Julia Boynton - An Interview with Beantown Tapfest's Founder

All week long, tap dancers from all over the globe have come to Boston to hold workshops, classes, and open jams for Beantown Tapfest! The faculty showcase, ON TAP, is tonight at 8pm at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown- be sure to check it out! I talked to Julia Boynton, the festival's founder, about running the festival, her favorite ice cream, and how she started dancing.






Aisha Cruse: How long have you been dancing? Have you always done tap?


Julia Boynton: Growing up in the golden age of television, I fell in love with the dance I saw on variety shows and in the old movie musicals, so my mom took me to the local dancing school—Miss Mackie’s School of Dance in Framingham—and though I wanted to take ballet, I was placed in the tap class. That didn’t last long as I preferred climbing trees and balancing on fences. However the attraction to dance remained and I started taking classes in my early twenties at the Joy of Movement Center.






AC: Many dancers feel drawn to a particular form; did you feel a connection to tap?


JB: I tried a couple of ballet, modern and jazz classes and realized I needed a more relaxed style of movement. Although flamenco didn’t fit that description, I loved the element of making sound in tap and flamenco and started studying both forms, in private and group lessons. Ultimately I chose tap. At that time I struggled with depression and felt tap allowed me a lightness of being and expression that I needed to cultivate.






AC: Why did you start Tapfest?


JB: In my mid-thirties I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, now known as Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease, which meant I had to deal with severe limits to my energy. Performing, traveling abroad to teach, and teaching full time were manageable only with a great deal of planning and effort. I started producing regular tap jams and master classes as a means to augment a reduced teaching load and also to remain involved in tap dance without taxing my energy. I enjoyed being part of the larger community those tap events attracted (outside of my own student population), and producing the tap festival was a natural progression.






AC: What was your biggest hurdle starting the festival?


JB: The biggest hurdle to starting the festival was finding an affordable and suitable venue for the classes. The first two years the festival was at Springstep in Medford, a gorgeous space but located too far from the city. The next two years we were at Green Street Studios, a great location with affordable studios but lacking space for students and faculty to relax and mingle outside of class. Last year Deborah Mason opened her new space in Somerville and Beantown Tapfest found its ideal and permanent home.






AC: The festival is in its 9th year (congrats!); have the challenges of running a festival changed with each year?


JB: The first Beantown Tapfest was in 2007. Since then, promotion has become easier and less costly. I’ve come to rely less on postcards, posters, and postal mailings to get the word out, and more on email, online listings and Facebook.






AC: What has been the most rewarding part of producing the festival?


JB: For me, being in the midst of a multi-generational community of fellow tap devotees from near and far, reuniting, taking classes, jamming, discussing, rehearsing, performing and hanging out, is a gratifying way to spend a week. There are moments when I get a sense of tap’s past, present and future all at once.






AC: Has teaching impacted your dancing or your work with the festival?


JB: In Boston there’s a substantial contingent of advanced over-40 tap students, myself included, who’ve tapped professionally or taken tap as a hobby for decades. We’re advanced in terms of vocabulary and skill, but don’t have the memory or energy we did in our twenties. Advanced teens and young adults with sharper memory and boundless energy can process more material and handle more rigorous movement. In past festivals advanced adult students were often left in the dust. Because the majority of my own students are adults, I understand the frustration of mixed classes. This year the festival is offering classes geared to both populations: advanced adults and advanced teens & young adults.






AC: Favorite ice-cream flavor?

JB: Coconut milk ice-cream






AC: If you could take class or have lunch with any dancer, living or dead, who would it be?


JB: I’d like to have a martini with Sammy Davis Jr.






AC: Any advice for our movers and shakers out there?


JB: I’ll share this Teddy Roosevelt quote: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

Artists Talking to Artists: Ryan Casey & Karen Krolak PART TWO

Here's the second half of Ryan's chat with Karen!  Don't miss them both TONIGHT at Against the Odds!

RC:  As we know, you have faced some terrific odds in recent months grappling with the loss of several family members, and the festival itself has struggled to get its footing since it was initially scheduled for last fall. How has all of this informed your sense of the festival and of your work?
kK:  Well, that is the million dollar question, isn't it? The week of the accident, I had been working intensely on Back Going No Going Back, my collaboration with Master Palindromist, Barry Duncan. The piece looks at the small moments where you made a decision that seemed trivial but changed your life. It also grapples with the very human desire to want to go back in time to change those decisions for a better outcome. Working on all the reversibility withBack Going No Going Back, can really cause my brain to freeze up sometimes because it is so easy to become disoriented without a clear beginning and ending.

