Hometown: Nashville, TN
Current city: Nashville, TN
Age: 34
College and degree: Julliard, BFA in Dance, 2002
Website: www.newdialect.org
How you pay the bills: Commissioned choreographer, dancer, instructor, Artistic Director of New Dialect
All of the dance hats you wear: Dancer, choreographer, Artistic Director, teacher, bookkeeper, program coordinator, mentor, development/fundraising, event planner, production manager
Non-dance work you have done in the past: Waitress, barista, nanny, bookkeeper, administrative assistant
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Emin Eden Frangipane photographer, courtesy of New Dialect
Describe your dance life….
The first 2 years after college: I began dancing with Hubbard Street 2 three days after graduating from Juilliard, where I had the opportunity to participate in numerous educational outreach performances and connect with emerging (at the time) choreographers in the field like Aszure Barton and Alex Ketley, through HSDC’s International Choreographic Competition. I needed variety early on in my career, and working with a strong contemporary repertory company gave me that. During my second season with HS2, Aszure won the choreographic competition, and I fell in love with her creative process (which is what compelled me to return to New York a year and a half after moving to Chicago). I returned to New York and began freelancing with Aszure’s bourgeoning company, as well as Buglisi/Foreman Dance (now Buglisi Dance Theatre) and Lar Lubovitch. I was fortunate to have so much work as a freelancing dancer, but after a two years, I was craving the stability of a full-time company contract and set my sights on working in Europe.
5 years after college: After two trips to Stockholm for a private audition and cattle call for the Cullberg Ballet, Johan Inger offered me a contract. I danced with the Cullberg Ballet, and the myriad of remarkable dancers and choreographers collaborating with the company at the time, for two and a half seasons. The long winters and lack of sunlight were challenging for me to adapt to, and while I loved traveling throughout Europe to perform, I felt I needed to be in a climate that worked better for my brain chemistry. I moved to Paris and began teaching (researching teaching, really). I reconnected with Aszure, who flew me back and forth from my new home base for 3 years, so that I could participate in a number of interesting projects with her. At that time I was also working with Rumpus Room Dance, a collective formed by two dear friends of mine, fellow Juilliard graduates, Rachel Tess and Stephan Laks. Together we created and danced in two installations in Portland, Oregon (easily some of the best times I’ve ever had in my career as a dancer) and were nominated for Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch.
10 years after college: After years of traveling and putting my career in dance above all things in my life, I decided to make my hometown, Nashville, my home base. (It should be noted that from the time I left, moving back home was something I NEVER thought I would do!) The slower pace here allowed me time to digest and integrate the experiences I had had in a way that I couldn’t have otherwise. Touring as a dancer can feel like being strapped in a high speed train at times. Stepping back from my career as I’d known it helped me to see that I was, in fact, the conductor of this train, so to speak, and not the passenger I’d previously believed myself to be. I began teaching and mentoring more and choreographing. It was during this shift in my focus that I became aware, after years of chasing my own dreams and ambitions, it was my time to give back.
Now: I am the Artistic Director of a nonprofit dance company and training program. I teach, create, manage a company of dancers, handle our bookkeeping and accounting with the help of my business advisor, produce performances, curate New Dialect’s community class programming and intensives that take place throughout the year, and from time to time, I leave to create works on other companies, teach master classes, and participate in residencies and choreographic competitions. All of this I do with the support and help of my husband, Kevin Bouldin, who is New Dialect’s Marketing and Development Director (and the best thing that ever happened to me).
Fight/Flight Zachary Gray photographer, courtesy of OZ Arts Nashville
Major influences:
Every teacher, student, and choreographer whose movement language has passed through my body has had an impact on my person, how I teach what I teach, and the resources available to me as I research my own choreographic language. The list is a mile long, but a few specific examples include Benjamin Harkarvy, Stephen Pier, and Alexandra Wells, who were and are still incredible mentors. I’m also inspired by the creative processes of Aszure Barton, Ayman Harper, Alex Ketley, Lar Lubovitch, Trisha Brown, and many others (there are such marvelous tools to be explored inside how these artists make the dances they make). I love the works of established choreographers like James Thierree, Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, Crystal Pite, and the late Pina Bausch, and am excited about emerging choreographers like Yin Yue, Bryan Arias, Peter Chu, LoudHound, Belinda McGuire… The list goes on. Fernando Melo is also mindblowing. The short of it is that I love this art form and see beauty in so many of the different voices that exist to propel it into the future.
What is on your calendar for 2016 (teaching, choreographing, performing)? Is New Dialect touring?
January- I begin creating a new work for Nashville Ballet’s Attitude series and New Dialect’s community classes resume.
February-April- Premier of my new work for Nashville Ballet, and New Dialect resumes rehearsals for a new program called Souvenirs at OZ Arts Nashville in April 2016. The program features new works by me, Bryan Arias, Peter Chu, and Ana Maria Lucaciu, and original music by Mikael Karlsson, Lev LJOVA Zhurbin, and Djeff Houle. The entire program has original music, and I am very proud of this!
May- New Dialect hosts a Spring Intensive with the founder of TOES, David Norsworthy, and a Countertechnique workshop and choreographic residency with guest artist, Joy Davis.
June- New Dialect hosts its second Summer Intensive.
July- I head to San Francisco to dance in a project with some good friends (and hopefully get in a little vacation time).
