Artist Profile #70: Douglas Nielsen (Tucson, AZ)

Douglas Nielsen

Professor, University of Arizona School of Dance

Choreographer, Teacher, Freelance Guest Artist

 

Photo by Ed Flores, Center for Creative Photography; contemporary photography from the Douglas Nielsen Collection

Hometown: Saint Paul, Minnesota

Current city:  Tucson, Arizona

Age: 66

College and degree: Augsburg College; BA in Psychology/Sociology (1970)

Post grad: Attended California Institute of the Arts (non-degree 1972)

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20s:  I took my first dance class in the Fall of 1970 in San Francisco after graduating from college.  Bella Lewitsky was holding an audition in Berkeley for Cal Arts.  I was accepted and moved to Southern California in the summer of 1972.  Attended the summer dance session at Cal State Long Beach in 1972 – and studied with Betty Jones, Lee Theodore Becker, and Anna Markaard (Kurt Jooss’s daughter).  Enrolled at Cal Arts that Fall and studied with Donald McKayle, Bella Lewitsky, and Mia Slavenska.

Worked as a security guard at Magic Mountain and danced at Disneyland to pay the bills.  I remember doing one-handed cartwheels in the Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade as a chimney sweep for 7 miles on New Years’ Day 1973.

Returned to CSULB in the summer of 1973 to study with Gladys Bailin and Gus Solomons.  I was in Gus’s repertory class, and he asked me to join his company in New York.  Drove cross country and started work with Gus immediately in the Fall of 1973.

I was 25 years old.  In the next five years I toured and performed with Gus Solomons, Pearl Lang, and Paul Sanasardo.  Studied with Merce Cunningham, Viola Farber, Dan Waggoner, Ruth Currier, and a brief stint with Twyla Tharp. When Paul Sanasardo became the director of the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel, he asked me to come to Jerusalem to perform a duet we did based on Christ and Judas for a festival of dance inspired by the Bible. I ultimately stayed for 3 years to perform in a vast and varied repertory by Sanasardo, Glen Tetley, Valery Panov, Anna Sokolow, Mathew Diamond, and Kurt Jooss (Death in Green Table).

We toured Paris, London, and the United States – as well as all over Israel.  I remember performing GREEN TABLE for the Israeli army, and they stomped their boots in unison for applause at the end.

 

Kurt Jooss's GREEN TABLE – in the role of Death in the Batsheva Dance Company, Tel Aviv, Israel (Photo by Roy Blakey)

30s: Returned to New York City and made a solo for myself called HEADSTART, based on athletes falling in slow motion.  At an audition at Dance Theater Workshop, David White, Director, liked it, and produced it on a group show.  The following year I did a duet with Martha Partridge at DTW, and Jacob’s Pillow, and after that formed my own company, Douglas Nielsen Dances.

David White produced my first full evening of work, SPIRIT OF GRAVITY at DTW on the FRESH TRACKS series, and encouraged me to apply for a NEA choreographic fellowship.  I was fortunate to receive 4 choreographic fellowships from the NEA, which helped support my company for the next ten years.

40s:  I had been teaching and choreographing as a guest artist at numerous university dance departments, and also teaching at the American Dance Festival.  In 1987 I took a position as Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona, and thought I might settle down.  Charlie Reinhart called in 1988 and asked me to help start a modern dance company in Mainland China – so I took a leave of absence from the University for 3-months to work with what is now the Guangdong Dance Company in Guangzhou.  In 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell – Charlie Reinhart called again, and asked me to travel to teach in post-communist countries  – and so I resigned my position at the University of Arizona, and went back on-the-road:  Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, 4 times to Russia, twice to Korea, back to China, Czechoslovakia (before it split with Slovakia), Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Mongolia.  Also, on my own, I taught for Maurice Bejart in Switzerland, and accepted invitations to Taiwan, Denmark, Scotland, England, Australia, Canada, Germany and Mexico.