Standing on Nicole's porch talking to the police who came to tell me that my mother, father, and brother were killed when an SUV swerved into their lane, I could feel myself starting to spiral down the rabbit hole of "If I had..." It reminded me of my rehearsals with Barry and I viscerally felt that following that line of thought would only lead me to further disorientation at a time when I desperately needed a mental compass. It is not an exaggeration to say that the lessons I learned from that collaboration helped me to stay sane as I began that awful task of arranging for the bodies to be transported from New York, planned funerals in Boston and Chicago, and faced the reality of a world that no longer contained the three people who were the very foundation of my identity. Naturally, I never anticipated any of this when I embarked on this piece but I think it demonstrates how a seemingly esoteric choreographic idea, juxtaposing retrograde dance phrases with palindromes, can have practical applications in our daily life.

Now, of course, I do not expect that the festival will have the same impact on anyone else's life. This experience, however, has renewed my investment in Against the Odds. It is important to point out that during the last six months, in addition to losing three family members,  I have lived on friends' couches with my husband and dog for months while grieving because we were moving when the accident happened and the deal took much longer to go through, Springstep announced they were selling the building where Monkeyhouse rehearses, performs, and has our office, my husband changed his career, and the nurse practitioner who was overseeing the complex management of my medical condition left her practice. Trust me, if I did not think that learning to face imperfection and adapting around less than ideal circumstances were important topics, I would never be producing a festival like this now. Everyone faces some form of adversity in their life. Seeing all these artists find physical poetry from imperfect bodies with grace and sometimes humor, reminds me that we can choose how we handle these moments.

When I posted something on Facebook about needing help raising money for the festival a few weeks ago, I was stunned that people from all over the country helped up us blow past our goal of $5000. So far we have received over $9000 and people keep sending in more donations. It was really uplifting to realize how many other people believed this was a worthwhile idea. Unlike many artists, I was very fortunate to have a family that really supported my creative endeavours. The last time that I saw my parents, the night before they left, they scurried around looking for a checkbook to give me a donation for Against the Odds. I said over and over, that they could always do it after they got back. How foolish I was to take for granted a safe return. Mom was insistent, though, and they gave Jason a check as we were leaving. When I felt so lost that following week, I kept thinking that Mom and Dad would want me to see this project through. Sure enough when we returned from Chicago, I found another smaller donation from Mom in memory of my Grandma Moffat in the mail at Monkeyhouse's office. It is a though they knew that I was going to need a big reminder that they believed in me.

RC:  What can we look forward to seeing from Monkeyhouse in the festival? 

kK:  Monkeyhouse will be presenting 7 premieres and one Boston premiere. Two of them are from our Outside Voices project to collaborate with other local artists. Back Going No Going Back is solo set on Nikki Sao Pedro-Welch, choreographed by me in collaboration with palindromes by Barry Duncan, and typographical projections by Cynthia Roberts. The Name of the Wind is a quintet set on Monkeyhouse by Mariah Steele. Monkeyhouse choreographers, Nicole Harris, Caitlin Meehan, Nikki Sao Pedro-Welch, and Sarah Feinberg, have created two comedic duets that sprang out of a series of Musings I led on physical attachments. Another duet is performed by Caitlin Meehan with Courtney Wagner blindfolded and shaped by Jason Ries's lighting design. Nicole Harris has built a new group piece that will feature several young dancers from Impulse Dance Center in one performance. Oh, and as a group we were so inspired by Eva Dean's workshop at the 2011 Against the Odds festival, that I built two pieces using exercise balls.

RC:  What are you anticipating the most about "Against the Odds," and what do you hope audiences will take away from the experience?

kK:  Honestly, I love the post show SPORKS, where we fork out questions and stir up conversation. After months of working on a piece, I hunger to hear what it sparks in audience members. Those comments stick with me and often inspire new directions for future creations. Artistically, I am really eager to see what Jason has discovered as more environmentally friendly and interactive lighting options. He is playing with wireless instruments and potentially hand held par lamps. It should be very cool.

Personally, the best moment for me will be dancing with Nicole on Thursday night. Regardless of what happens on stage, I know it is a major miracle that 18 months after her strokes and almost 7 months after the accident, she and I will be able to be together on stage supporting each other's weight.

Artists Talking to Artists: Ryan Casey & Karen Krolak PART ONE

Blogger in Residence Ryan Casey had some wonderful questions for Monkeyhouse Artistic Director Karen Krolak.  Here are just a few of them...  More to come soon!

