Compagnie Jant-Bi: Waxton

Last weekend, there was a terrific dance group called Compagnie Jant-Bi from Senegal who put on a one-night only show on Saturday through Alverno Presents. I was absolutely blown away by their performance of Waxton. The fierceness of the dancers was remarkable. They were so physically active throughout the dance and made me feel out of breath just watching. It reminded me a lot of going to see fireworks because the dancers would have moments of huge, fast, explosive movement along with moments of condensed, still, stable activity.

Picture Taken from Jant-Bi website

If you missed this dynamic company perform live, you have to check them out on the website linked above, and watch their clips on youtube. They are a real treat for anybody of any background. I found them irresistibly provoking and entertaining along with meaningful and witty.

Interview with Deborah Farris, Executive Director of Danceworks

The other day I had the chance to interview Deborah Farris, the Executive Director of Danceworks. As a college student, I was introduced to Danceworks through a jazz dance class that I took as a General Elective Requirement. It reminded me of how much love I had for dance when I was younger, and I decided to try to continue actively studying dance. I have taken many classes at Danceworks through UWM and on my own during the summer programs. One class I had as an early college student was a ballet course taught by Deborah Farris. It was rough! I remember being very challenged in the class as Farris helped me work through the basics of ballet.

Image found on the Danceworks Facebook Page

Now near the end of my Undergrad degree, I have taken the opportunity to sit with Deborah Farris and interview her one on one. She has some remarkable stories! Not only does she dance and have some great management skills; she also has talent in fields of visual art, theater, and singing. She told me that it was hard to find a niche because she had so many interests. Thankfully, UWM had an inter arts program to put all her interests to use where she earned her undergrad degree. Many of her interests are visible in Danceworks as a well rounded arts’ community. You can see these features throughout the building itself where Danceworks is located with artwork covering the walls and in the Dancworks Performance Company (DPC) shows that often collaborate with artists in other fields.

If you haven’t seen DPC in action, it is made up of hardworking individuals who are talented professional people. Farris attributes the growth of the company to the efforts of the entire staff at Danceworks who she says, “uniquely serve the purpose of performing, training, and getting people in the community motivated about moving”. She went further to mention that they each are a part of the core of Danceworks, and factor into all the great work Danceworks does for the community. From children to elders who sometimes have little or no resources, Danceworks integrates all art forms throughout Milwaukee to support the community. It wasn’t always easy, Farris told me. She said she had to learn a lot about grant writing.  In today’s economy, the pressure is always on to be able to support the arts financially.

Farris does an amazing job of managing the books of this growing organization, and it is not the first time for her either. Even though Farris never went to school for business, she learned through experience. Helping manage the books for a modeling agency when she was seventeen, she gained knowledge for numbers and organization. With her voice, she started performing at the Skylight Theatre and moved to New York where she performed Off and Off-Off Broadway and got sucked into the dance scene. She did even more traveling all over the U.S.; performing with companies until she settled into Chapel Hill, North Carolina and had a son. In North Carolina, Farris continued to be inspired by the arts in the area, but she also began book keeping for the Botanical Gardens which is a place she grew into with a business and finance management position. A new marriage brought her back to Wisconsin where she pursued her masters degree at UWM, and she became apart of the dance community in Milwaukee. When she started as Executive Director, it had its challenges such as building revenue streams, focusing the mission, developing the board, and coming down with pneumonia. In a vulnerable state, Danceworks pulled through, and Farris works hard to see that happen.

Farris is an incredibly versatile individual with a great group of people working with her at Danceworks. I have lots of faith that she will continue to be an asset in the dance/art community here in Milwaukee, and I marvel at the work she has done already. I know this company well as I have gone to many shows and taken classes with a few of their instructors, and have benefited from Danceworks being a strong entity in Milwaukee. It is a place where I began my study of dance, and I am very thankful to those who helped encourage me. Under the direction of Deborah Farris along with the help of the rest of the Danceworks staff, I hope to see dance and art continue to grow here in Milwaukee.

A huge thank you to Deborah Farris for being willing to take a moment to talk with me, I have a greater understanding of how it can be challenging to find a voice when there are so many interesting wonders in the world, and how integrating partnerships can make it possible to explore many fields of thought and study.

If you are interested in learning more about Danceworks or Deborah Farris, click the highlighted links above.

Dance Therapy with Emily Van Nelson

On Monday, I had the privilege to listen to a lecture by Emily Van Nelson who previously graduated from UWM in 2004 with a Dance BA. Then she continued her education at Columbia College where she earned her masters degree in dance therapy. She now works in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin at Rodgers Memorial Hospital as a dance therapist who helps a wide range of people.