 

Performed Charles Weidman's ON MY MOTHER'S SIDE, a suite of six solos based on Weidman's family tree. (Photo by Roy Blakey)

50s: I was offered a position to teach at Cal Arts in 1997 – which I did for 3 years, followed by six years at Cal State Long Beach. During that time I was still performing Charles Weidman’s ON MY MOTHER’S SIDE (1939), along with other choreographies. Then something quite unexpected happened – I flew to Tucson for the opening of the new Stevie Eller Dance Theater – and witnessed the most extraordinary tranformation since I left.  As "Dumb Luck" would have it – UA School of Dance had a vacant position, and so I returned to Tucson and the University of Arizona School of Dance as Full-Professor in 2006.

 

Photo: Judy Miller

60s:  Just before turning 60, I was honored with recognition that came as a complete surprise – on both coasts -  West and East.  It almost made me sense my dance life was over – like a memorial or something: the 2003 Lester Horton Dance Educator Award for excellence in teaching, and the 2007 American Dance Festival Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching.  Soon after that I was asked by a stranger sitting next to me on a plane: “What do you do?”.  I answered, “I’m a teacher."  I had never said that before – always said I was a dancer, or a choreographer – but never said first and foremost that I was a "teacher."

Clocking in now, at this writing, @ 66 – I just received a letter from Social Security that clearly states “You have reached your full retirement age." Yet, I don’t feel it – feel like "retiring."  It’s all so abstract – and relative to the moment.

On luck: When I performed on a program at the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana for Beverly Blossom’s retirement concert – Beverly gave me a framed needlepoint that had been hanging in her office over the years.  It said:

ALL THE PLANNING IN THE WORLD CAN’T BEAT DUMB LUCK

Setbacks: It’s not what’s done to you – it’s what you do with what’s done to you.  Nothing has ever stopped me from doing what I love.

What are you exploring in your artistic work over the next year?

For the first time, I’m interested in re-visiting an older work, YOU, AGAIN, which I originally created for twin women in China in 1988.  I remember the twins were so identical – they made the same mistakes – and the mistakes looked right!!  I want to de-construct this duet, and restage it for a large cast of men – changing the gender, but not the music.  The actual meaning of "You, Again" refers to an etude by Chopin that will be repeated twice.  The question being – will the audience recognize that as the movement evolves – the music simply recycles.

Current inspiration and curiosities?

I’m interested in making a new dance that investigates the word "wrong."  I have an erasure designed by artist John Baldessari (who taught art at Cal Arts back in the 1970s) that has the word WRONG printed on it.  What is "wrong?"  Perhaps the music is too loud, or the lights too dim – or the dancers are doing the "wrong" steps or facing the "wrong" direction?  The objective is not to confuse the audience, but to let them "in" on the process.  I did a dance once during intermission, and a woman came up to me and asked, “Are we suppose to watch?”  Well, if you have to ask????

Last performance you saw that really inspired you?

One particular performance that has stuck with me was in Copenhagen at a dance festival.  A man and woman performed stark naked.  It wasn’t at all about sex – rather vulnerability and truth.  It wasn’t just the nakedness that keeps it fresh in my mind – but the context of the performance.  There was speaking, and humor, and it was completely uncorrupted.

Can you talk about your passion for photography, visual art, theater, and travel?

Well, that’s a lot to talk about.  I collect fine art photography.  The Center for Creative Photography in Tucson will be exhibiting part of my collection in their galleries: August 9, 2014 – January 4, 2015.  There isn’t a single photograph about dance – but I see each photograph as a performance – something to look at, to think about, to remember.  I expect my students will be surprised by this exhibition, as they do not know this side of me.  I’m planning to have dance presented in the CCP galleries throughout the semester – in relationship to what’s hanging on the walls.  Images by Diane Arbus, John Baldessari, Nancy Burson, Jo Ann Callis, Jimmy DeSana, Nan Goldin, Philippe Halsman, Duane Michals, Bruce Nauman, Catherine Opie, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, and Joel Peter-Witkin will be represented.