RC:  I know you received a lot of entries for the festival and have a wonderfully broad range of performers and styles sharing the stage. Were you surprised by the range of ideas that choreographers developed in response to the theme? How have your notions of "Imperfect(ive) Experiments" changed through the process of talking with everyone involved in the show?

kK:  I love the process of curating and this festival brought up a lot of great conversations. Nicole Harris and I enjoyed that idea that the imperfective aspect is used in many languages to describe actions that are ongoing and wanted to give people a space to try something new with their work so some of the guest artists were asked to adapt their pieces for the festival while others created work specifically for this theme. Each application opened up a totally different line of investigation for me. For instance, yours delved into how the prescribed definition of perfection on reality television shows like So You Think You Can Dance alters the contestants afterwards whereas Janelle Gilchrist's made me wonder how the technical precision of a pointe piece could wrestle with our theme. 

One of my favorite aha moments occurred after I reviewed Audra Carabetta's duet. Her application described the piece as being about waiting and learning to have patience which seemed to be somewhat abstract for the festival's theme. I really liked her work, though, and wanted to include it. I contacted her and she mentioned that she was pregnant and suddenly I understood exactly how the piece fit in. Since I have not had children, I had not considered how the sense of expectancy in one's body might evolve into a dance. Being pregnant is of course a very natural event but it brings up tons of questions about perfection especially in our culture but I would not have thought about them before seeing Audra's duet. 

Also, three of the guest artists, Eva Dean, Dance'N Feet, and Mariah Steele, that were going to be included in the festival have had to back out recently. Monkeyhouse will still be presenting Mariah's new quintet but Mariah will not be able to perform her scheduled solo. Each person was so clearly dreading telling me that they she would not be able to participate because of a death in the family, a recent injury, or critically ill family member. In other professions, people are allowed personal time for such events but performers are rarely given such latitude. RIght before Monkeyhouse's first performance in Philadelphia, for example, I destroyed my ACL and was advised not to dance and two days later my close friend, Michael Maggio died. When I called the festival curator, however, to see if there were any options to vary the pieces in the concert or postpone til the following year, she explained that my reputation as an artist could be tarnished if I did not produce the work that had been accepted.

RC:  How did the theme for this year's "Against the Odds" Festival come about? 

kK:  Well, eighteen months ago when Nicole had four strokes. I found myself living through a very surreal nightmare. Nicole could not remember why she, an otherwise healthy 30 year old, was in the hospital. So just like some warped version of Groundhog's Day, we would have the same conversation over and over again. As soon as I explained about the stroke, she would begin to cry, something she really ever did, and it broke my heart to see one of my closest friends and longest running collaborator so obviously crushed. Her first question was always,"Will I be able to choreograph the musical at Natick High School?" and then it was followed by, "Does this mean that we won't be able to dance together anymore?" At the time, the doctors had not identified what had caused the strokes and kept telling her family and I that it was dangerous to let her get too upset or stressed. To calm her down, I reassured her that she would be able to return to both things but I can admit to you now that I was terrified that I might not be able to actually guarantee that either thing would be possible. When I tried to ask questions about her former movement range, the doctors were not encouraging.

Now might be a good time to also explain that I was living with a rather large professional secret at that time. In 2003, I was diagnosed with a very rare condition that doctors colloquially refer to as "rocks in my chest".  Really, what it means is that I have a large mass that is attached to my heart, esophagus, and lungs. The mass had been there for decades but was starting to cause breathing problems that were interfering with my ability to teach and perform. By 2009, I was also having recurrent bouts of unpredictable chest pain, similar to a heart attack.

I was distraught. I thought that if people found out, I would stop getting hired even though LuAnn Pagella, the Director at Impulse Dance Center, and Monkeyhouse were amazingly supportive of me. I have heard about dance studios that reduce teachers' pay if they have an injury but LuAnn has gone to incredible lengths to help me, for example, allowing me to take a week off with almost no advance warning when the Mayo Clinic had an appointment open up. Monkeyhouse often has elaborate strategies for how to rearrange a concert if something happens to me mid show and no one even blinks anymore when I being slithering around the floor choreographing through pain episodes.

So back to the stroke ward with Nicole. One night she awoke from a nap confused again about why she was in the hospital and I was the only one around. Err...by around I mean that I was having an awful bout of pain and did not want her to see that as I knew it would cause her tremendous stress. As she opened her eyes I slid to the floor and began scrounging through my purse for medicine. I told her I was searching for my phone and answered her questions from the floor. Thankfully, she does not remember this incident but it made me realize how often I was using my choreography and improvisation background to find ways to create the illusion that things were ok.

