Studio owner and dancer Russel Lepley describes how choosing softness reshapes dance, identity, and the communities we build.
Russel Lepley reflects on how softness—rather than strictness or perfectionism—became the foundation for his art, identity, and the studio he built with his partner, Fili. From ballet’s rigid gender roles to the pressures of traditional masculinity, Russel traces the many ways “hardness” shaped his early life and why he ultimately chose a different path. He shares the journey of creating Flux + Flow: a queer-friendly, all-adults dance space where people with dance trauma, dance dreams, or no dance experience at all can move safely, flexibly, and with joy. Russel invites audiences to explore how softness creates possibility—onstage, in identity, and in community.
About the speaker
Russell Lepley is a queer interdisciplinary dance artist and community builder. He spent a decade dancing in professional ballet and contemporary companies before co-founding Flux Flow Dance Center, a body-positive and joy-centered movement space for adults of all levels, with his partner Fili Pelacchi in 2017. He creates work with an intergenerational community of performers with varied, rich identities. He facilitates collaborations that honor each participant’s individuality as themes are explored collectively. He considers his work most valuable when it has an impact on his collaborators that extends beyond the act of making: he wants performers to feel they’ve gotten to know themselves better in the process and created connections that are enduring networks of support after the experience is over. So, the more art the community makes, the stronger it becomes as a coalition of people creating the world they want to live in.
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Flat 51 Downtown
309 South 4th Street #1C
Columbus, OH United States 43215
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