Robert Simpson, 65, moved to New York City in 1971 for two reasons: to dance and to come out. Simpson grew up near Albany, New York, and started taking dance classes while in college. Shortly after arriving in New York City, Simpson found himself on scholarship with the esteemed choreographer Alwin Nickolais and surrounded by like-minded artists in New York's gay community shortly after the birth of gay pride following the Stonewall Riots.
His self-confidence grew more every day. "I knew I was gay all the time… and I knew that New York would be a place I could be myself," said Simpson in a phone interview with Windy City Times. "About two years later, I told my mother. We were sitting at her kitchen table. Her eyes watered. I told her I was the same person now as I was before we sat down. She waited until I left to go back to NYC to tell my father who, within the week, came to see me. He gave me the, 'it could be a phase' line, but admitted that on his WWII repair ship he considered doing 'something' with the designated Queen. That was it. … I couldn't really have asked for a more favorable reaction from them."
In 2010, Simpson joined NYC-based Heidi Latsky Dance, which will visit Chicago on tour in early November, but he's a very different dancer now than the young guy on scholarship at Nickolais. A series of strokes in 1998 halted Simpson's career, and the bleeding in his brain caused a loss of function to the left side of his body. "I had to learn to walk again…I just wanted to be able to get up and wash my face at the sink," he said.
After two months of physical therapy, doctors were surprised at how well Simpson had recovered, although Simpson thanks his dance training for the remarkable improvements he made. He began taking dance-therapy classes with former ballet dancer Cathy Appel; returning to a common vocabulary from before his strokes was a great source of healing as he reinvented himself as a mover. "I did physical therapy," said Simpson, "but the dancing has always come through with helping me get stronger, better. ... And this class with Cathy … she was a wonderful person to be working with. Dancing has been a major help during both of my major physical catastrophes."
In 2005, Simpson had to learn how to walk again. Doctors felt, at first, as though his symptoms were residual from the earlier strokes, but eventually diagnosed him with Parkinson's disease ( PD ). Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder in which the brain loses its ability to produce the neurotransmitter dopamine, causing motor impairment and tremors, and research has shown dance to be a positive intervention in slowing its progression. While in one of his dance-therapy sessions, Appel passed Simpson a flyer about a dance class for people with PD at Mark Morris Dance Group's studios in Brooklyn. Called "Dance for PD," similar programs in adaptive dance for persons with Parkinson's are offered in Chicago courtesy of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, The Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. "I went and loved it," Simpson said. "I could 'fly' across the studio, [and] I still try to attend."
A few years later, Simpson noticed another flyer during his dance-therapy sessionsthis one seeking persons with a disability to be in a dance performance. He contacted Heidi Latsky, who created the flyer, recognizing her name from media listings of upcoming dance performances in NYC. "I hadn't performed in years, but went to see her to 'audition,' which consisted of me watching her direct a rehearsal," he said. When he stood to leave, she told him, "Ok, I'll contact you. I'm starting a new piece in January." Latsky later explained to Simpson that she could see how he moved just by observing him enter, sit down and stand up. "I've been with the company since 2010 … and she still has X-ray vision."
Latsky's mission for her dance company is to create provocative, highly technical and physically adventurous dance, that just happens to incorporate people with disabilities. Simpson is accompanied by dancers of varying ages and degrees of physicality, and said that Latsky seeks to celebrate many different types of expression through movement. Latsky could see the young Nickolais dancer inside of Simpson, despite his drastically reduced physical vocabulary. "I try to arrive at the same level of intensity and joy as when I could leap," he said, and Simpson has remained positive through it all.
"I love to move," he said. "Dancing helps. Rehearsing helps. The spine is tilting more to the right, my left hip sways a little more when I walk, my neck is in some crazy spasm half of the time now. I see a Physical Therapist, a Chiropractor, and a deep tissue Massage Therapist to help. The Parkinson's is at work. I'm at work with Heidi and company … and having some fun too!"
Heidi Latsky Dance performs through Nov. 6-8 at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave. The weeklong residency coincides with the American Dance Therapy Association ( ADTA ) and National Dance Education Organization ( NDEO ) joint annual conferences, through Nov. 5-9 at McCormick Place. Tickets are $30 available by phone ( 312-369-8330 ) or online at colum.edu/dancecenterpresents. The Dance Center is an ADA-accessible venue.