Dance Unscripted
Dance Unscripted brings together working artists, makers, and educators to explore creative research, pedagogical practices, dance-making, and more. It aims to break down barriers between audience and artist, educator and student, and professional and novice, creating a space for conversations that foster engagement, collaboration, and connection across diverse participants and fields.
This project is funded through a grant from the Lamar University Center for Resiliency.
Dance Unscripted
Ep 3: Navigating Dance Online with Liz Staruch
In this episode of Dance Unscripted, host Amy Elizabeth speaks with Liz Staruch, an interdisciplinary artist and educator, about the creation of the Dance Professors Online Group during the pandemic. They discuss the challenges faced by dance educators in transitioning to online teaching, the importance of community and resilience in the arts, and how the group has evolved to address broader cultural conversations. Liz shares insights on engaging audiences in performance and the role of technology in dance, emphasizing the need for adaptability and connection in the arts community.
Season One of Dance Unscripted is funded by a grant from the Lamar University Center for Resiliency.
Links for Liz:
Social Media: @dancemakerliz on Instagram
Website: https://www.lizstaruch.com/
Amy Elizabeth
Welcome to Dance Unscripted. I am your host, Amy Elizabeth. And on today's episode, we are here with Liz Staruch. Liz is an interdisciplinary artist, administrator, and educator working in dance, theater, music, and film. She holds an MFA in dance and choreography for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is currently faculty member in the Department of Theater and Dance at Westchester University.
She has served on the American College Dance Association Board from 2014 to 2024. And during that time, from 2016 to 2024, was the Mid-Atlantic North Regional Director. She also, most recently, established the Dance Professors Online Facebook Group as a response to the pandemic and shutdown.
Liz, welcome to Dance Unscripted. I'm thrilled to have you with us today.
Liz
Well, thank you so much. I'm thrilled to be here.
Amy Elizabeth
I have to admit that I selfishly wanted to meet the person who has provided an invaluable resource to me as an educator. I'm not kidding. I sought you out as soon as I knew what this project was because the formation of the dance professors online Facebook group has connected over 3000 educators in higher education. And as one of them, it provided me with support, encouragement, connection.
and unlimited resources from then until now that I otherwise would not have had access to. So I just want to say thank you for this brilliant idea and for maintaining it all of this time.
Liz
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Amy Elizabeth
Yeah. So can we start there in our conversation today? So can you walk me through the genesis of how the dance professors online group got started and why that was important at that time?
Liz
The idea popped into my head in seeing some of my other colleagues at Westchester University questioning how this was all going to work, right? Early March 2020, I think it was March 9th when things started shutting down and my university, at least in the Philadelphia metro area, was one of the first
to say we're going online for the rest of the semester. So as soon as we got that notification, I started to think about how do I transfer? I was teaching choreography at the time, a couple of technique classes. I may have had an improvisation course. I can't exactly remember what was assigned that semester.
But I started to think about that and then I pretty quickly had the idea of if I'm thinking about this, other people are thinking about this too, or they will be soon. I think at that time we weren't quite sure that everybody was going to be going online. It was such a moment to moment, day to day kind of switch.
Amy Elizabeth
Yes.
Liz
And it started, I texted a few of my colleagues both regionally and across the country. I have colleagues from my time at ACDA and
pitched the idea to them and they all said, sounds great. Do it. So I'd never started a group before. had never, I just did a little bit of research and, you know, started the group.
Amy Elizabeth
Yes, Yes.
Liz
and pretty quickly realized that I needed a couple of other parameters on it. I think within that first 24 hours, because it was a public group that anybody could find, was getting notifications left and right of people joining and...
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
Yeah, realized that it would probably be best served to be a private group, to limit it to just dance faculty. And then from there, it just took off.
It was me initially as the administrator and I think at the end of the first week I had a couple of folks I may have even posted and said if anybody was willing to help. And so again another ACDA colleague of mine, Lee Marshall in Virginia stepped up and said, yeah, hey, I'll help you out with this. So we were quite busy for the first little bit. Yeah, and then it's, yeah, I've just kept it going.
Amy Elizabeth
Yeah.
Yeah, so what were some of the posts or requests or thoughts or ideas that started flooding in that first week?
