Angie Hauser photo by Julieta Cervantes
Hometown: Baton Rouge, LA
Current city: Florence, MA
Age: 42
Attended an arts high school? No, I started dancing when I was 16.
College and degree: University of South Carolina, BA in Art History
Graduate school and degree: Ohio State University, MFA Dance (age 25)
Websites: http://chrisaikenangiehauser.wordpress.com/ and http://bebemillercompany.org/
How you pay the bills: I am a Professor and Independent Artist
All of the dance hats you wear: I am a dance artist who makes and performs dance works. I do not have a manager for my independent work so my partner Chris Aiken and I do our administrative work, publicity, grant writing and booking.
Non-dance work you do: I am a parent, a partner, a daughter, a citizen and a human being.
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Describe your dance life in your….
20s : I was mostly studying. ADF in my early twenties. I moved to New York when I was 22 and studied dance at Movement Research, Dance Space (DNA), and other places. I went to graduate school in my late twenties and worked with great teachers at OSU. I also performed with a few companies and independent artists in New York (Elizabeth Streb/Ringside, Poppo Shirashi, and others).
Angie Hauser and Darrell Jones in Bebe Miller Company's A History; photo by Julieta Cervantes
30s: I returned to NYC from graduate school when I was 29. I was much more grounded after graduate school. I began doing serious teaching residencies in colleges and universities. My two long term collaborations began in my thirties. I got my dream job dancing with Bebe Miller Company when I was 30 and I have been doing it ever since. I also met and fell in love with Chris Aiken as a person and an artist. We began creating dance works together in 2004. My teaching became an important part of my dance research and training. I established myself not only as a dancer and dancemaker but also as an improviser.
I had a baby and kept dancing (not easy but doable).
40s: I moved to Northampton, MA to teach at Smith College. I continue to dance with Bebe Miller Company, Chris Aiken and other collaborators.
Major influences:
My biggest influences are my collaborators. A few key collaborators are Bebe Miller, Chris Aiken, Darrell Jones, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Lisa Gonzales, Talvin Wilks, Ain Gordon and musician Mike Vargas.
I have also been influenced by the many talented and inspiring teachers I have worked with. A few of my influential teachers include: Tere O’Connor, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Karen Eliot, Nancy Stark Smith, Vickie Blaine, Jackie Vilamil and Donald McKayle.
And finally there is an endless list of artists (dance and other) who I am inspired by: Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, Simone Forti, Steve Paxton, William Forsythe, and Susan Rethorst. Many other artists in different disciplines (a few that keep showing up for me): Joseph Cornell, Marcel Duchamp, Anne Whiston Spirn, Billy Collins, Sally Mann, and Dorothea Lange.
Mentors/someone who believed in you:
I have had so many special people who have supported me. Karen Bell, Vickie Blaine and Bebe Miller are a trio that have influenced me, counseled me, taught me, and believed in me for quite a while now.
My mother, Trish Arnold, has been my aesthetic mentor my whole life, pointing out the world around me and the endless ways of seeing it.
How did you land your gigs with Bebe Miller, Liz Lerman, KJ Holmes, and Elizabeth Streb (auditions, workshops, seen in class, grad school)?
Most of the projects I have worked on have emerged from relationships. I have met people through classes and other projects. When there is a shared curiosity and compatible personalities, projects have emerged. That is not to say that I have never auditioned; it is just that I have usually already forged a relationship by the time I am in the audition. I went to plenty of cold auditions in NY when I was in my early twenties but I never felt like I had enough information about the choreographer/company.
Current passions:
I am excited about place, abstraction, detail, and coaching dancers. I feel myself drawn to creating meticulously crafted and repeatable choreographies and then teaching the dancers how to improvise inside the tight frame.
Setbacks:
I think the biggest setback in the field is when we feel overwhelmed by how hard it is to be an artist in this country. In between major projects, there is always a gap that makes me feel scared that I will never work on a meaningful project again. The terrain in America for dance artists is so uncertain that it takes a lot of strength to keep going. Any time I let the uncertainty take over it is a setback.
I have had times when the pressures of money, competition, gender biases, and lack of work have made me feel hopeless. But these times don’t last long. I prefer working to feeling lousy, so I pull it together and keep going.
Angie Hauser and Chris Aiken photo by Jim Coleman
What are you and Chris exploring these days in your work?
Choreographically: Duration and the shape of attention.
Teaching: We are working to create a training program here in Western Mass for professionals (and pre-professionals) who want to deepen their skills and understanding of the relationship between choreography, improvisation and performance.
Future career goals:
I want to keep working with interesting collaborators new and old. I want to keep dancing and performing. I want to continue to experiment with ideas and work that is new to me.
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