Dance Flash: Oni Dance Debuts In SF

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This weekend, Los Angeles-based choreographer Maria Gillespie will make her San Francisco debut with her dance company, Oni Dance, at CounterPULSE. A few years back, the Los Angeles Times deemed the company "fearless", and The New York Times has described her as "one of [Los Angeles'] most respected artists."

A West Coast transplant with East Coast roots, Gillespie moved to LA in the mid 90s and quickly begun making strides, presenting work all around town. She's taught at UCLA and CalArts, and is currently working on her MFA in choreography at UCLA.

But Oni Dance--what in the world does that mean? Gillespie culled together some dancers and traveled Tokyo, presenting her choreography at a dance festival. The experience was so positive that in 2005, she formed her company, which included these dancers. To honor the "inspirational trip to Japan," she called the company Oni "after a goblin character from Japanese mythology, which is a symbol of transforming human weaknesses into beauty and courage."

Earlier this week, while she was vigorously packing up costumes, set pieces, equipment, and dancers, Gillespie took some time to provide a little insight into her work and artistic vision.

Becca Hirschman: You've been at the center of Southern California's modern dance scene for quite some time. What's LA dance like? Is there something that distinguishes it from New York and San Francisco dance?

Maria Gillespie: There are certainly trade offs. In NYC and San Francisco, there are a large number of dancers, facilities, venues, and programs that support an ever-growing and changing community. But as a grassroots artist, my sense is that it's easier for me to create my work and self-produce here in LA than in NYC. And I don't have much idea about San Francisco yet but am very curious.

In the last eight years, I have been able to teach regularly, meet dancers, and make work consistently. The community is smaller, but I also believe that welcomes intimate collaboration and shared resources. Dance artists here often share shows, resources, dancers, and collaborate together. I have the sense that artists go see each others' work and participate in networking and workshops because they sincerely want to support each other and actively contribute to the ever fluxing scene... not just because of a professional or artistic curiosity.

I think there are a lot of assumptions made about the dance scene in LA. These generalizations in general are problematic because they program our expectations. I think there is plenty of local support for LA dance artists, just not by institutions or venues... and that's hopefully shifting. But assumptions about dance in LA I think get shattered by the fusing of genre, form, and movement practices: hybrid forms thrive here. Hip hop opera, circus arts and live music, film installation and dance theater, lots of site-specific work, mixed and juxtaposed movement practices, hyper-physical and sublimely conceptual dances, arts activism, traditional dance forms with avant-garde. They are all invited to thrive because there is room for it. We just need more institutional support.

On your website, you write about how your work "transfixes the eye on complex and sublime movement puzzles" while you are "intent on stripping conventional movement of its comforts and making idiosyncratic movement feel like a first language". How do you meld the two together? And in a few words, would you describe your choreographic style?

Its hard for me to describe my style because it feels like its under reconstruction now. To describe the essential components for my movement and design choices: I enjoy working with bodily states as their own movement language and how those states gets crafted into movement phrases. I am interested in the power of the body as our primary mode of language development and communication. The dancing body's effort, power, fragility all join to shift how people read each other and relate. My movement style utilizes gestural work, non-linear narrative, theatrical staging, and text to buttress other ways of understanding movement.

The movement puzzle description is about how I am fascinated by the ways movement is metaphor and then making that movement into a phrase, which can be appreciated for its poetic connotation or for its kinetic logic. By making movement language (how movements are organized in a syntax) out of a series of gestures or by two bodies leaning on each other, I can communicate ideas in two ways: how we read and translate those actions and then to also present the actual movement as its own inscription that is intelligible in a way other than textual.

For your San Francisco debut, are you and the company driving up here? And if so, is a pit stop at In-N-Out on the itinerary (because really, there's nowhere else to stop)?

Yep, we are all driving, caravan-ing right now in five cars with 11 members and tons of props. No pit stop except for fuel and changing drivers!

Why present in San Francisco? What's drawn you here?

I have wanted to present my work in San Francisco for a couple of years. I have been in LA for a while and feel like in order to encourage my own growth and the growth of both communities, I need to share work elsewhere. Artistic exchange is a big part of Oni Dance's mission, and my own interest in making dance is driven by exchange. I am also opening up my sights to possibly moving out of LA. This is a great way for me to experience a city.

You'll be here during Pride! Any plans to take in the celebratory atmosphere?

I wish I had that time in our rehearsal schedule! Only free time will be on Saturday before our last show. Maybe to celebrate on Saturday night, we'll be able to share in the festivities.