I knew that if we were ever going to get Nicole back on stage that two things were necessary. First, I was going to have to start publicly addressing my own physical issues so that it would be easier for Nicole to do so. Then, we were going to need inspiration from anywhere we could find it. I figured that bringing in other artists who were thinking about what it means to be perfect or imperfect would provide some of that. I know I just revealed a lot, did that answer your question?

Do you have a question for Karen that Ryan didn't ask?  Well then, why don't you ask her here!?  All of the Against the Odds artists and everyone at Monkeyhouse wants to know what YOU are thinking, so let's keep the conversation going!

Artists Talking to Artists: Caitlin Meehan & Lacey Sasso

It's time once again to catch up with one of the Against the Odds Artists!  This time Monkeyhouse's Caitlin Meehan is chatting with Six One Seven Dance Collective's Lacey Sasso.  (Lacey has a birthday this month, so be sure to wish her a good one if you see her!)

C: Do you have a favorite dance form, or a favorite choreographer?

L: My favorite dance genre is jazz. I started taking classes in this form when I was only 5 years old and have always loved the sassy, playful nature of the movement. In more recent years, I have come to mix my favorite jazz elements such as isolations and battements with quirkier gestural based movements. In most circles, this form is called contemporary, but in my world, I just think of it as my movement voice. I am inspired by Trisha Brown, Jose Limon, and Gus Giordano to name a few.

C: I also come from a jazz background! I know that you studied Dance at Missouri State University- can you tell me more about Inertia Dance Company there?

L: Inertia Dance Company is a troupe of dancers from the BFA program that travel to local elementary schools using dance as a vehicle to promote literacy and imaginative movement. Each season, the company chooses a children's story to use as a basis for each performance. The dancers use modern dance and creative movement to bring the story to life. The students participate in group work previous to the performance, and are given roles to act out during the show. For example, one year, my students were suitcases. We created an entire suitcase dance with our group and then performed it within the show. It gets the children involved and expands their minds. Inertia also organized lecture/demonstrations in which the students would have a chance to learn basic steps in ballet, jazz, modern, and tap dance. I was a member for all 4 years I was in school, and a senior rehearsal director my last 2 seasons.

 C: Cool! What was your favorite part about working with them?

L: My favorite part about being in the company was seeing the joy on the childrens' faces. For the most part, the children we worked with had no dance experience, so it was exciting to see them moving and creating for the first time.

C: You were a Psychology minor in college- do you think that this influences your choreography, or the way you look at choreography in general?

L: Psychology plays a large role in my life as a dancer and choreographer. I use choreography as an outlet for many things that are often difficult to talk about. I often ask myself the question "why" when I am looking at work. I have found that this leads to a lot of insightful reflection as well as a plethora of choreographic ideas.

C: Since graduating, you have moved to New York and presented some of your own work. Could you describe some of your choreography?

L: My choreography is quirky, sassy, expressive, and deeply personal. Much of my work comes directly from my personal experiences, often reflecting upon a personal relationship that has had a large impact on my life whether that be romantic, familial or other. For instance, my contribution to "Accidental Trifecta" is a solo that was originally choreographed to help me take the first step towards my future after losing my first love. The concept is about moving on and letting go of the past, a concept that I feel all people can relate to, but the details of the story are quite personal. I strive to create work that is honest and interesting, but also relatable. I use a mixture of popular music and abstract artists, written word, photographs, and more recently the experiences and stories of my dancers. It goes back to my background in psychology; talking about shared experiences is often the best way to process them. My chosen form of communication happens to be movement. I hope that when people see my work they see something honest and something just a touch sassy.

C: I understand that you split your time between Boston and New York, which must be a challenge! Which companies in which cities?

L: Yes, I spend quite a lot of time on trains and buses, but it's been an unbelievable experience. I have been working with Undertoe Dance Project in New York City for 5 seasons. UDP is a jazz and tap fusion repertoire company, which means that the majority of the work contains both genres complimenting one another to create an overall experience and a very unique voice. I have been blessed to be the jazz captain for 4 seasons and have spent this year mainly based in Boston, trying to expand the company's presence in the northeast. The company is a wonderful group of women who are passionate about these often underrepresented dance forms. I have had the pleasure of choreographing for the company on several occasions and hope to continue my work with UDP in the future.

My work in Boston feels like it is just beginning, though I have been in the community for 3 years now. I teach full time at two local studios, and spend my weekends working with Six One Seven Dance Collective. This is my 3rd season as a company member and my 2nd season as a featured choreographer. Six One Seven is a modern based company that creates work inspired by important concepts in life such as the beauty industry and the many meanings of home. This group of women allows me to explore my roots as a modern dancer and to continue to work collaboratively in the dance community. It is a joy to be a part of such wonderful dance companies and to have the privilege of exploring the many sides of my love of dance and movement in general.

