Here’s how a Charlotte native is keeping her dance dreams alive in New York City

Sloan Pearson’s mom used to tell her: “Because you’re a Black woman, you’ll have to work 10 times as hard. You can’t just be among the best. You’ll have to be the best.” Then she’d add, “But why not be?”

Zina Nance, a postal worker, enrolled all three of her daughters in dance class as soon as they could twirl. Sloan, now, 26, started at Miss Donna’s and BB Dance Productions in Charlotte at age 3.

Her older sister, Fallon, had already begun lessons, and younger sister Lauren would follow.

The Charlotte native “got serious about dance,” she said, at age 6 and when she started studying at Charlotte Ballet on a scholarship courtesy of Dr. Monique Abner. At age 12, Pearson was offered a position in Charlotte Ballet’s pre-professional dance division. (Charlotte Ballet was known as North Carolina Dance Theatre at the time.)

A joy for dance

Kati Hanlon Mayo, artistic coordinator for Charlotte Ballet Academy and a former principal dancer with the company, remembers Pearson well: “Sloan had such a joy for dance at such a young age. She has a style and expressiveness that can’t be denied. It’s difficult to take your eyes off her.”

But dance wasn’t the only career Pearson considered. “I originally had pre-med in mind when I applied to colleges,” said the Point Park University graduate. “My mom lost the doctor she wanted in the family. But she’s pretty proud of her dancer.”

Pearson’s parents divorced when she was young — she created a dance based on the theme of divorce for her senior project at Northwest School of the Arts — but her father, a postal worker, was also integral to her success: “My dad, Dan Pearson, was the providing father, while my mom took us to dance and kept us active. He helped nurture my voice and strong sense of self.”

‘Crazy dreamer’

“I knew I wanted to be in New York,” said Pearson, who now calls Brooklyn home. “I thought: Why not go for the thing that seems crazy? I have always been this crazy dreamer.”

In January 2017, she auditioned for Paul Taylor 2 Dance Company, an offshoot of the well-known company founded in 1954. (Taylor, who died in 2018, was a Kennedy Center and National Medal of Arts honoree.) Pearson didn’t just audition for the company; she auditioned for Taylor himself.

It came down to three female finalists, and Pearson was among them. She didn’t get the nod.

Instead, she and her younger sister moved to Los Angeles, where both joined three-time Emmy winner and Golden Globe honoree Debbie Allen’s dance company. She performed in “Hot Chocolate Nutcracker,” one of Allen’s best-known works, and opened for Mariah Carey at the 2017 AIDS Awareness Day.

‘Paul Taylor remembered me’

Pearson got a life-changing call in November 2017. “Paul Taylor remembered me and wanted me to come back to New York to join his company,” she said.

Making it into Taylor’s company is an extraordinary accomplishment. “If you’re just watching, there’s sort of a pedestrian quality to his work,” Mayo said. “But I know from learning the choreography, it’s extremely difficult. It’s challenging to make movements look that natural.”

Pearson would go on to appear in many Taylor 2 dances, including “Esplanade,” “Airs,” “Party Mix” and “Aureole.”

Not standing still

The pandemic has brought a lot of things to a standstill, but not Pearson.

Paul Taylor 2 disbanded because of COVID-19. But Pearson made a soft landing. “Two days before it folded, I got an offer from Peter Chu’s chuthis,” she said. Chu, a former gymnast and choreographer, formed his dance company in 2008 with a goal of provoking thought and connecting communities.

She began rehearsing — via Zoom — a new work with Chu and team two weeks ago.

“Rhythmic Identity” speaks “to the injustice we see all around us,” she said.

Social justice is a passion for Pearson, who has often been the only black woman in a dance company.

“Everyone’s at home now, and we’re all being confronted with the same thing,” she said of George Floyd’s murder and subsequent protests.

“We’re witnessing these atrocities,” Pearson said. “When you see the video of a knee in a man’s neck, you can’t deny that racism exists. Now that we can witness this on social media, it’s a pill everyone has to swallow. Everything’s out on the table now. You can’t put frosting over it to make it sweeter.”

She’s been teaching classes since the shutdown began — modern, Taylor-style dance — via Instagram Live for Movement for Hope and online via Dancing Alone Together.

For all her success in New York and L.A., Pearson still holds the Queen City dear. Her original work, “Can you feel — Me?” was featured in this year’s (online) Boom Festival.

“To be recognized at home,” she said, “is the icing on the cake.”

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This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 2:07 PM.