Between The Applause: The Body Between Spectacle
Dive into the inner world of dancer Devin Neal in Between the Applause.
Dyer Sharpe
7/2/20265 min read
After a year spent performing on global stages, Devin Neal exists in the rare space between spectacle and stillness. Known for his work alongside artists such as Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, Doja Cat, and many more. Neal has built a career through movement, discipline, and transformation. Devin Neal is a professional movement artist, choreographer, model, actor, and multi-talented creative based in Los Angeles. He began dancing at the age of two, studying Hip Hop, Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Afro Caribbean, and Contemporary at his family-owned school in New York. Devin's diverse dance background, paired with his passion for art and movement, along with an insatiable hunger for knowledge and growth, has contributed to his overall success in the industry. In Between The Applause, he reflects on autonomy, touring, personal artistry, and what the body remembers when the lights go down.
In Conversation With Devin Neal
Q&A
You’ve spent the year touring with Lady Gaga, one of the world's biggest pop stars. How do you maintain autonomy while performing inside someone else’s creative universe?
Maintaining my autonomy looks like never stopping creating in my own world while working in someone else's. While on tour with Gaga, I hosted my own tour, teaching sold-out classes and sharing my choreography around the world.
I’ve found a huge escape in creating my own choreography. This has been a beautiful way to build my following of people who respect my world of art outside the lens of an artist.
To have cultivated my own space where people come, inspired by what I create, has been my way of fulfillment. It means a lot to me to see people impacted by my art.
You’ve called The Mayhem Ball one of your favorite worlds to exist in. What makes this chapter of your life feel so fulfilling?
The Mayhem Ball has been my favorite world to dive into with an artist this far in my career. This tour fulfills me because it brings together everything I love.
The music, the choreography, the fashion, and the team. The iconic-ness of it all is so well thought out. I am versatile and trained in all styles. On stage, I perform hip-hop, jazz-funk, theatrical acting, and tumbling from my gymnastics background.
Alongside all of that, I hold both feminine and masculine characteristics, and every part of myself is accepted on and off stage in the space Gaga created for us.
Touring demands a lot physically, mentally, and spiritually. How do you stay grounded inside that cycle?
Touring is definitely a push-and-pull relationship with myself. Being in such a spotlight can take a toll on me sometimes. One moment, I'm grateful, feel on top of the world, and at peace with my journey. The next moment I feel sad and confused about life after the tour.
Recharging and centering myself is spending time with family and friends. From movie nights to eating In-N-Out to speaking about future lives in positive ways, it really helps. My family and friends allow me to be my vulnerable self anytime, showing me unwavering love no matter what.
I know that they will be waiting for me with open arms and will catch me when I fall. This reassurance allows me to keep going.
When you step into another artist's world, your body becomes a part of their vision. When the movement is your own, what changes?
When I step into someone else's world, I become a vessel for their vision. I'm embodying an emotion, a character, a narrative that reflects their life experience.
It's a form of service to the art, where my job is to fully surrender and bring their world to life as truthfully as possible.
But when the work is my own, it’s rooted in personal expression. There's no performance in the traditional sense, no separation between who I am and what I am showing.
It's not about portraying something, it's about revealing something. My movement directly reflects my position in my life. There's no narrative to follow, no character to hide beyond just an honest physical translation of what's real for me in that moment.
Beyond dance, how would you describe the world you’re building for yourself?
My artistic world is honest and reflects where I am in that moment of life. I look at the world through a lens of searching, searching for how I can evolve, keep shedding, and reinvent while staying true to myself. What inspires me the most is knowing there's no limit to my artistry. I see myself as more than one thing. I am a dancer, model, choreographer, actor, and visionary. When people think of me, I want there to be a multitude of attributes rather than just one. I am building a world where all parts of me can exist at once.
Similar to the character Thanos, through life experiences, I'm collecting stones to be the most powerful and wide-ranging version of myself
When the stage lights disappear, what does your body remember the most?
My body remembers the experience of being myself reimagined. Understanding art is the portal, and through it I invent, inspire, and create new meanings of self.
When the stage lights fade, and everything grows still, I can sit with the energy I’ve had the privilege to share and absorb from thousands of people. In those quiet moments, I am reminded of the impact I carry and how my presence is inspirational.
Sometimes, while I’m in action, running on adrenaline, I’m truly myself without realizing how much impact I'm leaving on people who aspire to follow the footsteps I am walking in now.
Photographer
Vazha Kuchuloria
Model
Devin Neal
Creative Director
Dyer Sharpe
Stylist
Dyer Sharpe
Makeup
Celeste
Hair
Quran
Production
State Of Sharpe
Credits