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Stewart/Owen Dance Company will perform as part of the American Dance Festival’s (ADF) Made In North Carolina event, sharing the world premiere of their ADF-commissioned work, The Front. As they explained to Picture This Post (PTP), Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart --Stewart/Owen Dance (S/O Dance) -- didn’t move to Western North Carolina with the intent to build the dance community, but that did come to be one of their missions. Read more below—
(PTP) -How does your creative process unfold?
(S/O Dance) Often, starting a new dance work is like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Our creative process starts with the flicker of an idea, story, or image, and only when that flicker begins to consume our thoughts and conversations, when it becomes unavoidable, do we know we need to create.
We have found that the concept serves as the bridge between our individual ideas throughout the creative process. It serves as a filter, or litmus test, for deciding what belongs to the world we build together. Once we’ve agreed on an idea, we search everywhere for related ideas to assemble a sort of reference book. That serves as a guide for the movement material which becomes the “language” of our world.
When the full team of dancers joins us, we share our vision and movement language with them, and then–we play!
We lean on the dancers during this step of the process with one goal: to get lost in the weeds. This is our favorite part. Digging our way out of the weeds requires the diligent answering of the question, “What makes sense for the world we are building together?” The piece takes shape when we identify moments of tension and release and, to the best of our ability, refine the details to be as potent as possible.
How have your initial interests in dance evolved to land you with the mission of promoting dance in Western North Carolina?
We both started dancing as young children, though we each had very eclectic artistic interests that kept us from getting too serious about any one subject until pursuing dance degrees in college. We met at Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company in 2011 and connected on a shared passion for the craft of dance and a love for many other art forms. That spark led us quite literally all over the world.
In 2017, we came to Western NC with no intention of starting a dance company. We moved to be near family, heal from injury, freelance as dancers, and practice choreographing. When we discovered how hard it was for freelancers to live and work in our region without a place to train and find community, we felt called to facilitate opportunities for dancers in WNC. Consequently, Stewart/Owen Dance came into existence. Since then, we have been incredibly fortunate to receive the support of our community in inconceivable ways, including an ongoing residence at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts of Asheville, where we perform each year, lead community classes, and host an annual summer intensive, DELVE.
-How do you feel dance can be superior in story telling?
Neither of us feels that we can articulate clearly or honestly with words alone, and this is likely why we’ve chosen a life in dance. Dance has the ability to communicate truths in one instant that might take one a lifetime to explain another way.
During our years teaching and performing abroad, we saw how dance can connect people across backgrounds and experiences and began to grasp the old saying that dance is universal.
This newly commissioned work, The Front, feels almost impossible for us to describe with words (which is why we made a dance about it), but we will try! It comes from the feeling of putting on a “mask” to become what you believe is being asked of you, and confronting that. It’s also the realization that sometimes wearing that mask is a safety blanket and can help you come closer to who you want to become.
For more information, visit the Stewart/Owen Dance website.
Learn more about the Made in North Carolina world premieres and to purchase tickets, visit the American Dance Festival website.
All images courtesy of Stewart/Owen Dance.