C: What led you to Six One Seven Dance Collective?

L: I was first interested in Six One Seven Dance Collective because of its collaborative nature. I love to be involved in the process of creation. I was interested in exploring myself as a choreographer and having an opportunity to work with a variety of movement styles and voices. Each season is a new adventure. Working collaboratively rather than in a repertory company has been quite a valuable experience. I feel that we are always creating new ideas and new works, which is quite a lovely and often crazy process. The company is comprised of great people, who are now great friends of mine. I love knowing that rehearsal is work, but it is also a time to spend with friends and share my life with dancers through our work and our laughter.

 

C: I have to agree about the collaborative process! Monkeyhouse creates quite a bit of work that way. Looking forward to seeing you perform- thanks for sharing your history and inspirations!

 

 Do you have a question for Lacey that Caitlin didn't ask?  Well then, why don't you ask her here!?  All of the Against the Odds artists and everyone at Monkeyhouse wants to know what YOU are thinking, so let's keep the conversation going!

Artists Talking to Artists: Eva Dean & Audra Carabetta

We have loved reading all of these conversations between artists!  Here is Audra Carabetta and Eva Dean in our latest installment of Artists Talking to Artists!

AC:  You mentioned in your bio that "EDD thrives in unusual settings". Over the years what would you say qualifies as the most unusual?
ED:  My answer may differ depending on how I feel on any particular day as there are a number of unusual site specific locations at which EDD has performed. Today, I feel like the most unusual site specific location was an empty swimming pool in a production presented by DanceNow NYC at the Carmine Street Recreation Center in the West Village in Manhattan (2000). Contenders are the Rock Garden in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and a turn of the century barn in Sheffield, MA.

AC:  Were there any mentors from your past that inspired the work you do today? 
ED:  Honestly, there is no one person that I would list as a primary mentor, but there are many, many people who have inspired me. My short list that could easily grow into a long list is: Simone Forti, Nancy Stark Smith, Julie Rochlin, Joan Duddy, Laura Torbet, Donald Knaack (The Junkman), Dan Froot, Susan Rethorst and last but first, my lifetime love Stephen Doody. Please Google these extraordinary people! They all have great artistic histories.

And even though a place is not a person/mentor I would be remiss if I did not give a SHOUT OUT to my Alma Mater Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Hampshire College gave me the opportunity to do be who I was at the time, honor my creativity and experiment. I love having experimentation as a fundamental part of my creative process, and I am grateful that this part of me was allowed to grow and thrive at Hampshire College.

AC:  What is one of the most challenging obstacles you face as a choreographer? 
ED:  Gender bias

AC:  How would you describe your creative process? Has it changed over the years? 
ED:  My earliest and most extensive and influential dance training was contact improvisation at Hampshire College. Along the way, I filled my movement “tool chest” with a number of other dance techniques (i.e. Flamenco, Ballet, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Technique, and more). Choreographically, I broke away from the Post Modern genre, while maintaining movement and conceptual experimentation as a foundation of my work. My BOUNCE choreography, which is viewed by some as my signature work, is highly influenced by my early Contact Improvisation training and my love of going into uncharted movement territory. With that said, I have made well over 40 dances over the past 27 years and some of my repertory is quite different both in form and content. I think the “connecting” elements of my lifetime body of work is a willingness to explore creative territory that I know nothing about, respect and honor of my internal muse despite current trends, staying as open as I possibly can to the collective unconscious which is a limitless source of creative energy, and struggling to keep joy in my heart even if the content and underbelly of the dance I create is dark and unyielding. 

Do you have a question for Eva that Audra didn't ask?  Well then, why don't you ask her here!?  All of the Against the Odds artists and everyone at Monkeyhouse wants to know what YOU are thinking, so let's keep the conversation going!

Artists Talking to Artists: Nikki Sao Pedro Welch & Merli Guerra

Welcome to the third installment of Artists Talking to Artists!  Once again Monkeyhouse's Nikki Sao Pedro Welch will be asking the questions, this time to Luminarium choreographer Merli Guerra.