Liz
I think that first week was really more of just shock and awe. I think it was a lot of people just finding a place of going, okay, I'm not alone in this and posting a lot of those thoughts. Initially, it was a lot of technology questions. Everybody had to learn Zoom real quick. Everybody had to learn...
Amy Elizabeth
Yeah.
Liz
How do you transmit audio online if you're going to teach it without a delay, if you're going continue to teach technique courses?
Screen dance, dance for film. If you were teaching choreography or doing any kind of class that had a final project, dance concerts were being canceled left and right. So professors were trying to find ways, giving their students some kind of outlet to finish a course or a requirement.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
My heart goes out to those students who were in their senior semester and graduating in March of 2020. So those were a lot of the initial back and forths and because we are artists and educators, I think we picked up on things quickly and also utilized our resources and our best resources were one another.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
you know, if I didn't have the answer, if you didn't have the answer, somebody else was going to answer. And like I said before, the activity the first couple of weeks, even the first couple of months was unreal, unprecedented. I didn't think that this little idea would catch on that fast.
Amy Elizabeth
I latched on real quick. I mean, have my, you know, my friends and my colleagues here in the region that I can reach out to that I can ask questions to. And we were immediately in conversation with one another. I know to give the audience kind of a perspective, I was actually teaching modern dance technique and I had to keep teaching a movement class via video. But where, how, and I ended up
Liz
Yep.
Amy Elizabeth
removing everything from my guest bedroom and moving it into my garage. I, and it wasn't, it's not a very large room, but I had my laptop in one corner. That is what I would teach. And I had my iPad on the floor in the back so they could get a back view. And then I had my cell phone on another side so that they could get another view because a lot of it, the students were like,
Liz
Hmm.
Amy Elizabeth
I can't see what's happening from here down or when you turn around, I can't hear you and you know, various things like that and taking something that is of the moment and trying to capture it. Like it is designed to be ephemeral to dissolve, to go from one to the next. And we're trying to hold onto it with all of our might.
I mean, yes, bless the students that had to learn that way and had to evolve that way. But I specifically remember I was teaching improvisation during that time. And again, something of the moment in the now and you're gonna video it. We're take this very vulnerable thing that we normally work together as a community to develop and evolve. We're gonna do it solo and we're gonna record it.
And so I was racking my brain trying to find assignments to give them that would still hold on to the essence of the course. They could still get what they needed out of the course and that they could be successful at. And it was actually the group I went on. Help me, help me. And the community was so loving and kind. I've used this, I've used this, I use this book. It's got great examples.
Liz
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely.
Amy Elizabeth
and just the outpour of generosity and of sharing of information, of practices and the selflessness of it all. It was really incredible.
Liz
Yes.
Yes, yes.
that spirit of community, again, whether you were, you know, if you were in a specific region, I mean, we have, there are members in that group from the UK, from Canada, from Taiwan, from, mean, everybody was going through the same thing. But yes, the sharing of pedagogy was,
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Liz
and continues to be phenomenal. Five years in and there are still questions posted at least once a week about, hey, I'm about to do this for the first time this coming fall. I'm looking for a new text or ideas, things like that. Yes, the generosity is amazing. Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
It speaks to our community. It does.
Liz
I think it does too. And
I wanted to commend you too for doing the multi-camera, it sounds like three cameras running, right? Trying to convey that three dimensionality through the screen. I personally...
Amy Elizabeth
Yeah, trying.
Mm-hmm.
Liz
I can't remember what technique class it's all a blur. know I definitely transitioned my choreography class to doing short assignments.
on, you know, on for video. But that following fall when we were all still separated, yeah, I was teaching a tap class in my garage with, you know, a laptop and an iPad, two different locations, right? Upper body, lower body. And I was teaching a ballet class in my living room.
you know, trying to figure out how do I adapt this for the limited space that I know that everybody has. And the best part about that class was when students would submit their requested exercises and their pets would be in the videos. That was the best part, you know. So a lot of joy.
Amy Elizabeth
Pets,
yeah, pets or siblings. I got a couple where it's like, I hope you don't mind, my little sister's gonna join me today. And I was like, not at all, not at all.
Liz
Siblings.
