KEEPER: Eddie Oroyan

Dancer/Choreographer

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By: |   January 2009   |  From the print edition

Anyone lucky enough to have seen "Brown Rocket," the kick-ass (literally) piece that Eddie Oroyan choreographed and danced at the Southern Theater in 2008, knows that he wears his heart on his sleeve. Inspired by a love affair he had with a woman he met on Craigslist, "Brown Rocket" opened with a valentine of a dance and ended in ruins, but only after the visceral ride we’ve come to expect from this charismatic powerhouse.

Oroyan broke into the Twin Cities scene in 2002, dancing with Minneapolis performance group Black Label Movement. Six years later the local dance community awarded him a 2008 Best Performer Sage Award for his work in "Brown Rocket" as well as in "Ugly and Wreck" (with Arena Dances and Black Label Movement, respectively).

The 30-year-old also dances for Zenon Dance Company and Shapiro and Smith Dance, the latter of which will premiere his new work this spring. These are no small feats for one who began dancing at the relatively old age of 20. Born in Hawaii and raised in Green Bay, Oroyan was bit by the dance bug at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where learning how to dance went hand-in-hand with studying choreographic composition.

Oroyan tempers his extreme physicality and passion with the wisdom he’s gained through his religious practice. “[My faith] feeds me, fills me, gives me hope, and dance is the one avenue where I can express that.” 

WATCH: "Brown Rocket" trailer.