Olivia Owen talks about learning from a legend

Every summer, Skidmore College hosts a three-week summer dance residency in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts. Over the past two decades, the program has brought to campus such outstanding choreographers and companies as Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, Martha Graham, Trisha Brown, Ballet Hispanico, Ronald K. Brown\Evidence, and many others. While at Skidmore, the dance companies rehearse, create new work, present performances and other dance events, and teach an intensive dance workshop for preprofessional dancers from across the country.  
    This summer the troupe in residence was the internationally acclaimed Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and among its workshop students was Olivia Owen ’08, a double major in dance and women’s studies at Skidmore.  Owen, who has been dancing and studying ballet, tap, modern dance, and jazz since she was three, shares her recollections of what she learned about art and expressive movement from a living dance legend.


Q:  Why did you sign up for the Bill T. Jones workshop?

OWEN: I had heard about his works, like Uncle Tom's Cabin and others that were politically charged, and about how he likes to get under your skin and really make you think about what you are doing—not just in a dance composition, but in life.

Q: What did you learn?

OWEN: We learned about working together and how to incorporate seemingly unrelated ideas into a composition that sends a message to an audience and also has significance within the group.

In the first week, we were taught 108 Jones movement-vocabulary “shapes.” Some of them were gestures with one meaning, like the peace sign or the middle finger. Others could have many meanings, like arms crossed behind the head. We were asked to incorporate them into our projects [the original dance works students created for showing on the residency’s last day.]  We were also asked to use text—the first song we learned, our most humiliating experience, and/or our funniest story.

My group’s piece was about the bittersweet nature of chocolate. We exemplified its bitter and sweet elements through characters like the kid who can't get enough; the teenager who is worried about calories and acne; the lover who uses chocolate for pleasure; the ethical student who is conflicted about whether the chocolate is fair trade, organic, and/or shade grown; and someone at the end who bestows chocolate kisses upon every dancer on stage.


Q: What were your most meaningful experiences?

OWEN: One day in a composition class, Bill said to us, "I really expect more from your movement. Some of you...I just can't tell if you want to dance. I mean, why are you here?" At first this statement seemed harsh, but we realized that it was an important question.

I was there at the workshop to learn as much as I could about a new style and to challenge myself physically, to learn and apply Tai Chi, yoga, company technique classes, compositions, and discussions about dance pieces.

But even more so, I was there to learn about how a great choreographer thinks and processes information, because Bill T. Jones is a choreographer who shows audiences things they have never seen before and things that will make them think expansively about life themes like belief, nature, and community—whether they like what they see or not. As Bill said, "Anything an artist says is art, is art. Do we like it? That's another question. Is it good? That's another question."


Q: What will you take away from this experience?

Owen: Thoughts about the relationship between text and movement; how to make a costume for an unfinished piece; and how we as dancers can convey a specific message in a choreographed dance work without being pretentious, self-conscious, or stiff.

Also—various different ideas I gathered from discussions during the final week between Bill and David Gordon, who , like Bill, is an incredible choreographer who uses text and movement and visually appealing elements together. At one point David said, " I have to admit to myself that I like storytelling.” Later, Bill said, "I can't stand people without definition. They are bland." And "All political ideas exist in a context—dance is a materialization of this.”

Q: What about your life after Skidmore?

Owen: My big dream is to open a dance center that invites outside choreographers and teachers from around the world—people willing to collaborate to create a space where students and artists can work together. The center would be a community where a diverse array of socioeconomic backgrounds are represented by the students. Dance classes are expensive, but if enough engaged people come together to work, organize, and volunteer, I think there is potential for a unique dance space.

And I will continue to search for and find consequential and significant material that makes dance more than just movement vocabulary, beautiful bodies, and interesting design.