No, not at all.
Let's all get through this together. I think as faculty, we were also concerned about our students' mental well-being and physical safety, right? But. yeah, you had to find the joy where you could. So siblings and pets, absolutely. Bonus points for them.
Amy Elizabeth
Yeah.
Yes.
So talking about a little bit more in depth about the pedagogical practices and how they shifted during this time. I mean, we've talked a little bit about the technique classes. Just a little bit more specific on maybe describing for the audience what it was like before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and then maybe how, what that transition was post once we were able to come back together.
Liz
Well, we are used to being in touch with one another. Even if we're not in physical touch with one another in a dance class or in a dance course, we are sharing space with one another. That energy from person to person, instructor to student, you feed off of that. So I think that was the biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to transition that through the screen.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
and the separation, how do you motivate, how do you adjust, how do you maintain connection with your body when you are in isolation? I personally went through that. It felt very different.
through I think the, I'm gonna say the year and a half or the, yeah, the year and a half of isolation, I think a lot of the faculty were trying to find ways of both keeping the rigor of their classes intact, knowing that, for example, technique classes had different levels, right? Beginner, intermediate, advanced.
keeping the rigor intact and how you do that through a video format and also trying to be conscious of attention spans and what do I want to say that there was a heaviness to both faculty and students. It wasn't about moving forward as if nothing was happening.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
absolutely not.
Liz
So it was that combination of course material, but also taking into account what are you capable of producing in a time that none of us have ever lived through before. So I think those were the two biggest shifts that I saw in conversation quite a bit on the boards.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I remember getting feedback from my students and then reflecting on the fact that they didn't feel as if they were progressing. They didn't feel, but it wasn't just in their technique. They could have progressed at a higher pace or a quicker pace if they would have been in the studio. So it may have been a little slower, but the lack of forward movement as a person.
Liz
Absolutely.
Amy Elizabeth
in life, everything, the pace of everything slowing down, they felt restricted, they felt held back, a heaviness as you mentioned. And so I, my heart really went out to them in the sense that they're in an educational environment where their whole purpose is to grow, is to engage, is to learn, is to usher themselves forward, whatever that means in whatever capacity, and for them to feel like they weren't capable of
doing that. That weighed really heavy on me as an instructor of how do you continue to encourage them through this knowing that none of us are actually taking that step forward.
Liz
Yeah,
very well said. And I also like the imagery of forward movement, right? That idea of progression. I personally, for myself, and then I tried to talk to my students about this, was limiting what your expectations for yourself are in a day, for a class period.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Liz
for a week if you can think that far ahead. If you can get one thing out of this class meeting, then that's a win. If you can connect with somebody through Zoom.
and have a conversation, even in my technique classes, I would always start with a check-in and then a final sort of, okay, faces in the screens, right? Because as we would step away and work on a combination or whatnot, you may not have been visible in your screen because you were moving. But I always made sure at the front end and the back end of classes, how are we doing?
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
anything that I need to know about, know, that sort of constant reassurance that it may not be what you thought it was, but you are still here and that's the win. Yeah. Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
the connection in the community.
So as we're talking, the world had come to a sudden halt and yet we are needing this forward motion and resilience can be defined as the ability to persevere, to keep going. So how did this particular group utilize resilience in the face of this global pandemic?
Liz
By our very nature, artists adapt at the drop of a hat. Whether it's a pandemic, whether it's cultural shifts, whether it's physical shifts and injury, whether it's funding changes. I mean, we are used to taking in the essence day by day.
and adapting and making sure that again, we can forward motion out of that. So that's all the group was doing was posing challenges to one another and collectively problem solving and moving forward, sharing resources, sharing ideas, sharing what worked, what didn't work.
I can't think of a better definition for what resiliency is. There's like sort of a mental toughness to it. There's just this mental gymnastics that I think is inherent to be an artist. And that was on full display. Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
yeah.
Yeah, I would say artists, we are the critical thinkers. We are the critical thinkers. So who better to have to jump through these hoops and perform this mental gymnastics because we're constantly, like you say, adapting and evolving to what is happening in the moment. ⁓ can you talk a little bit more from your own personal perspective?
Liz
Absolutely.
