Signature: Renee Chatelain

The scene that glances off of Renee Chatelain’s windshield falls far short of poetry in motion. Industrial brick. Barbed wire coiled like an angry snake around empty cement yards. Foil-windowed apartment buildings. Her silver Honda Civic bumps over roads that are slowly being strangled by weeds.

She’s not looking for the kinds of things that could get a person into trouble. Her dramatic dancer’s eyes are scanning the sidewalk for kids who look a little bit bored. Many of them are more than a little bit poor. But Chatelain doesn’t see that.

She’s seeing stars. Doesn’t matter what size you are, what shape you are, what your story is or your situation.

“Hey,” she says. “I’m putting on a show. Would you like to come be in my show?”

One by one, kids climb in.

“My record is 11,” she says, grinning. Eleven not-so-small ones crammed into a clean economy car.

Walk around her ride, crane into the window, do the math. It seems impossible, maybe even a bit illegal, but completely worth it. Transformation by the car-ful.

Age: 43

Occupation: Artistic director of Mid City Dance Project; teacher at the Dunham School

Hometown: Baton Rouge

Chatelain is transforming the city of Baton Rouge by inspiring kids all over through her Mid City Dance Project to join in the dance. Since Chatelain co-founded the troupe in 1994, she’s been challenging this city’s assumptions about geography and humanity.

“I’ve learned not to be afraid to ask questions,” says Chatelain.

Rehearsals are currently under way for this year’s early-December performance of “The Inner City Nutcracker,” which will feature talent from every part of Baton Rouge.

When the music starts, it doesn’t matter if you’re from the country club or a gritty urban neighborhood. When the music starts, we’re all just bones and sinew that can move to a steady or a syncopated beat. And then, molecule by molecule, we grow into insects or animals. Soldiers or state heads.

That’s how change happens.

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