Darling Squire
What words/phrases describe you as an educator?
SURE + FUN + BUBBLY
What words/phrases come to mind when you think of Ballet?
FACILITIES + RANGE + REVOLUTION + PROPULSION + COMPREHENSION
"I was introduced to ballet as a child and was raised on musicals, so I have a particular fondness for the big MGM productions from film. My first in-person ballet experience would have been around the age of 6 or 7, and I enjoyed it, just like movement of all kinds. Ballet has shaped my life to strive for a more swift and graceful approach. The technique is about power in effortlessness, and I seek to move in those ways. Ballet often shows itself in my daily routine; my mind is often choreographing, and much of the movement I do has a balletic foundation of some kind. I have been inspired by and trained with so many amazing movers, including world-class dancers with incredible dance histories. They all inspire and influence parts of me. I am seeing how I'm following in and creating my own way, as they had to and wanted to. I said yes to this project because I love dance, and I'm redefining how I move through ballet, understanding that my body can do it, but I just have to contour the technique and not my body."
About Darling
Darling is a Chicago native but has roots in Atlanta, where Darling started dance training. Darling attended North Springs Charter School of the Performing Arts, began dancing professionally right out of high school, and during that time worked with many great choreographers. The highlights were working with Bubba Carr, choreographer/artistic director for Cher for 12 plus years; Rhonda Henriksen, soloist with Hubbard Street and Twyla Tharp; Tracy Vogt, former Philadanco dancer; and Lauri Stallings, Hubbard Street soloist and founder/artistic director of gloATL. Darling moved back to Chicago in the summer of 2011 to start as a freelance dancer/choreographer.
Darling has worked with The Fly Honeys of The Inconvenience, Links Hall, Victoria Bradford, Ayako Kato, Chances Dances, No Small Plan Productions, Slo’ Mo, The Public Hotel, Soho House Chicago, Growing Power Inc., EXPO Chicago, Queen at Smart Bar, SAIC, DePaul Museum, University of Chicago, University of Illinois in Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago Film Archive, Salonathon, and Open TV beta. In 2018, Darling was chosen as the cover model and also quoted in Micah Salkind's Oxford-published book 'Do You Remember House? Chicago's Queer of Color Underground'. This was followed by receiving the Between Gestures scholarship to Austria to attend Impulstanz in Vienna, along with the Chicago Dancemakers Forum fellowship and Links Hall CoMission Fellowship. Darling also received a 3Arts nomination in 2019, 2020, and 2022, and in 2020 became a cohort to Hubbard Street Dance.
In September 2023, Darling choreographed and performed alongside Grammy-winning artist Corrine Bailey Rae at B.A.R (Black Artist Retreat), created by Theaster Gates, and performed at the Stony Island Arts Bank to promote her album Black Rainbows. To close out 2023, Darling made history by co-directing, choreographing, and performing with Slo'mo Queer dance party and NBC Chicago airing a live broadcast for NYE at the newly renovated Ramova Theater in Bridgeport.
Darling's mission has been one with a strong spiritual center and an allowance of universal well-being.