NSPW:  I saw on your bio that you have training in classical Odissi technique. Can you explain this dance form?
MG:  Great question. Frequently, when I mention my Classical Indian Dance background, I hear "Ohhh, like Bhangra or Bollywood!" It's a perfectly reasonable connection, but Classical Indian Dance forms such as Odissi are actually rooted in traditional Indian temple dances, and take many years to master. I often ask people if they're familiar with images of the figures carved into the pillars and entrances of Hindu temples for reference. Many of the same positions and mudras I practice through Odissi can be seen in these very statues...it's beautiful to see in person! Here in Boston, Bharatanatyam seems to be a much more practiced style than Odissi, which I've studied and performed with Nataraj Dancers in Western Mass under Guru Ranjanaa Devi. Now, whether intentional or not, I find that most of my work has a much greater focus on gestures, facial expressions, and the hands. It's hard not to incorporate it into my modern dance, after breathing it all those years!
 
NSPW:  I also noticed that you toured India in 2012 with Deborah Abel Dance Company. Can you tell us about this experience?
MG:  Well, now, that's a question I've been grappling with ever since coming home! I anticipated this tour for over a year, and could not believe my luck in falling into it. I had toured India in 2007 to study Indian dance, and was dying to go back. Luckily for me, one of the leads dropped out of Deborah's production, prompting her to ask a friend of mine if he knew of a dancer in the area who "had an interest in Indian culture, was small and good at lifts, and preferably had long dark hair." Best typecasting that ever happened to me, and returning to India was as excellent as it was the first time.
I will say that performing in India (rather than other countries I've performed in) was quite the experience. From live wires dangling backstage to working with a crew that didn't speak English, it was a strange reality to feel both at home and foreign in these Western-style theaters. One minute we'd be given delicious meals in a luxury hotel, compliments of the Government; the next we'd be chatting with dusty children living on the streets. There was beauty and chaos in every moment, and each audience differed from one to the next. I don't believe I've ever performed for an audience as verbally enthusiastic as the one we received in Jaipur. Their constant chatting, shouting, and impromptu applauding distracted many members of our group (understandably!), but I have truly never before felt so much energy from a crowd--it fueled me throughout the night, and was (for me) the single best performance of the tour.
And, as always, I am dying to go back to India again.
 
NSPW:  I also saw on your bio that you are a filmmaker and use film with dance. Can you give us some information on any new projects that are in the works involving dance and film?
MG:  Yes! Perfect timing. For several years, I've been hoping to find a way to merge dance with textiles in a new and unique way. I recently received a grant from the Lowell Cultural Council to fund a collaboration between Luminarium Dance Company and the New England Quilt Museum (in Lowell) to combine two of the city's largest focuses: Quilting and Dance. It might sound like an odd coupling, but the results of this "Threading Motion Project" so far are beautiful. I've chosen six quilts from the museum's upcoming exhibit "Silk!" and am projecting them onto my dancers, while exploring the moods and movements each quilt evokes in our bodies. In two weeks I'll film these to create six Quilt Vignettes that will be played on loop as part of the museum's exhibit April 18 through July 7. Luminarium will also be presenting a 15-minute live piece in the museum, based on the concept of "threading motion," during the exhibit's opening and symposium (April 20 at 2pm & 3pm, and April 27 at 4pm).
 
NSPW:  Lastly, I noticed that you have a degree from Mount Holyoke in Dance and Studio Art. This is quite impressive! Can you tell us the most important part of your college experience/process that you still use in creating your work today?
MG:  While I was at Mount Holyoke, I found myself straddling the two seemingly separate worlds of Dance and Studio Art, and it wasn't until my Senior year that I finally found the bridge linking the two through my first film class. I got it into my head that I wanted to toy with one's perception of the "canvas," so rather than creating a film and simply showing it to the class on the screen, I decided to try my hand at creating a film, projecting it onto various surfaces, and creating a film out of that.
One thing led to another, and my Intro to Film "exercise" suddenly had me standing outside in a cold, concrete amphitheater, as images of me dancing through fields projected across the theater and my body. (My co-director of Luminarium, Kim Holman, actually helped me with this project. Why she didn't run after that crazy experimental night, I just don't know! Too late to turn back now, Kim.) My little film Synchronic soon went on to win Best of Mount Holyoke, Best Dance on Camera, and Best of Festival at the Five College Film Festival in 2009, and while winning these awards was (of course!) hugely affirming for my new artistic path, the creation of this single film served a far greater purpose.
Synchronic taught me to challenge what we use as canvas; it taught me how light interacts with the body as it dances across one's skin; it helped me recognize that I am fascinated with the concepts of space, time, and connecting with one's "past self," and it gave me a new medium through which to work. So while my choreography now varies from dance to film, and from video projection to nontraditional lighting, I do find that these same themes still play an active and exciting role in my work. In fact, the piece I'm showing in this year's Against the Odds Festival (Andromeda) touches on several of these themes as well: from "past-self" to the way my soloist interacts with the lights around her. If you haven't seen it yet, you'll understand me (and my work as an artist) much better once you have! 