Amy Elizabeth
of what the group did for you as an educator and or as a creative.
Liz
As an educator, I do remember in the early part of the group, maybe summer of 2020, one of my colleagues had texted me just to kind of check in, I think the semester was over, and asked me the question, is it a curse or a blessing to be running this group? Because of the amount of
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
you know, dings that I would get on my phone or the dings were coming from when people would invite new, you know, new people were trying to get in and to get through. And I said, no, it's actually a really positive experience for me personally, because through the isolation, you are still seeing a new community being built.
we're all in the same thing together. So, and maybe it was a little bit of a distraction as well from the growing to-do list of, I've got to learn this and I have to figure out and go to this. I mean, the number of webinars that people were running to help with pedagogy, help with, you know, distancing, we were learning about the virus itself and.
Amy Elizabeth
yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Liz
You know, so I think the group helped me personally sort of keep on task in some ways. And I hope that it did that. I think that it did that for those that were actively using it as well. You could step away from things when you needed to, but you knew if you had questions, you had a place to come back to.
and sort of follow up and see if somebody else had asked that same question.
Amy Elizabeth
Yeah, I mean, like you said, in a moment of isolation and separation, it created a space. It created a new community. And I mean, there are so many dance educators across the world. And that for me was, I was seeing names pop up and still being a relatively young educator, I knew those names. I had little fangirl moments. Like I never.
thought that I would meet this person or have a conversation with this person. And here they are right here at my little fingertips. And I can ask questions and just, it was mind blowing to me. I mean, I've had situations, you we talked about this idea of intellectual property and having our own ideas and being able to bring new information and new resources to the table. And I have been as
as I said, a relatively young educator, I've been in situations where I have asked, do you mind sharing some of your practices and what you do or how you do it or how you got to this place? And there have been persons previously that were like, no, that's for you to figure out. Like that's for you to to to dive in and go down that road and figure out how you would do it. And I was like, OK, yeah, I can do that. And so then to walk into this community.
Liz
Mm.
Amy Elizabeth
to be accepted into this community where there was no hesitation. It didn't matter my age. It didn't matter what I had or had not experienced. You have a question, let's talk about it. And it wasn't necessarily like, give me all your details. How do you do this? Like, tell me how you do this. But it was more so, these are some of the practices I've tried. These are the pros, these are the cons. You try it and then give me feedback.
Liz
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Amy Elizabeth
on how that worked for you. And then it
became a shared learning environment. And that in that moment was extremely empowering. And what I needed, and I'm sure what all these thousands of other persons, professors, educators needed in that moment was not the typical like, you can do it, figure it out, but just like, let's figure this out together.
Liz
No, it was very detailed. It was very detailed as if we were collaborating on a large project together, right? That we were producing something that was going to be on some sort of global stage together.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
And I think that's the most beautiful thing about that first year, year and a half of the group was just getting through that sense of isolation. And yes, I think there were a couple of moments where I fangirled too, seeing as the requests would come in or somebody had invited. So again, I just wanted to say it went private just to keep the volume focused. ⁓
Amy Elizabeth
huh.
Liz
But as those requests were coming in, was like, that person authored this book, or I've seen that person's work on tour, or just, it's really crazy, the variety of people that are in there.
Amy Elizabeth
Yeah, brilliant. So you just you describe the group as a place to collaborate and creatively address challenges facing the arts and arts education from the pandemic closure to the present. So how has the group's messaging shifted post pandemic?
Liz
I think the group shifts with what the national conversation is. March 2020, pandemic, and then summer of 2020, the murder of George Floyd and the change of the culture yet again. And us really examining colonialization of the arts, our education of the arts, the DEI initiatives.
All of that was brought into the group and shared, resources were shared, trainings were shared, webinars were shared. mean, we were the catalyst for new conversations. And I think all of that then went into
shifting of syllabi, shifting of pedagogy, how are we teaching history, what kind of art are we valuing, what kind of physical bodies are we valuing? And there was a lot of that, resourcing, researching, questioning that was going on, even to more recently with funding cuts,
you know, posting of materials of if you have lost funding, if your grant has been cut, please add yourself to this list because we are part of a larger community with all of the arts. And I think some questioning of how do I produce this knowing that I don't have the support that I once had or can I still produce this? So it really is shifting with whatever the...
