Born to Create: The Artistic Tales of Ronniquè Antoinette by Ashayla Byrd

Born to Create: The Artistic Tales of Ronniquè Antoinette

Ronniquè Antoinette and The Ramdance Movement presents: “Love Tales”

Atlas INTERSECTIONS FESTIVAL / Atlas Performing Arts Center

Washington D.C.

March 9th, 6pm 2025

By Ashayla Byrd (she/they)

Bathed in the warm glow and bustling groove of a local Busboys and Poets restaurant, Ronniquè Antoinette’s statuesque form ascends from her seat to greet me. Equal parts elegant and swagged out in a white, winged, patch-work blouse and a form-fitted, calf-length jean skirt, it’s a relief to finally have face-time with a staple figure in the DC dance scene whose name I had mostly heard and read. 

“Ronniquè!” I could not contain my eagerness to get our meal together started and our conversation going. Although we are meeting for the first time, her embrace feels familiar. After securing our orders and settling in, I begin with a simple provocation: “So, tell me your life story.” Easy, right? From the way Ronniquè said she was born and raised in DC, in “Norf-East Trinidad,” I knew I was speaking to a DC native. I live near that area now, so I can place exactly where she grew up. 

A true 90s baby raised in the church, she was both steeped in The Spirit through praise dance and reared by music video choreography from dance legends of the time like Laurieann Gibson and Fatima Robinson. She taught her first (unofficial) dance classes to the students at her mother’s in-home daycare, showing them the slick moves she learned from Aaliyah, the Backstreet Boys, and their contemporaries. Eventually, Ronniquè’s own choreography replaced the steps she obsessed over from the silver screen. 

“My mom was like ‘You know, that’s called a choreographer,’” Ronniquè recalls. “And I was like, ‘What? What are you talking about?’ [She said,] ‘You know people make money like this, right? They go places as choreographers.’ And after that, I was like, ‘This is what I want to do.’” Ronniquè’s determination sailed her through local dance studios from middle through high school before landing her a spot as a dance major at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). 

After seeing Ronniquè dance, it completely tracks that she is a VCU alumna. VCU dancers are known for their ability to soar through space, dominating the air with each and every step. They have to know how to travel in those spacious studios! She reflects on the culture shock that both her mind and body went through as she acclimated to the collegiate dance environment. The training was more ballet-intensive than she was used to, as she was trained primarily in jazz and tap dance growing up. “It was grueling because there weren’t, you know, many of us,” Ronniquè utters while running her fingers along her golden-brown hand. In case you missed it, that’s code for “There weren’t many other Black and brown folks in dance classes with me.” That’s the only Black Secret you get today! There was certainly a presence of other BIPOC dancers, but the population was small. 

So much of Ronniquè’s story mirrors mine. I, too, came to dance through church. I went to kindergarten at Rainbow Christian Learning Academy and joined the praise dance team as a teeny five-year-old. The name of my school is honestly quite ironic considering the fact that I grew up to be a raging queer person, but I digress. I remember high-kicking to high-heaven at my kindergarten graduation while my parents beamed with pride. Being asked to dance at church years later became a badge of honor that I wore with the utmost pleasure. Although I couldn’t afford to train at a dance studio, my public school system made it possible for me to receive dance training from the time I was in third grade until I ultimately graduated high school. 

Even with such a strong connection to movement and perhaps thousands of hours spent practicing, nothing could have prepared me for being the only Black dancer of my cohort at a Conservatory in the mountains of northern Virginia. These are the kinds of mountains that Black folks sometimes enter but don’t come out of. There was even a tarnished, busted-up sedan that drove around my college town with a confederate flag painted on its hood. What started as a jumpscare became commonplace, and I learned how to roll my eyes and keep it pushing. I did the same in ballet class, too. Ronniquè and I bond over yearning to prove ourselves in the collegiate dance space but not truly finding our own personal grooves until after graduating from our respective environments. 

