Curtain falls on Damien Patterson’s Wonderbound career

By Emily Baker

Belief is often a difficult thing. It has been pivotal, however, in Damien Patterson’s decades-long career as a professional dancer. “Make them believe. You always have to make them believe,” his uncle told him at an early age. Those words still ring true for him today as he prepares to take his final bow with Wonderbound, a contemporary ballet company in Denver.

Patterson’s last dance
“The Sandman” is an original “newfangled Western” from Wonderbound, playing through May 14 in Denver. Limited tickets are still available. Click here for tickets and more information.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Patterson never thought he would grow up to be a professional dancer. With the exception of his uncle, a lifelong inspiration to him, Patterson did not come from a family of dancers. He started his dance career when his uncle enrolled him in a summer program at the Arena Playhouse in Baltimore. He went on to dance through high school and attended an 8-week summer program at Alvin Ailey in New York after graduation.

Patterson was offered a prestigious scholarship at Alvin Ailey upon completion. Due to a number of factors, however, he was not able to accept and returned to Baltimore. Back home, he felt he didn’t have the support or the money to continue with his dance career, but people at his high school pulled together, bought him a bus ticket, and sent him on his way to Tennessee where he auditioned for and received a role with Ballet Memphis.

There, he first met Garrett Ammon and Dawn Fay, who would later found Wonderbound, the Denver dance company that would allow Patterson to truly thrive as a professional dancer.

He danced for six seasons with Ballet Memphis before once again returning home to freelance and teach. It was Patterson’s own dance teacher who believed he did not belong in the life he had settled for. “You’re too talented to be here just teaching. You should be out there dancing,” she told him.

Once again, supporters pooled together to buy him a ticket to a dance conference in Dallas where he auditioned for and received six different offers from companies across the country.

“I was floored,” Patterson said of the honor. While mulling over the offers, his teacher gave him the advice to try the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company here in Denver. The rest, as they say, was history.

Patterson danced at Cleo Parker Robinson for two years before reuniting with his old friends from Ballet Memphis, Fay and Ammon at Ballet Nouveau Colorado. Since then, they broke off part of their endeavor to create Wonderbound, which is a creative production company born from the belief that dance is a form of storytelling.

“One thing I love about dance, in general, is the way that it can tell stories in such a different way than the written word. You have to find different ways to tell the audience what’s going on and create space for interpretation,” said Ammon of Wonderbound.

Both former dancers themselves, Ammon and Fay now enjoy the behind-the-scenes aspects of performance through Wonderbound. While Fay is a costume designer for the productions, Ammon, in collaboration with local musical artists, is a choreographer and creator of all shows.

“It’s a dream to be able to do this and it’s what we live and breathe,” said Ammon of the company, itself a belief in achieving lifelong dreams. At Wonderbound, they emphasize Colorado-based talent, always employing local collaborators, and using local bands for the live music.

The current production of Sandman is the first show in Wonderbound’s new permanent space, and the first since COVID-19 to have live music featuring beloved Colorado alt-country band Gasoline Lollipops.

Patterson has cherished his time at Wonderbound. He said getting to collaborate with Denver’s funky rap-rock collective the Flobots was a peak experience. “If there was ever a moment that I felt like Beyonce, it was in that show,” he said.

He also appreciates the space allowed for creativity within the company. “As time went by, I became more in tune with myself and more giving of myself,” Patterson said.

Finally, Patterson appreciated that Wonderbound performers wear normal clothes that fit the performances. It seems a small thing to the outside observer but according to Patterson, “It felt more honest. I didn’t feel like I am a dancer, I am ethereal and thin. It took that away and that’s one of the things I fell in love with in this company.”

In 2018, Patterson suffered a hip injury that required surgery. He recovered and returned to dance full time, but it hasn’t felt the same.

“I can tell when it’s my time and it’s not a heartbreaking situation,” Patterson said of retirement. He’s looking forward to it, in fact. He is going to rest, visit friends, and look into culinary school: many of the things he was unable to do while prioritizing his dance career.

Throughout his career, the same uncle who enrolled him in his first dance classes was his inspiration. “My uncle was a star to me. His star has never dimmed. He taught me everything I needed to know about theater.”

In spite of tremendous success across the country, and throughout a lengthy career, Patterson never thought of himself as a great dancer. “I remembered what it felt like for my peers to not want to go across the stage with me in high school because I was the ‘bad dancer’,” he said. Looking back on his career and his success, Patterson says that he hopes that aspiring dancers will learn from him.

“Don’t be scared to open yourself up to the world. Don’t be scared to try,” he said. “I was always afraid to let people see me trying. I wish I had the confidence to just fall on my face in front of everybody.” In short, belief is at the core of everything. It is just as important to make them believe as it is to believe in yourself.