I say national knowing that there are global, it's a global membership, predominantly it is the US and whatever the cultural conversation is, is definitely represented. Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
Yes.
Again, for lack of better words, brilliant. I can't.
Liz
Oh, thank you. Who knew?
Who knew? Who knew that there was such a void? That we would have appreciated talking with one another as much as we are. Again, didn't foresee any of that. I really just thought of the immediacy of I need help figuring out how to teach.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Yes, absolutely.
Liz
through a screen, my art form, and I'm sure other people do too. And then it's it's grown.
Amy Elizabeth
I think that, yeah,
that speaks to a level of the word empathy comes to mind and understanding that you are not, as a human, you are not alone in the challenges and the trials that you face, regardless whether you're an artist or don't claim to be an artist. I kind of feel everyone is an artist in their own way. Just some of us put it on our resume.
Liz
Yes.
Yes.
Amy Elizabeth
And we really...
Liz
are
responsible for teaching some of the history or philosophy or the technique of it correctly.
Amy Elizabeth
Yes. Yes.
But it is that idea of recognizing like if I feel this way or if I'm struggling with this, then someone else, number one, someone else is probably struggling too. But number two, there is someone out there who could either provide the answer or help me find the answer, help me get there. That this journey is not a solo walk. And I think I always say dance is not
a solo activity. You cannot do dance alone. Absolutely not. And yes, I understand there are some art forms that can be done solo, relatively speaking. But I think that it's our engagement and our activity with the world that actually influences us as artists.
Liz
talk about that very thing and I teach a dance history course every fall and one of the first things that we talk about is that performative relationship between dancer, choreographer, audience. What does that look like? What are the influences of it? I agree with you that that there is the community, the community of dance is unlike any other.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
And that's coming from somebody who again has worked in theater and music. We are just a gem of a community. We really are.
Amy Elizabeth
I mean, I may be biased, but I enjoy us.
Liz
Yes. I enjoy us too.
Amy Elizabeth
And
so on top of all these other things that you are doing, I'm curious as to how you've been able to negotiate these challenges as they come. I mean, we started talking about the pandemic. Now we're talking about arts funding and the spectrum of what we have endured for quite a number of years now. But how do you negotiate that challenge as a faculty member?
at the university and or as a member, a guiding member of the American College Dance Association for so many years.
Liz
That's a great question. It always goes back for me personally is to listen
Liz
to listen what my students needed during the height of the pandemic, to listen to what membership needed when I was working with ACDA, and I think also working, listening to my students now that were back in the classroom. I cannot.
count on one hand how many times, I mean, it's numerous conversations where educators are talking about how the student body has changed in the last couple of years and the impact that isolation or loss or
Amy Elizabeth
Yes.
Liz
reading social cues, things are just different now and it's such a radical change. But for me personally, navigating all of that always goes back to listening first.
and responding second and giving myself the time to truly try to understand something before moving forward with a possible solution. Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
I'm still taking all of that in. is a huge undertaking and I feel like also being a member of ACDA and participating and attending and knowing that the festival itself, which was the main focus of the organization for quite some time, bringing the different regions together, that was put on pause. That was...
Liz
Hmm
Amy Elizabeth
It just, it didn't happen. And so it's almost as if the main focus of this organization came to a halt. And so being a, being a guiding force in that organization, what did that look like for you of, how we move through this?
Liz
Yes.
Sure, for us it didn't come to a halt because the board had to go back to its mission, had to look at what its mission statement was, had to look at what we could and could not do at the time. I think in 2020 there were 13 regions. I think we had maybe six of our conferences.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
took place before the world shut down. So from that point on, it was new territory. It was, as you mentioned, the culminating event, shall I say, for ACDA is every other year there is a national festival, which brings to a central location those dancers, those works from
all of the regions. It's now 11 regions. And it was reimagining what that was going to be. That was canceled in the summer of 2020. But we also had to think about sustainability.
If we were unable to host conferences in the 2020-2021 academic year, what could we offer our community of higher education dance?
