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.