Piper Lindsey Arpan is Feeling Glorious!

Piper Lindsey Arpan has been dancing for as long as she can remember. Her mom would even say it started in the womb. Raised in South Carolina where she studied every dance style available, Arpan’s passion was evident early on, from performing in local parades to pursuing rigorous technical training with Martha Graham Dance Company. While immersed in the world of technical modern dance, Arpan ultimately discovered her true artistic home in musical theater where her love of movement, storytelling, and performance converged.

It’s not that common that a dancer breaks out of the ensemble to take on a different position, so as a dancer-turned-publicist myself, I was thrilled to catch up with Arpan to learn more about her journey from dance to directing and co-choreographing the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ cabaret production of What a Glorious Feeling!

“As a dancer, you always feel that you’re strutting in through the back door of the theater. It seems that singers get there more easily and actors, of course, have that straight beeline to the play, but dancers often live in the ensemble, so it feels structurally a little bit lower on the hierarchy.”

The biggest transition for her was her professional debut as a swing in the first national tour of Monty Python’s SPAMALOT. Swings are typically some of the strongest dancers because they must know the choreography they’ve been given and the choreography for several other positions. Fortunately for Arpan, she was often invited to be “in the room where it happens,” which gave her access to incredible creative team members. “Suddenly I’m in the room with Eric Idle watching the show and hearing his thoughts, with Mike Nichols watching him finesse each beat to perfection and taking this all in like a sponge. That’s what inspired me to want to be the one who helped shape stories — learning from that wisdom. I couldn’t wait to share it with others.”

Arpan directed her first show for the Pace Center’s inaugural season. Producer Charlie Packard plucked her out of the dance ensemble to direct Annie because he wanted the young women in the cast to have a female director they could relate to. At the time, anxious about making the jump, she asked Packard, “What makes you think I’m qualified for this? I’ve never directed a show.” She recalls him saying, “I see how smart you are, that you think about the whole show and not just your involvement, and I see how you move the story forward. Directing is putting all those things together.” d

Arpan has built a celebrated career as a director, choreographer, and performer, following every creative opportunity with curiosity, joy, and a deep appreciation for the journey. She is also a master at paying it forward.

“I always say at every audition, if you’re cast as a swing, please know that it’s not less than the person who gets the job on the stage. It’s more than because you’ll be next to me at the table. It is in my heart to lift them up, to let them see that [they are] ready to speak, to direct, to create, to choreograph, to move the story forward even though they’re afraid to do so, likely because dance is their first language.” — Piper Lindsay Arpan, Director and Co-Choreographer, What a Glorious Feeling!

Many of those she works to elevate are young women who have artistic potential beyond the dance line. “We need more women telling stories, and perhaps we need more dancing girls to tell these stories because it’s a very specific lens. We have a lot to offer, even if at first we’re afraid to say it with words.”

As a female director, Arpan’s production of What a Glorious Feeling! was designated by the DCPA as a “Women’s Voices Fund” project, which earmarks resources from a special fund designed to elevate female playwrights and directors.

Described as an intimate play with music, the production is a fictional account of what might have taken place behind the scenes during the making of the classic film Singin’ in the Rain. Arpan notes that this show feels familiar to all performers, in any rehearsal room, in any show. The creative process can be messy and passionate. This look that the audience gets into the creative process is truly special.

“To me, messy is beautiful and that is, in fact, a foundation of dance. We fall before we nail that lift. We fall out of that turn before we soar through it, and these things that are messy are what in fact build the beauty.”

She adds that, “Dancers are passionate. We have fire coming out of our toes, and we feel things so deeply. I love my job and I don’t take on projects unless I feel passionate about them, and this one feels especially precious. In each of these characters I see parts of myself, and I see parts of every dancer. To be able to tell this story from a dancer’s point of view? Wow, it just feels like a tremendous gift. We are just so lucky.”

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