Post-grad, Ronniquè worked with Step Afrika!, a DC-based and nationally-renowned stepping company, ranked as one of the top 10 African American Dance Companies in the US (Step Afrika!). In her four and a half years with them, she received several choreographic opportunities. Her work with them even made its way to Broadway, and a reviewer compared her to the late dance titan Judith Jamison: Alvin Ailey’s choreographic muse, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s artistic director emerita, and a formidable presence within the American dance ecosystem. I can only imagine how Ronniquè must have felt, but she makes it crystal clear: “Okay, I am being compared to someone I’ve looked up to. This is what I am supposed to be doing for, like, the rest of my life,” Ronniquè’s awe of that moment beams from her every word, as if she herself still cannot believe that this moment took place. 

Since her beginnings in church pulpits, on daycare floors, and in childhood studios, Ronniquè has since grown into a sought-after choreographer, dancer, creative director, and dance educator in the DMV. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Ramdance Movement dance collective, with choreographed works that have premiered at the The International Association of Blacks in Dance conference, the Atlas Intersections Festival, and the Kennedy Center. (Note: Her Kennedy Center opportunities came pre-47th POTUS takeover, just like so many other incredible dance programming offerings.) She is currently in her third year as the Dance Coach for the Bisonette Dance Ensemble at Howard University. Utilizing the professional and social capital found within her community, she is working to build the program, increase its recognition, and secure more opportunities for the team.

When asked about the creative impetus for her work, Ronniquè says, “Most of my productions come from personal experience.”

When asked about the creative impetus for her work, Ronniquè says, “Most of my productions come from personal experience.” After a little over four years of being in DC, I saw Ronniquè’s work for the first time at the 2025 Atlas Intersections for her presentation of Love Tales, “a collection of vignettes celebrating the journey of love, self-discovery, and relationships. This production highlights the richness of self-love, relationship love, and the beauty of culture, family, and community” in early March (Atlas Performing Arts Center). The evening featured dance works by Ronniquè Antoinette herself, Anastasia Johnson, LaTeisha Melvin, and Marcus Isaiah. 

Love Tales’ coalescence of choreographic voices and narratives articulates the many ways that love manifests itself in our day to day lives–how it blooms, deteriorates, stabilizes, and heals. Marcus Isaiah’s “Love Is…”; “Hymn to Her,” with spoken word by SOUL COLE, saxophone by Lionel Lyles, and dance performance by Jiamond Watson; and Ronnique Antoinette’s “Flames of Desire,” “Poisoned Vows,” and “Love Tales (Suite)” each present romantic love at varying stages: the initial spark that draws two beings together, the power struggles that transpire in all relationships, adoration for one’s partner no matter the challenges, falling in and out of love, breakups and how we cope with them, and what it means to prioritize one’s love for themselves before any other relationship. 

LaTeisha Melvin’s “Together, and In Between” is perhaps the most somber of the works performed. I wonder, is this work about the distance that forms between loved ones when navigating hardship? How much do we hide ourselves and our needs, even if it complicates the possibility for intimacy? Anastasia Johnson’s “Steady Hearts” revels in the joy, adventure, and safety found in friendship and sisterhood. This lighthearted offering is refreshing when juxtaposed against the heavier subject matter in the aforementioned dance work. “Flowers in Bloom,” choreographed by Ronniquè Antoinette, reminds me of both the human pursuit of self love and fulfillment as well as the value of sisterhood and camaraderie while that journey progresses forward. I think of my two younger sisters and all of the growth we have witnessed, both together and individually. Even when they work my very last nerve, I would still drop any and every thing when they call. 

My absolute favorite section of the evening includes a video montage of moments when romantic love goes sour in classic Black films like Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Why Did I Get Married?, Love Jones, The Best Man, For Colored Girls, and Waiting to Exhale. This is not even an exhaustive list of every film included! As soon as I saw Angela Bassett’s character in Waiting to Exhale set her ex-husband’s car on fire and walk away with that ferocious death stare in her eyes, I knew what was up. Another surprise came in “We Cry Together” when Ronniquè Antoinette and MK Zulu rapped an argument to the backing track of Kendrick Lamar’s “We Cry Together” from his 2022 album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. I love Kendrick DOWN, okay?! This show was Blackity-Black-Black in the very best of ways. 