Do you have a question for Merli that Nikki didn't ask?  Well then, why don't you ask her here!?  All of the Against the Odds artists and everyone at Monkeyhouse wants to know what YOU are thinking, so let's keep the conversation going!

Artists Talking to Artists: Nikki Sao Pedro Welch & Janelle Gilchrist

Here is the second installment of Artists Talking to Artists! We are excited to share a chat with Monkeyhouse's Nikki Sao Pedro Welch and Against the Odds Artist Janelle Gilchrist!

NSPW: I noticed in your bio that you have a BFA in dance, which is wonderful! Do you feel it is important for dancers to continue their training in higher education?

JG: Yes, I think it is important for dancers to continue their training in higher education. We can not dance forever and it is important to have an education to fall back on. When the dance gigs are not coming in, or when it is time to retire from performing, having an education can help you land decent dance teaching jobs, or arts related jobs.
NSPW:You have such an extensive background with choreography working with Flash Mobs, dance studios, and companies. How do you stay inspired?
JG: I stay inspired by attending various dance performances throughout the year. I also see plays and go to art museums when I have time. I try to stay up to date on dance and music trends in pop culture as well.
NSPW: In speaking of Flash Mobs, can you elaborate on your experience with casting and choreographing for Flash Mobs?
JG: I choreographed 2 flash mobs. The first one I did was in Boston. I was asked to organize a flash mob in 4 days. The production manager told me that at the last minute, her choreographer bailed out on her and she needed me to find 30 dancers, choreograph, and teach them a 3 minute dance. She asked me could I do it. I said yes I could. So through my network of dancers, and dance action network, I found 30 dancers. I had 2 rehearsals that were each 2 hours long to teach the material. The dancers were allowed to come to the first rehearsal, the second rehearsal, or both. Then all the dancers arrived on the day of the performance. It was a success. Because the Boston flash mob went so well, I was asked by the same production company to do it again. This time it was at the Bellagio hotel in Vegas for the Jim Beam liquor company. I was given a lot more time. I had about 2 months to prepare. A friend of mine who was a dance colleague when we worked on a cruise ship together, was living in Vegas at the time. I asked him if he had any dancers out there who would do the show with me. Also another friend who used to dance in Vegas, gave me some names of some dancers out there. So without posting on any dance audition website, I was able to get 30 dancers. I had each person send me a résumé and a video of them dancing so I could see their dancing ability. The production company flew me out to Vegas and put me up at the Bellagio. I had one 2 hour rehearsal with the dancers and then the following day we performed. It went extremely well. One of the dancers told me it was the most organized flash mob they had ever been apart of. I was glad I had the opportunity to work on that project.

Do you have a question for Janelle that Nikki didn't ask?  Well then, why don't you ask her here!?  All of the Against the Odds artists and everyone at Monkeyhouse wants to know what YOU are thinking, so let's keep the conversation going!

Artists Talking to Artists: Kendra & Ryan

This is the first of this year's Against the Odds: Artists Talking to Artists series.  We asked each of the choreographers participating in Against the Odds to both interview another artist and be interviewed themselves in an effort to build community, generate conversation and give you a sneak peek at what might be going on backstage at Against the Odds.  I am very excited to introduce you to Kendra Henseler of Six One Seven Dance Collective chatting with our own Blogger in Residence and tap dancer extraordinaire, Ryan Casey. 

Kendra: So I understand you were first introduced to tap dance as a small child via Savion Glover's involvement with Sesame Street. Were you musically inclined as a child? What drew you to tap dance? What was the turning point in your early training where you went from "yeah I like this" to "I've got to do this every single day of my life"?

Ryan:  I recently went to see a preview of Maurice Hines' (Gregory's brother) new show, and he talked about working with Ella Fitzgerald. She had no real musical training, it seems -- just a God-given gift, he said, to be so rhythmically talented. I would never put myself on par with her, of course -- not in a million years! -- but I feel the same way about my own development as a tap dancer. People always ask me if my parents are dancers are musicians; the answer is no. Nor did I grow up in a household where my parents were playing jazz music all the time or watching Hollywood movie musicals with me. I have a good ear for rhythm, but I admittedly don't understand music very well, or as well I probably should; I have trouble counting things out and discussing musical forms with band leaders. There's really no discernible reason why I should have become a professional tap dancer other than I was blessed with this ability, I guess.

