RING AROUND THE POSY Knight shapes up.

Photo: Steven Schreiber

Posy Knight is proof that good dancers come from everywhere—not just the most established companies. The Juilliard graduate began training under Marion Harvie in Ottawa, Canada, before switching to the Washington School of Ballet (her family moved around). Although currently a member of Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre, Knight, 26, appears this weekend in Pam Tanowitz’s Forevermore, an evening-length work consisting of four linked dances. In it, Tanowitz, a modern choreographer who uses and distorts classical vocabulary with rigorous ingenuity, deepens her ongoing exploration of movement structures. It’s a good fit for someone like Knight, whose ballet training is apparent in everything she does—she never sacrifices line, yet moves with a brazen voluptuousness. Recently, she took a break from a residency with Rioult to give some insight into the life of an idiosyncratic dancer.

You started out with ballet aspirations. What happened?
I loved the Washington Ballet. The Washington area has a wealth of opportunities for young people. I performed at the Kennedy Center with major ballet companies that would come through and need little kids. I did A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Pacific Northwest Ballet. I was a bug.

I love that part.
It’s hysterical. You get to fall asleep onstage in a pile, and when you’re a little kid that’s too much fun. Plus, you’re growing up and learning the ropes. Then we moved to Colorado.

Were you devastated?
Definitely. But Colorado Springs was a beautiful place to live, and the excitement of moving was a lot to focus on. I was so ambitious—at least I was distracted by that. It is weird to piece together your dance training. I auditioned for the boarding school at the National Ballet of Canada and was accepted, but my parents couldn’t afford it. That definitely was when I felt like it wasn’t going to happen for me as a ballet dancer. But I was always a rebellious, comical kind of character and always loved doing other kinds of dance as well. It wasn’t like I was hopeless.

What was your Juilliard audition like?
I was nervous for it, but I basically felt I had a ticket in before I even finished. I had a very Chorus Line vision of what New York was going to be like: You’re going to be surrounded by fierce dancers with amazing bodies, and the truth is when you go to an audition there are plenty of people who are worse than you.

What has it been like working with Pam Tanowitz?
She really trusts me and she lets me explore and experiment. When I do something different from what she asked, she doesn’t automatically negate what I’ve done. She definitely likes the natural, weird instincts and affectations that people have. She’s looking for things that are different and accidental. She thinks outside of the box. Pam is awesome.

Do you have a solo in Forevermore?
Yes. For awhile, my rehearsals were just with Pam and myself. I got to watch the rest of the group last week and seeing all the material together made me understand so much more about what she was going for with my solo. It feels a little bit like a first layer being peeled back.

What are the prospects for a dancer like you in New York?
[Laughs] Exactly. A lot of people feel differently about Pascal Rioult’s work, but in terms of the [perks of the] job? It’s definitely one of the best. We have 32 weeks guaranteed a year and health benefits. I definitely think that the older I get, musical theater becomes more attractive. I’ve been wanting to do more avant-garde work. I’ve never been naked onstage.

Have you danced with many companies?
I really haven’t. My job with Pascal Rioult is my first and only contract job. After I graduated, I worked on a little project with Kara Cross. I worked as a coat-check girl for two years to get by and did project work.

Where did you coat-check?
Patroon. It was a really good job. When I meet coat-check girls, I’m like, “You have the gig, baby.” So I dabbled a little bit. This is the thing: After I graduated, I had a really hard time getting myself to class. I didn’t want to see anyone from school. I didn’t feel so good about my body and when I returned to class I immediately became excited about going to auditions again.

How did you get back in the groove?
I went on a three-week rafting trip down the Grand Canyon with my boyfriend and his family. I like to think that I can kind of make it anywhere. So I went to test myself: How do I hang when I leave the city? I definitely came out of that Grand Canyon trip thinking, I am not made to do this, I can’t live in the woods and I need to be dancing.

Do you have the same boyfriend?
No, I do not. We weathered that storm, but I wanted the walls of the Grand Canyon to fall down and crush me. [Giggles] It took me a solid six months before I could even laugh about the experience. I felt really embarrassed about not being able to hang in the wild. I’m sure his family had never seen a woman cry that much.

Posy Knight performs with Pam Tanowitz Dance at Joyce Soho Thu 19–Sat 21.