Travel is the most important means of expanding the mind.  Experience other cultures. Get LOST.  I love to get lost in a foreign city, and find my way out through multiple accidental discoveries.

See theater – not just dance.  Watch how the actors move.  So often the most meaningful moment in a play can be non-verbal.

The value of non-dance interests in our lives:

It’s funny, but almost everything I see and do is dance related – and I don’t mean that it is necessarily about dance.

Indirectly – so much of life can be interpreted through movement.  When I read about an artist, like Bruce Nauman, who says, “Every time I start something, I start differently," I can say the same thing about choreography.

I know what you mean when you say "non-dance" – and without being too existential about it -  maybe everything IS a dance: eating, sleeping, reading, living.

Advice to young dancers about teaching, learning how to teach, and the role teaching will play in their dance careers.

For my final exam in technique class – I ask my students to re-teach something I gave in class during the semester.  They can sign up in advance – so they’re prepared.  As I watch them give a movement to the class – I see learning.  I also abide by the motto: I KNOW SOMETHING, AND SO DO YOU.  Education has been too much filtered by I KNOW SOMETHING, AND YOU DON’T.  I learn as much from the students, as they hopefully learn from me.  It is a two-way street, and often you don’t realize what you know until you actually teach it to someone else.

Can you talk about your time at ADF? What is special and magical about this festival? Advice to dancers about making a connection during undergrad or in their early 20s at ADF.

The American Dance Festival is a unique opportunity for young dancers to experience dance on many levels. Over a period of six-weeks – they can see 12 professional companies perform (2 per week), and, at the same time – take class from some of the top teachers from all points of view.  I taught at ADF over a period of 25 years.  When I run into former students, they tell me how much they treasure their time at ADF.  They meet other dancers, and like my own experience at CSULB summer dance in the ‘70s – they might connect with a choreographer, and find a way to becoming a professional.

One piece of financial advice you would pass onto young dancers and choreographers:

Oh, I’m not sure I’m the one to give advice like this.  I’ve always said, "Put ALL your eggs in one basket" – if you want to do something – put your entire self into it.

Now, these days, that might not make sense, but I started dance late, after college, and I knew if I was going to be serious about this career in dance, I had to say it’s ALL OR NOTHING.  The risk factor is a gamble for sure.  But don’t see the end, before it begins. Take one step at a time.

In terms of money – the NEA is not what it used to be for supporting the arts.  Private funding seems to be the way to go – with a "kickstart" initiative on the internet – or personal benefactors.  You have to be creative in the way you raise money.  I always say the world thinks it can get along very well without you – and it is your job to show them otherwise.

Three statements for young choreographers to consider:

Don’t try to please an audience. 

Do what you believe.

Try not to repeat yourself.

What are the skills that a modern dancer needs in 2014?

 Take classes in all genres: ballet, modern/contemporary, jazz, hula, tap.

Final advice to young dancers:

Be OPEN. There is NO ONE WAY to do anything.

 "You have your way

I have mine.

As for the right way,
and the only way,
it does not exist."

- FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

What I enjoy most is seeing my students find their own voice – and I can say to them “IT’S YOUR TURN."

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Comments

[Richard Holden]

How interesting your profile. I met Charles Weidman once on one of his tours; I think it was in Williamsburg, Virginia when I was a kid dancing in a summer pageant there. He did dance 'On My Mother's Side' which I recall vividly. Did he teach it to you himself?
I thought I knew you from Harkness House when I worked there 1970-1974 and 1980-82 but apparently not as you didn't mention HH.
Are you still with UofA Dance Dept.?
Richard Holden

[JSoares]

What a wonderful synopsis on a life in dance!
Thanks for sharing! XXJanet Soares

[todd courage]

Hello Doug!
Great reading this!
I sure enjoyed your classes in June at St. Mary's.
Hope you come back.
Todd Courage
P.S. your legs sure are straight! wow!