I started my dance training with a tap/jazz combo class, and although I liked both styles -- and still do -- I was just naturally better at tap. I picked it up quickly and it stuck with me. When I got to high school, my teacher, Thelma Goldberg, sat me down and told me that if I wanted to have a career in this field -- and I could -- I needed to become a soloist. I think that's when I started getting really serious about my dancing and began to understand that this was something that could take me somewhere.

Kendra:  My sources tell me you're 6'8". Tap dancing involves a lot of weight shifting. Does your height influence your movement style?

Ryan:  This is a question that I address with my work in the festival. I get it a lot -- and I also hear from a lot of people who are shocked to see me dance because they thought it would be impossible for someone of my size to move with any grace at all.

I take a musical theater jazz class in NYC every week with the wonderful Stephen Reed, and sometimes I get to the studio and he warns me that the combo for the day is "short people dance" -- that is, choreography created for people of short stature. I got to thinking: What would "tall people dance" look like? Does it exist?

Tommy Tune is one answer, although I think he's regarded more as an all-around entertainer than specifically as a tap dancer. Michelle Dorrance, whose company I'm in, created a kind of tall people dance when she choreographed a duet, "The Rag," for me and Elena Steponaitis, another lanky dancer who I'm performing with in the festival. She opened up a new vocabulary for me and embraced my physicality rather than telling me it wasn't going to work.

With my height, it's not so much the weight shifting that's tricky as it is controlling my limbs and my entire body at once -- and I am definitely a full-body dancer. I look back at videos of myself even from high school and am embarrassed to see how much I was flailing around. I like to think that at some point, with a lot of work in other disciplines, I got myself together, but it's definitely something I have to keep working on. I'm in jazz classes every week so I can keep my lines straight and clean.

Kendra: Do you have a "lucky" pair of tap shoes?

Ryan:  Haha, no, I can't say that I do! I do reserve my white pair for certain performances, though. It was -- and still is, I think -- a big deal as a tap dancer to get a pair of white shoes. It's a kind of status symbol that you earn. I got them my senior year of high school and I love them; I can slip into them like a favorite pair of slippers and I love how they feel and how they sound. But they're scuffed up at this point, and I want to preserve them just a little longer, so I only dance in them every once in a while.

Kendra: Is your choreography influenced by improvisation or music? I'm not a tap dancer, but I'm so jealous of tap dancers that get to 'jam'. How much do you depend on sound exploration before settling into a choreographed piece?

Ryan:  I think that's the first step for a lot of tap choreographers, and certainly for myself: I always improvise to a tune before I really start choreographing, just to see what happens and what immediately inspires me. After I jam for a while to a song, I've locked into some ideas for rhythms or movement patterns that I can use later on. The music tells me, "This part is a time step" or "This should be a counterpoint," for example.

I work rhythmically, meaning that when I'm choreographing, I listen to the music and say, "What do I want to hear here?" And I play around with rhythms, scatting to myself, until I find the one that I think fits best. Then I come up with a step that best fits the rhythm -- playing around with tone, shading, speed, etc. It's like a musical puzzle.

Kendra:  Your choreography has such an amazing pulse to it. So many tap pieces become dominantly focused on the sound, but yours also has a large emphasis on the bodies as well. If you could give your audience members a 'take-away' when they watch your work, what would it be?

Ryan:  I was trained to be a full-body rhythm-maker, so I'm glad you pointed that out. I think it's important that the physicality of the art form be prominent; indeed, one of the cool things about tap, as so many tappers like to point out, is that you can embody through both movement AND sound the music that you're dancing to. You can BE the blues; you can BE one of Brubeck's odd time signatures.

Honestly, I've been thinking a lot lately about the question of the take-away in dance. I think it's obvious in other forms of art: Novels and films make us identify with fictional characters and get caught up in long-form narratives; music is supposed to fill your heart with an emotional experience and your head with catchy lyrics; art has something you can literally take away, if you purchase it. What, then, are we supposed to take away from dance? What does it mean that some people are watching modern dance and saying "I don't get it" and potentially not taking away anything other than confusion and frustration?

I believe in dance that is rhythmic and engaging. I hope people come away from my work at "Against the Odds" enjoying themselves -- hopefully laughing a bit! -- but also thinking about the larger questions I'm asking about fitting in, judging appearances, and maintaining one's sense of self, for example. Hopefully they'll see that tap, as you said, is just as much about the body as it is about the sounds.

And, most importantly, I hope they leave wanting to learn how to tap dance!

Do you have a question for Ryan that Kendra didn't ask?  Well then, why don't you ask him here!?  All of the Against the Odds artists and everyone at Monkeyhouse wants to know what YOU are thinking, so let's keep the conversation going!