And our board president at the time had the initiative of give or take classes or give and take classes, which were a series of classes that were taught online. But a portion of the proceeds was was donated to the instructors charity of choice. And I, as a board member who was working both with.
marketing and social media and fundraising at that time was involved in making some of those events happen, making sure that we had people that were monitoring Zoom, making sure that we had all of that information. So.
It was a challenging time, but I'm also super proud of the board, of the people who, again, the resiliency of artists to be able to figure out how to do that, what to teach, have conversations with students from across the country and faculty, because they were open to membership and beyond.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Liz
It was a transformative year, I would say, for that board of directors at that time, for that organization at that time.
Amy Elizabeth
I mean, it seems so. Like I said, as a member, there are many initiatives that I feel came from that transition, like new portals, access to different adjudication processes. The screen gets, yeah.
Liz
Yes.
Yes, the.
The Screen Dance Festival being the main one that came
from that. Yeah, absolutely.
Amy Elizabeth
So that's what I say, I would say pre-pandemic being a member kind of on the periphery, just really paying attention to my region and my colleagues, and it feeling like the main focus for the organization was the festival itself. And then when we lose that, there is this, okay, but that's not all we are. And so if that's not all we are,
Liz
correct.
Amy Elizabeth
than what are our other options, what are our other opportunities? And I feel as if the organization itself has become more, ⁓ more people know that the organ outside of dance know that the organization exists now. Whereas before with it being a membership and it being a tight membership, the members knew about it and having to explain, yes, I'm going to this.
festival, this conference, we're going to be there for a week. This is what happens. People say, that's really cool. I had no idea. But now I'm like, no, I'm going to the festival. And they're like, yeah, I heard about that. That's fantastic.
Liz
it's
such wonderful feedback to hear you say that because that was a question of visibility, of inclusion, of again, what are we valuing? Numerous Zoom meetings with those conversations with colleagues from across the country. So.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
Yes, I think the pandemic changed that association in many ways and it's great as a former board member and still a lifetime member, I will add, of getting that feedback of I feel like more people know about it or know about what you're doing or know what it is. again, I turn that back to leadership and
Amy Elizabeth
Yes!
Liz
the board executive council sort of walking us through those challenges.
Amy Elizabeth
It's really incredible to know that we have an organization that supports dance. And I mean, I know it's the American College Dance Association, but they support dance. It's a community. It's a community for dancers, educators, students, practitioners, professionals. It's, it is a place, again, it's another place for all of us to come together, to collaborate, to communicate, to share. It's really beautiful.
Liz
Yes.
Yeah, it's the only national service organization that focuses on higher education dance.
There are multiple national service organizations that look at dance across the spectrum, K through 12, studio learning. ACDA for its, we had our 50th in 2023. So in its, let's say 52 year history is that has been its primary focus is dance at higher education and how we support that, how we expand that, how we
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Liz
help students who want to study that and connect them to what came before.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and also it also helps to connect them to the possibilities of what's next. There's a lot of networking that happens that helps the transition from student to professional, from student to educator. it's really a huge, my students, it's their favorite time of year because it's like, no, I get to go be with my people. And we talk a lot about the concerts themselves. This is the best audience that you will.
Liz
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
ever get in front of because every single person in that audience knows exactly where you are in this space and this time and they are rooting for you.
Liz
It is the most supportive audience, I think, to perform for. And I feel the same way. You want to spend time with people with like, I don't want to say like minded people, people, as you say, who understand where you are or what you've gone through or you have a, you know, it may seem crazy to one person, but it means something to somebody else. It's just a truly
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
welcoming environment. And yeah, if you know, for your listeners that aren't involved, maybe they want to check it out. Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
Yes, that would be great.
So let's kind of skip track now. We've been talking about the audience, been talking about presenting. So your scholarship focuses on the intersections of artistic disciplines and their relationship with audience and technology, inviting the audience to experience performance in unexpected ways. Right, so kind of blurring the lines between stage and space.
Liz
Hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Amy Elizabeth
So
can you talk a little bit about that relationship between interdisciplinary art forms and technology?
