Spotlight on...Amy Chavasse

Author: May Chan

Amy Chavasse is a dance artist-in-residence who teaches dance regularly at Middlebury. She founded Chavasse Dance and Performance Company in 1995 and her work has been produced throughout the United States and Europe.

The Middlebury Campus: You have studied dance extensively, taught and toured with choreographers and numerous groups. On what kind of dance do you focus primarily?
Amy Chavasse: The term used most often for the type of dance we do is contemporary dance. There's a lot of debate about what we do now, but it's a form of modern dance that grew out of the rejection of classical ballet, so it's more of a post-modern dance. The initial forms of training started in ballet and, later on, they developed the Graham technique, which was started by Martha Graham. I studied the Graham technique in college and what I do now reflects my interest as a choreographer. It's pretty eclectic, and full of inversions and blends of Afro-Caribbean styles and Capoeira. A lot of dance today is characterized by hybridization.

The Campus: How did you start getting interested in dance? Have you always known you wanted to dance?
AC: Well, I danced when I was really young and it was really due to my parents taking me to lessons. They also took me to piano lessons, violin lessons, horse-back-riding lessons, all sorts of lessons. As a kid, I always put on shows in the house with my sister. I probably started when I was three or four and danced until I was 14. After that, I quit and didn't start again until college.

The Campus: What experiences or figures have influenced you in your career?
AC: In the past 10 years or so, work that has been influential to me and that has had a powerful impact is the kind that blends theater and dance. I'm interested in work that is politically challenging in context - there's a German choreographer, Pina Bausch, who does that kind of work. I've had a lot of opportunities to work with all these great dancers and all these experiences have affected the way I see work and make work now. All along the way, there have been iconic figures that have taken me under their wing. It was like an apprenticeship. Before Middlebury, I was teaching a lot and everyone I met has shifted my course. One figure who has also had an incredible influence on me is Peter Schmitz, who used to teach here.

The Campus: You studied dance recently in Buenos Aires. How did this opportunity come about?
AC: This goes back to my fascination with political art, which is a really difficult art form because you have to keep the artistic integrity in it without pounding the person on the head with the message. Last summer, I went to see this dance troupe called Grupo Krapp at the American Dance University in North Carolina and they did this piece called "Mendiolaza." I was totally blown away. I wanted to know more about the work, so I started researching the community and looking at their work. I began communicating with other choreographers down there and that's how I got involved. I worked with Brenda Angil and her aerial dance company and I would go to her studio, which was this giant warehouse with harnesses hanging off the walls. The harnesses took a while to get used to but the people were just great and so friendly.

The Campus: Do you feel as if your experience in Buenos Aires has changed your perspectives on dance? Will it contribute to the classes that you teach here at Middlebury?
AC: Well it was a short stay, only two weeks, and I felt like it was really laying the groundwork. I was really impressed by the passion of the performers because their economy down there has really been put through the wringer. The middle class has run out of food, there have been economic hardships and political turmoil, and when there is this disruption in a community, art is really the only place where the people can thrive. Often I noticed the students and dancers and I could not imagine Middlebury students doing this kind of work. They were totally uninhibited and doing stuff with their bodies that was very outrageous. It was just a different climate. I noticed this complete conviction and indebtedness with form and I thought, maybe I have to work harder, or push harder, maybe push my students harder. The group I was working with went to their day jobs all morning and afternoon and then they would come to dance all night. They were just so open and so willing and so hungry.

The Campus: Are you currently working on any projects? Do you have any plans to go back to Buenos Aires anytime soon or tour anywhere else?

AC: I'm directing the Dance Company at Middlebury this fall and it's a piece tentatively titled "Enemies." It's pretty abstract, but also still pretty loaded. This year, I'll also be doing a mini-residency at Press College, Ariz., with Andrea Olsen, a dance professor at Middlebury. We'll be attending classes, showing some work and doing some outreach at some high schools. I'm working on Buenos Aires; I've applied for some grants, but I think it'll have to wait until next summer.

-May Chan