“I want to start acting…I’d like to think I’m a funny and dramatic person, so I want to take another hobby of mine and start getting into that space”

Flash forward to the evening at Busboys and Poets: Ronniquè shares that she enjoys writing songs,  co-wrote the rap-argument with MK Zulu, and the ex-partner of Ronniquè’s that inspired the argument was actually in the audience when the argument was performed. 

“I know you lyin’.” I exclaim, completely incredulous. 

“I’m not lyin’. I was like, ‘Oh, this is about to go down,’” Ronniquè responds between nods and cackles. 

“Did he have a reaction?” I do a terrible job of acting like I am not living for this drama. 

“He was like, ‘Ya know, I was trying my best not to get in my feelings. I did raise my eyebrow a little bit,” Ronniquè relays, imitating what I can imagine was his furrowed brow and pensive expression. A lyricist since the seventh grade, Ronniquè hopes to incorporate more of her musicianship into her dance artistry. A true creative, there are actually a number of creative endeavors she hopes to pursue throughout her life. 

“I want to start acting…I’d like to think I’m a funny and dramatic person, so I want to take another hobby of mine and start getting into that space,” Ronniquè humbly offers. “And I do like taking pictures, so I do want to be a model.” 

“You’re a tall drink of water. That’s a lot of material to work with,” I add, wondering how crisp the air must be from where she stands compared to the smog I breathe as a shorty. I’ve seen Ronniquè’s Instagram (@ronnique.antoinette_), and I am willing to bet that modeling would be slight work for her. 

To top off all of her creative outlets, Ronniquè has a vested talent for creating dance films and concept videos. A skill that she’s honed for over a decade, Ronniquè plans to produce more dance visuals this year while she strategizes the next steps for the Ramdance Movement dance collective. The current presidential administration makes it particularly difficult to fundraise and support a dance collective at this time, especially on one’s own. Nevertheless, Ronniquè reflects on how far she has come as a working dance artist with gratitude: “I came back here from living in Virginia; I had moved to North Carolina for like a year and then I moved back here. It was really hard trying to get a following. I’m just thinking about in 2014, I was like, ‘Hey, y’all, this is me,” [and I’m] now having a conversation with you and presenting a production, like, I’m very blessed, very, grateful. But it also came with me just being hungry and still just moving even if I don’t have the support or the team.” 

Ronniquè Antoinette’s hunger to create, both through dance and other mediums, is especially awe-inspiring to me as a young creative myself with dual passions for dance and journalism (and all twelve of my hobbies). Her zeal is limitless. If I could take one notion from our conversation, it would be that belief in one’s own abilities and potential is far more valuable than the opinions of external forces. Having the grit, determination, dedication, follow-through, and diligence to hone one’s craft can shatter any boundaries or limitations thrust upon us. 

Who knows? Maybe you’ll see Ronniquè stealing laughs from the audiences through her quick-witted acting chops. Maybe you’ll see her directing the movement for music videos. You could even catch her on the cover of Vogue. You’ll certainly see her dancing to the gawds on stage. Keep your eyes open for Ronniquè Antoinette, because she’s coming! 

WORKS CITED

“About Us.” Step Afrika!, http://www.stepafrika.org/about/. Accessed 23 Aug. 2025. 

Murray, Ronnique Antoinette. Interview. Conducted by Ashayla Byrd, 18 Jul 2025.

“Ronnique Antoinette & The Ramdance Movement.” Atlas Performing Arts Center, 9 Jan. 2025, http://www.atlasarts.org/events/ronnique-antoinette-the-ramdance-movement/. Accessed 23 Aug. 2025.

“Ronnique Antoinette.” Kennedy Center, http://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/a/aa-an/ronnique-antoinette. Accessed 23 Aug. 2025. 

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