For those who have never heard of dance therapy, it is the "psycho therapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration of individuals" as defined by the American Dance Therapy Association.

One of my confusions about dance therapy was the differences between a dance therapist and a physical therapist. Within the lecture, Emily cleared up for me the fact that in physical therapy they try to help fix body ailments due to physical injury where as in dance/movement therapy the focus is on the body and mind connection to help patients dealing with mental health disorders and addictions along with a number of other issues.

I have always had in the back of my mind an interest for dance therapy. A lot of my work with people in the community is geared in a very similar fashion. My goal for all of my programs with Pilgrimage Dance is to help people build their self esteem. Dance can be very challenging for people to participate in because of their own self doubts, but it can be a great physical, mental, and emotional change that can be very rewarding.

The reason why I couldn't call my work dance therapy is because I don't have research and science to back up what I do. All I know is what I observe that works and doesn't work for me, and how it can apply to helping other people feel more comfortable in their own skin.

Picture taken from the ADTA website

In the lecture, Emily also discussed that one of the biggest challenges facing her in the field is explaining and validating her work. It is a growing field that has a lot of room to develop and catch on, but people have a hard time really understanding the full extent of the benefits from dance therapy without experiencing it first hand.

Maybe somewhere in the future, I will pursue dance therapy, and run with it. I am learning a lot of concepts about dance therapy also in my Laban Movement Analysis class which deals with how movement is connected to how a person is feeling or thinking.

If you are interested in learning more about dance therapy, please click on the links highlighted above.

Interview with Elizabeth Johnson - Artistic Director of Your Mother Dances

As I am a dancer and not a journalist, I am going to take some creative liberties, and I am not going to write as though I were writing up an interview for a magazine. I won’t be showing our dialogue, but I will be describing what I took away from the experience of sitting down with Elizabeth Johnson to discuss her performing company, Your Mother Dances.

First of all, if you have never heard of Your Mother Dances, it is an inappropriate and hilarious dance company that has performed in Milwaukee, WI along with the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Johnson told me that the company is everything that you’re not supposed to be. She described for me her final year as a graduate student, and how the idea came from mentors such as Sara Hook and Cynthia Oliver who influenced her approach to dance and to her identity.  Johnson mentioned that Cynthia Oliver was someone who pushed her to think about things in different ways, and influenced the way Johnson identified herself as someone inspired by African culture, pop culture, feminism, and motherhood. Sara Hook taught her extensively about Laban Movement Analysis, and further developed Johnson’s view on movement and the human body. The title of Your Mother Dances was coined from a company Sara Hook started called Sara Hook Dances. Also, Your Mother Dances was titled because of African cultural influences and pop culture. It’s a grammatically correct version of “yo mama” jokes which make fun and games out of embarrassing each others’ mothers. In my own observations of Your Mother Dances performances and Johnson’s choreography, I find that I can feel embarrassed sometimes watching the dancers and it makes me laugh at myself and feel connected to the work. The company showcases real, human vulnerabilities, and they can be challenging and riotous to watch because Johnson’s choreography often has really punchy movement with a lot of attitude.



Picture taken fromYour Mother Dances on Facebook



When Johnson first entered the Milwaukee community, she met some trouble having her work recognized so she brought it on herself to create her own dance company. With Your Mother Dances first show in Milwaukee, there was a huge turnout with a packed audience. As time has gone by since that first performance, the company has had more challenges with the economy and finding financial support. There are very few opportunities to receive grants for dance in Milwaukee, and most grants go to large nonprofit dance organizations. Johnson helped explain to me that nonprofit means that there is a committee board that has final say in decisions for the company, and there is always a possibility that the board might have different ideas from that of the artistic director. Nonprofit has strength in numbers, and can be a powerful attribute. It can also have too many voices blurring the concepts of the artist. Being successful in business economically while still being true to artistic aspirations is probably the largest challenge to face an artistic entrepreneur. Elizabeth Johnson has dug into her own pocket on many occasion to put together performances, and support is not always consistent for Your Mother Dances shows. The company has had some luck with fundraisers, but it takes time to prepare and get the word out. For a teacher, wife, and mother, Elizabeth Johnson has other important values that also demand her focus and time. She is an incredibly busy woman with some large responsibilities.

Business is taking a risk on a very uncertain future. In my opinion, it is very scary, and I understand why not everyone starts a business. Realistically, dance and art are even more frightening because its support is subjective on the openness of others. Personally, I have a large amount of faith invested in others; I think people have more in them than they know. Plus it is the scariest thought of all to think of a world void of dance.

I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to Elizabeth Johnson for letting me peek into her company and her life. She gave me some great points to think about, and it was worth it all to sit with someone so interesting. I have high hopes that Your Mother Dances will be around for years to come.