Hometown: Tuckerton, NJ
Current city: Oakland, CA
Age: 37
College and degree: BA in Psychology from Goucher College
Graduate school and degree: MFA in Performance and Choreography from Mills College; I was age 23-24
Website: ahdanco.org
How you pay the bills: Administrative Director and dance teacher at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center; web and graphic design through my company ABHODE
All of the dance hats you wear: Dancer, choreographer, teacher, arts administrator, artistic director, graphic designer, web designer
Non-dance work you have done in the past: Waitressing, retail, office administration
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Describe your dance life in your….
20s –
Learning how to dance: college, grad school, taking classes outside of school from teachers who inspired me, and watching other dancers.
Learning how to run a dance company: I just jumped in and started swimming…madly.
Making connections with other dancers/choreographers/teachers: trying to put myself out into the dance community as much as possible, seeing a ton of dance, applying for a ton of jobs.
Beginning to teach: at Shawl-Anderson, Santa Clara University, Berkeley High, College Prep High School, and private studios.
Worrying about being a “successful” artist: stressing about how I wasn’t making it or being recognized for my work and therefore not really an artist; feeling like my time to dance and make a name for myself was running out (OMG, I’m almost 30!); comparing myself to my peers in terms of failure and success. Basically doing all the things the majority of artists do in their 20s.
30s –
Redefining my idea of, and therefore finally becoming in my own eyes, a “successful” artist. Understanding that...
A. I’m not making the work in order to be recognized; this is too hard a field to stay in if that is the only goal. I’m making work that is coming out of me because it has nowhere else to go, work that I enjoy watching, work that I haven’t seen yet, work that is reminiscent of something that has inspired me…
and,
B. I am making work that is reognized, recognized by the dancers who love doing it and have continued to do it for years; recognized by my small, supportive audience who comes to see it over and over; recognized by me as something that feeds me and I absolutely love. I can finally look at peers, as well as younger upcoming artists, as people to be inspired by and learn from instead of people I am competing against. This has opened up my sense of creation and artistry immensely.
Understanding how many decades of dancing and dance making are still ahead of me (OMG, 30 is so young!). Realizing that the type of dance I like doing and seeing requires experience, life experience. I may be impressed by a young dancer’s technical ability to execute moves, but the nuance, control, total body awareness and expression that is present in a body that has been through some shit, well, that is what is viscerally moving to me.
Teaching, teaching, teaching - developing and reshaping my movement voice and learning how to communicate it to others, being inspired by the numerous amounts of bodies and levels who are dancing my phrases, giving new information to dancers…taking on more jobs than I could sometimes stand.
As a choreographer, when did you know it was time to take the leap and form a company?
It was a week out of grad school. It was what I have always wanted to do, and there was never a question of it happening, so I just started as soon as possible. Found some willing dancers (both friends and strangers from an audition) and made a little group.
What do you look for in a dancer? How do you find your dancers?
I like grounded and soupy movers but I don’t necessarily look for anything specific, just someone who inspires me – who can take my movement and enhance its quality by bringing something of themselves to it. I work with dancers of different ages, backgrounds, sizes, styles of moving, experiences, injuries and abilities - placing the variety side by side to create a picture of what reality looks like versus similar looking dancers performing as cookie cutters of myself. I like variety.
Early on, I found dancers by taking class with them and through auditions. Now I find dancers through my classes – getting to see someone dance every week allows for a more holistic awareness of that person.
Resources and resourcefulness being a choreographer….how do you stretch dollars, prioritize, and budget?
I use dancers (and musicians) who want to work me because they get something from my process. They are of the utmost importance to my creations and often I can only pay them with respect and gratitude; therefore, it is essential for me that I am creating something FOR them and not just for myself. (I do provide the dancers and musicians with a small monetary stipend whenever I can at the end of a production.)
With production budgeting, I prioritize the dance (rehearsal space and venue); marketing, costumes, sets, lights, front of house come later on the list. I ask for help from friends (I think always somehow rope my parents into doing box office). I tend to be a very organized production director, knowing the ins and outs of all the production work so that I don’t necessarily need to hire stage managers, lighting designers, etc. I ask the dancers for help by choreographing into the production all things stage management.
Can you talk about your design work – graphic design and web design. Do you have formal training? When did you begin doing this work? How much design work do you do right now?
No formal training, although I would love some eventually. Basically I had to market/publicize my company with no money so I taught myself Photoshop and web coding with some help from friends. I really enjoyed doing that work, and slowly colleagues began asking me to help with their postcards and websites. I would like to say I do it intermittently now, but it does seem like I always have something lined up through my design company, ABHODE. Also, part of my Shawl-Anderson administrative job is to produce all of the design and marketing materials. I like that it taps into a different part of my creative brain.
Describe a typical work week these days – including rehearsals, teaching, arts administration at Shawl-Anderson, design work……
- 30hrs administration at SADC
- 3hrs teaching
- 5hrs ahdanco rehearsals
- 2-5hrs ahdanco administration
- 5-10hrs design work
- 3hrs in rehearsal for Rogelio Lopez
- 3hrs taking class (at least)
- 6hrs (only a few weeks a year) choreographing at College Prep High School
What’s on your plate for 2015?
My company, ahdanco, is continuing its 2014/2015 season, with two more free public “Pop-uP” performances somewhere in Oakland and a spring show in SF, premiering a new work titled REVIVE.RESURGE.REMAIN. I’m also toying with the idea of a repertory show in the fall.
Last performance you saw that really inspired you:
Batsheva Dance Company, and this guy. Seriously, I can’t stop watching him, and it reminds me to put some humor into my work.
Non-dance activities important to you:
Reading, resting outside, being with friends, and looking at visual art.
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