaborate with some of the worlds biggest brands on campaigns with Polo Ralph Lauren, MAC Cosmetics, be on the cover of Dance Spirit, and in the pages of Teen Vogue and Elle, which I’m incredibly proud of seeing that I moved to Houston to pursue ballet. I’m proud of my rank in my company. I’m proud of being a black ballet dancer and the representation that creates. What sets me apart from others? I’m fabulous, I’m flexible, but most importantly, I’m fearless.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
As a dancer, it’s my job to have to wait and be told what to do. What step, what counts to move on, and then I have the artistic freedom to chose how to the steps. Covid-19, when it halted everything, I found myself having to form my own creative thoughts myself for the first time. It was a real reflective time of thinking not just how I’m going to say something but WHAT I’m trying to say. I took to my social media and created some more conceptual pieces of work that I’m not sure what would have happened had I not been forced to pause and think. I’m excited to bring that into the studio as we return to work to make the process more collaborative.
Contact Info:
- Email: harper.watters@yahoo.com
- Website: www.theharperwatters.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theharperwatters/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheHarperWatters/join
Image Credits
Amitava Sarkar Luke Austin Mike Ruiz Maxwell Poth