Liz
I will try. For me, it all starts with space, re-imagining space, not holding on to the traditional boundaries of what a performative space is. And with the advent of technology,
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
in a artistic sense, shall we say. I am, I am, I don't know whether to say old enough or young enough to really remember the multimedia approaches towards dance of the, I'm gonna say the late 90s, early, early onset. And I know it happened prior to that, but that's my personal experience during that time. And
I was also fortunate enough to work with several faculty at UNC Greensboro during my MFA training. John Gamble being one of them who embraced the use of technology both through lighting design and projection work. And the older that I get, the more that I can reflect back on how much of an influence that had on me.
And I can also remember attending American Dance Festival and seeing, you know, as a summer student and seeing the number of concerts that came in that also utilized projection and lighting. Those are the two things that stuck out to me. So as a working artist, be it in dance or theater or performance arts or some sort of combination of them.
there is always this sense that technology can help us connect to audiences in different ways even if they are from outside of the art form. Somehow having a technological spin to it may minimize that space between performance and audience, if that makes sense.
Amy Elizabeth
That does make sense. it's, I have not used a lot of technology in my own personal work, but lighting design, I think plays a larger role. And I've always seen it as an accessory to the story that you bring the lighting design in to help clarify the intention, but it was never a central focus. And so I'm interested in that idea of
Liz
Mm-hmm.
Amy Elizabeth
by bringing in technology, bringing in a completely different audience member, and bridging that gap and making the work more accessible to maybe non-traditional dance enthusiasts.
Liz
Sure.
So I have my my undergraduate degree was in theater. So when I went into graduate school, I had a working knowledge undergraduate level of I think a little bit more of the production elements that went into making something happen. And then again, I was fortunate enough.
in my graduate studies to be seen by a couple of faculty who had this eye. I mentioned John Gamble, another one I can mention is Mitch Four, who was the technical director at the time of our dance theater during my time at UNCG.
learning from how they saw the performance or how they saw the space. So I came out of my graduate studies having, I think, a stronger understanding of the design elements from a lighting and space perspective, maybe than other dancers that graduated with me.
And then I started finding my way when I moved to Philadelphia, making connections to artists who also were looking at space and technology and lighting, not just as a compliment to the story, but as a way to frame the story, but also to...
to frame the space, that the space is a component of the piece. Whether you're dancing in the middle of a courtyard or whether you're on a proscenium stage, it's not just about the body's moving, but it's how the body's, right? It's this.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
It's this energy transference, how the bodies are affecting the space and how the space is affecting the bodies. And so that's just been very interesting to me and I think has really shaped all of my work over the last however X number of years I've been doing this.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
So you did mention the relationship's importance to the audience. So what role does the audience play in your creative process?
Liz
My sort of guiding mantra is I want the audience to be engaged and activated in what they're watching. For me personally, a pet peeve is that typical final line sometimes that you read in a program or that you hear in a curtain speech, sit back, relax, enjoy the show.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
I don't want you to sit back and relax. want you to be engaged and a part of this experience. I want you to be a part of this community with us at whatever level you're willing to commit. So.
Sometimes I have the audience moving through the work. Sometimes I have performers engaging with the audience, maybe coming out of the performance space and engaging with them one-on-one or one-on-group, if it's a section. But anything that I can do to empower the audience to make their own choices as to what they're looking at. So...
It's not just being presented to you, but that we are here and you have your own experience with it. Your experience isn't gonna be the same as the person in front of you or behind you. yeah, have fun, explore.
Amy Elizabeth
Yeah,
I've actually started in the last couple of years because this was a point of conversation for us in that in our region, it's typical for us to sit back, be quiet, be still. You're not there. You're just an observer of what's happening. And some cultural works were presented on the stage and the audience responded to it and comments that
That was a disrespectful audience. They did exactly what the work commanded them to do, demanded that they do. And so I oversee our student concert and our student choreographers, and they present as their final exam. We produce a full show and I typically do the curtain speech. So knowing that it is an educational environment, I have put it into my curtain speech that
Liz
Hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Amy Elizabeth
we encourage you to engage with the work. And what does that mean? Right? So we do have a certain culture that likes to scream out people's names and get really personal. And so we clarify that for them. The curtain speech is a little longer than normal, but it is, we want you to engage with the work, but it's not about you. Let's not take away from the work. So we don't yell out specific names. We don't...
you know, those sorts of things, because that's an ensemble up there. That's not one person up there. And so let's treat it like an ensemble. But if the work is sad, you have permission to cry. If the work is funny, you have permission to laugh. If the work makes you uncomfortable and you don't want to do this, you have permission to get up and walk out. And no one's going to be angry and you're not going to be punished.
