A First Look: Danielle Diniz on The Rule of Three

Before we premiere our newest dance film, we'd love to give you a glimpse into the creative process behind it.

This weekend, we're sharing a short behind-the-scenes interview with choreographer Danielle Diniz, who created The Rule of Three during Pointeworks' March 2026 New York City residency. If you joined us for our open rehearsal in New York, you'll recognize the early moments of this work taking shape. And for those who recently attended Nocturnes in San Diego, it's a chance to experience another side of how Pointeworks develops new ballets.

Danielle reflects on the inspiration behind the ballet, her collaborative creative process, and what it means to build a work alongside the dancers in the studio. Get to know Danielle further through this recent interview shared below...

Danielle expresses how she has been leaning into the beauty and richness of her heritage to find deeper inspiration, and how her creative process with the dancers came to life by the “efficiency and intimacy in the room itself”. Which she shares is “arguably the most important part of the process.”

This intimacy created space for each individual artist to be seen and bring themselves into the creation process. With this as a value, Danielle shaped a beautiful new reality. A time where music, culture, inclusion, and movement came together to share a clear message, expressed best by communicating it together.

The full dance film The Rule of Three premieres publicly on YouTube, Friday, July 10. So, mark your calendars!

This release also marks the beginning of an exciting summer for Pointeworks, as we prepare to launch our next creative residency. Beginning July 19 in San Diego and Los Angeles, we are welcoming choreographer Hélène Simoneau and resident composer Katie Jenkins to create and collaborate on an original ballet with live string quartet. You are not gonna want to miss it.

what is a residency?

Pointeworks receives hundreds of applications from choreographers around the world, but are limited to 1 or 2 per season to be commissioned for a new work. This is how the idea of a Choreographic Residency came to be. We wanted to provide more opportunities for emerging and female choreographers to have access and freedom to create without the pressure and cost of a mainstage performance.

Our Choreographic Residency is constructed in a week-long format starting with creation for the first few days, then rehearsals building stamina and comfort in the movement, then an open rehearsal with an audience aimed to share the piece in an intimate work-and-progress way, then the piece is filmed professionally for archival and media.

Creation

The first step in the process.

Where the resources of space and dancers become living ideas.

Some choreographers have a plan, others create on the fly. But what stays the same is the necessity for safe creative space, and attentive, passionate dancers. A space where expression and intention is valued and explored, bringing us to new heights.

REhearse

Where artistry and fine tuning take a step from a simple movement to movement with intention. Danielle’s process in particular used this intention to add depth to each dancers choreography, creating it uniquely to their personalities and feelings within the movement.

Open Rehearsal

Our hope with these open rehearsals is to bring the public into the process - making ballet accessible to everyone.

These events offer new-to-dance audience members an entry point into understanding ballet. Without the curtain to hide the process, viewers see the hard work and the humaneness of ballet.

To follow each open rehearsal, we conclude with a Q & A session, allowing attendees to share their thoughts, and express any questions that might arise while observing the process.

Filming

Our desire is to keep every work alive, making it accessible to people now and for many years to come.

With this in mind, we have created a way for this to be possible.

At the end of each residency, we capture the work on film- archiving the steps, emotion, and story, providing a way for these creations to live on and for it to be accessible to watch from anywhere.

TAKE US WITH YOU

Our desire is continue providing more moments like these for you and your community to experience the beauty and humanity of this art form. We value relationship and connection here at PointeWorks and are on a mission to bridge the gap that has been created between performing artists and our communities. Let us show you what’s behind the curtain, we can’t do what we do without you…

POINTEWORKS