August- New Dialect resumes rehearsals for a site-specific installation I’m creating, that we’ll be performing in Nashville in September.
September-October- Installation performances and two choreographic residencies that I’m really excited about, one of which is with Yin Yue.
November- We’re aiming to produce a performance in Nashville of new and existing works in our repertory mid month.
December- I head to Salt Lake City to create a new work.
Touring and a collaboration with Helen Simoneau is on the books for New Dialect in the Winter/Spring 2017.
Current training practices and care of the body:
I do my best to attend as many of New Dialect’s morning community classes as possible. Somatic practices like Feldenkrais, Gaga, Bartenieff, and Skinner Release (practices focused on mind-body centering and that promote awareness) keep me in shape and connected to my body. I also love Countertechnique, which uses Alexander technique as a launching point for large, sweeping movements - falling and flying.
I see a structural integrationist, acupuncturist, and physical therapist when I need.
I also became a vegetarian about 8 months ago and haven’t looked back since. My body feels better when I’m not eating meat.
Teaching. What do you love about teaching? What challenges you? Role models and inspiration for your teaching practice and pedagogy….
A few months ago, I decided to step back from teaching to investigate more deeply what distinguishes my teaching process from my choreographic process. I find it’s the sharing and empowering of dancers to teach themselves by giving them tools, key insights, and a safe space to take big risks, that I love most. I’ve never been interested in the preservation of a particular technique (though I believe people who ARE passionate about this are very important to the field of dance), but rather how we can come to know our bodies in such a deep way that we are liberated to make choices, connect, create, and interpret new territory with courage. Seeing dancers take hold of their artistry in this way is by far the most rewarding aspect of teaching for me. I find that growth can only come if a dancer desires it for himself or herself. If the desire is there, then I can step in to help lead the way. My greatest challenge is recognizing when the desire is not there and helping a dancer to navigate this terrain by taking a deeper look at herself. I would give the desire away if I could, but that is not in my power as a teacher.
Do you use the term “modern dance” or “contemporary dance” to describe your work?
To me “modern” and “contemporary” signify time periods in dance that represent different aesthetic priorities, approaches, compositional tools, and end games. I would say that I’m informed by the choreographic rule games of post-modernism, the geometry and emotional narrative found in many modern dances, but that overall my desire is to move deeper into my own research and explore what lies beyond these influences (by moving through them). I’m interested in the evolution of our art form, of my creative process, and my movement language, and I believe these characteristics align me more with the ideology of contemporary dance.
What was the inspiration for you to start your own company?
Growing up in Nashville, there was nowhere for me to get the kind of education I needed to pursue a career as a professional contemporary dancer; from the time I decided that was what I wanted for myself (I was 15) I knew I had to leave. I have had numerous opportunities in my career to connect with incredible makers and dancers in my field and wanted to share those artists with Nashville; I wanted to build a resource for dancers, teachers, and makers that would allow artists to gain access to the kind of training and contemporary dance career available in other cities around the world. In 2013, I formed New Dialect - not because I wanted to have a company that performs my work, but because I wanted to create an organization that would allow many artists to come together to deepen their research and advance our art form. I make work as part of that, but that’s not the sole purpose.
Atlas Kid (in rehearsal at Metro Parks), Kevin Bouldin photographer
How do you find dancers? What do you look for in a dancer?
The dancers I am working with currently are dancers that I have previously worked with on projects outside of New Dialect and dancers who have attended any number of our intensives and classes. I’m not interested in one particular aesthetic or “type” of dancer. What I’m looking for is difficult to see in an audition, which is why I don’t look for new dancers this way. I’m interested in the choices they make, their ability to work with prompts to generate material, their personality and ability to connect with other dancers in the room, their personalities. I’m interested in curating a diverse group of artists who possess different influences, believing that when we come together united in purpose we are able to create something we could not make without each other. This is where the name New Dialect comes from.
What does collaboration mean to you in your artmaking?
Since New Dialect’s first season, I have sought to collaborate with dancers, choreographers, fashion designers, composers, architects, and visual artists in the curation of our performances and the development of new works. We also collaborate with local organizations devoted to advocating and placemaking for artists in a variety of mediums. My love for contemporary dance and belief in the importance of community building are the foundation of both New Dialect’s business model, our outreach and performance programming, and my work as a choreographer. I believe a community of diverse viewpoints and voices united in purpose is greater than one. And, I see this in the creative process I facilitate to develop new movement vocabulary with dancers, in the moving tableaus of bodies that are becoming emblematic of my work, in the themes I explore, and in the stimulating round table discussions I regularly have with artists from Nashville and all over the world.
Fight/Flight, Zachary Gray photographer, courtesy of OZ Arts Nashville
Last show you saw that inspired you:
I wept when I saw James Thierree’s La Viellee des Abysses. That was years ago, but it’s still the first show that comes to mind when I’m asked that question. There are so many others. Belinda McGuire’s performance of Anthem for the Living. Roy Assaff’s Boys at Springboard Danse Montreal last summer.
Dreams and goals for the next 5 years:
My dreams and goals are for New Dialect - I’d love for us to expand our class programming and intensives, continue to host 4 choreographic residencies a season, increase the number of performances we offer in Nashville and incorporate touring, expand our team to include an Executive Director, increase the number of weeks the dancers are working and their pay. One day I’d like for us to have our own home.
I’ll keep making work and doing everything I can to be a resource for dancers and choreographers until I can’t breathe anymore.
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