Liz
Mm-hmm.
Amy Elizabeth
I mean, engage with it. What does it mean to you? How does it make you feel? What does it make you think? And I've been pleasantly surprised with the response from that audience because it is because it is a student concert. A lot of their peers are coming and watching and of course their family and their friends. And so it is a younger demographic that we have coming. And this idea of just giving them permission to actually be in the space.
Amy Elizabeth
I think has really helped some of them make the work more accessible to them. And can you find something in this work that you can identify with? Is it the music choice? Is it the dance style? Is it an emotion? Is it something? And I don't do that in my professional shows. I don't. Maybe I should. But I have started to do that in the educational environment with the students that are
Liz
Mm-hmm.
Amy Elizabeth
coming in because I think it is important for us. You are supposed to engage with the work. You are supposed to be all in.
Liz
That's the goal, right? And I think as educators, and also as educators on the back end of the pandemic where perhaps the isolation minimized the number of in-person or live performances that were available, and also with the...
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Liz
pervasiveness of the screen. That everything, right? That's one thing that I've noticed and I know that other faculty have noticed this as well is our ability to maintain concentration for if it's not a 90 second clip.
how do you maintain that focus, not just as the creator of something, but also for your audience? yeah, I think audiences sometimes need to be educated as well. But I try to create an environment that is going to create some sort of
physical, physiological, visceral reaction. I think those moments stay with the mind and the body, you know, afterwards. And also, again, it's about empowering the audience to make their own choices. We make choices as creators, as educators, as performers, you know, all the time. I think that's part of what makes us so adaptable.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Liz
it's for me, it's about encouraging the audience to make those choices as well. So that's been a focus as I look back, that's been a focus on a lot of my work, as I say, in both dance and theater.
Amy Elizabeth
Well, Liz, I could keep going. I could keep going.
Liz
This is great.
Amy Elizabeth
This is wonderful.
I am in this conversation. I am here for it. And yet there is an end time to this project.
Liz
Absolutely understandable,
but please know yes this conversation could go on forever
Amy Elizabeth
So it absolutely could.
Like I'm really, really enjoying myself. It is such a delight talking with you and getting an opportunity to say thank you for your contribution to my life and to the thousands of people, not only in the Facebook group.
Liz
Thanks.
And thank you for your contribution in that group as well. We're all in that together, yes.
Amy Elizabeth
Thank you for that. really appreciate it. And so because we have to wrap this up, we have to stop us before we keep going. It's now time for our wrap it around. And these are two questions that we are asking every single person who's coming on this season. So this is kind of keeping us our thread line through.
Liz
Yeah!
Amy Elizabeth
for Dance Unscripted for season one and so I'm gonna ask you complete these two sentences. sentence number one: resilience is
Liz
resilience is...
being human.
Every, I think every single human being has had a moment of resiliency in their life. And more than one.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm-hmm.
Yes, thank you. And sentence number two is, dance has taught me or brought me.
Liz
Mm-hmm.
Dance has taught me discipline.
and has brought me...
joy and struggle and
a beautiful community of people that I feel a part of on a very small and very very large basis.
Yeah. you're welcome.
Amy Elizabeth
Thank you for that. Thank you for creating
community for us and thank you for being a part of this community with us. I absolutely, I just, on behalf of everyone, thank you. Thank you for your service to the art.
Liz
Thank you.
Thank you very much for that and thank you for the invitation. I enjoyed it.
Amy Elizabeth
Yes. Thank you so much.
Amy Elizabeth
Thank you for joining us for Dance Unscripted, presented by Aimed Dance. Knowing you could have chosen any other platform, you chose us and you chose dance. For that, we are incredibly thankful. Be sure to click the subscribe button and share to your friends and colleagues. Leave us a review on Spotify, and your name will be entered into a drawing for Dance Unscripted merch. Winners will be announced at the end of each episode. Season One is brought to you by a grant with the Lamar University Center for Resiliency.