In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Chicago IL-based dancemaker J'Sun Howard. Howard received the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events’ Esteemed Artist Award and was recognized as an Asian Cultural Council Fellow. His works have been showcased nationally and internationally and he has received commissions from Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, World Dance Alliance, and The Art Institute of Chicago.
In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Chicago IL-based dancemaker J'Sun Howard. Howard received the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events’ Esteemed Artist Award and was recognized as an Asian Cultural Council Fellow. His works have been showcased nationally and internationally and he has received commissions from Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, World Dance Alliance, and The Art Institute of Chicago.
INTRODUCTION: Thanks for joining us Inside The Dancer’s Studio, where we bring listeners like you closer to the creative process. Inside The Dancer’s Studio is a program of the National Center for Choreography in Akron, Ohio, as part of our Ideas in Motion initiative. This episode was recorded as an ongoing documentation practice with NCCAkron visiting artists in 2023-2024. Today we joined Christy Bolingbroke, our Executive/Artistic Director, in conversation with Chicago, IL-based dancemaker J'Sun Howard. Howard received the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events’ Esteemed Artist Award and was recognized as an Asian Cultural Council Fellow. His works have been showcased nationally and internationally and he has received commissions from Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, World Dance Alliance, and The Art Institute of Chicago.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: When did you know that you wanted to be a choreographer?
J’SUN HOWARD: I think in middle school. I used to watch or learn all the choreography from the Hip Hop and R&B videos (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm), especially like Janet Jackson, Aliyah.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Oh we’re talking to MTV and VH1 days.
J’SUN HOWARD: Exactly.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Yes.
J’SUN HOWARD: And I would record them, and I would just learn the choreography. And then I found out that Fatima Robertson (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm), choreographed for Michael Jackson, she choreographed for everyone. And I was like, Oh, I didn't know this could be a career (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm). And I decided then that I was going to, you know, figure out how to do it. I was actually going to go to culinary school, or accounting, or be a biochemist. But at graduation, in high school, I was like, mmm I don't think I want to be in an office from nine to five (Bolingbroke: Hmm), or doing research all day long, and not being able to experience the world. So I was like, let me try this thing. Let me try dance (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm). And moved to Columbia College. And no, I moved to Chicago to go to Columbia College (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm), in 2001. And that's where it started.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: So, it sounds like there was an early influence, particularly with pop music and choreography. What is your working relationship to music now, during your creative process?
J’SUN HOWARD: What I tend to do is create playlists about anything, like on Instagram right now, there's this 30-day challenge to create a playlist (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm). So I've been using music as a way to figure out moods (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm), some narrative ideas and qualities and things like that. But I think for me, music has always been a part of my life, or growing up. I would, along with watching the videos and learning choreography, I would just close my door and listen to all the music (Bolingbroke: Hmm) from everybody. When the CD will come out, I'll go by and just listen (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm). So it's really ingrained. But as far as choreography, I try to, I try to not always match (Bolingbroke: Hmm) the choreography with the music, but treat it as like a sound score or a soundscape (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm) kinda like a soundtrack to the dance or whatever was going on in the choreography (Bolingbroke: Yeah). So it creates another level of what I'm trying to do with the choreography.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: I love that idea as a, as a soundtrack, right? Because even in narrative-driven commercial movies, that post production and addition of sound can evoke so much emotional feeling and sort of elevate it. And I also am really vibing with the idea of like a music mood board (Howard laughs). And I'm going to start thinking about my own playlists in that way because I have that practice too. Have you had to navigate, since it sounds that you, you know do respond to or incorporate commercial music. And so one of the things our students are always fascinated by because that's what they know is like (Howard: Mm-hmm), how do I get the rights to do that when I'm outside of an educational environment? Has that been something that you've struggled with?
J’SUN HOWARD: Not so much. I wanted to use a Beyonce song from her Renaissance album (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm) and I ended up finding, I ended up finding like a acapella (Bolingbroke: Hmm) instrumental version on YouTube. That’s not on the album. It’s just the person decide to release it or the producer, whoever, the songwriter, whomever (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm) decided to release it on YouTube. So, I just used that instead of the actual song from the album.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Mmm. So, there's some creative navigation there for sure.
J’SUN HOWARD: And then a lot of times I also use a DJ, like, here's the tracklist, can you mix it up in different ways (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm), so that we really don’t have to really worry about permissions and then also a while back, I have my brother actually do a cover (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm) of a song.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Beautiful.
J’SUN HOWARD: So, you can't really…
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Yeah. Yeah. Then you can, you know, work (Howard: Yeah) around that stuff and finding other ways. So you worked with a brother there, but what do you look for in collaborators?
J’SUN HOWARD: Collaborators who are honest (Bolingbroke: Hmm), who don't mind going inside the interior to show that (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm), and wants to also align with my work being in the practice of freedom, and working towards liberation (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm). So I look for those kind of collaborators. As far as like technique, you don't need to be this crazy, amazing ballerina or this amazing Flying Low dancer, as long as you're willing to explore with me (Bolingbroke: Hmm), and we can get somewhere, I am down to collaborate.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Yeah. You had said something I might be paraphrasing a little bit that dance is a practice of freedom, and mentioned it a little bit there. Can you say more about that?
J’SUN HOWARD: I feel like, for me, especially growing up, I didn't see dance as a relief. It was like, this is my identity, a part of it. And this is how I show up in the world. How do I keep showing up in the world like this (Bolingbroke: Hmm), in order to inspire people to also think about how they are showing up in the world? And that's like one thing I'm thinking about as far as my practice as a practice of freedom.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: How would you define what 21st century dance practices are? Now that you are making your own way in this world, and it could be a continuation of dance is a form of practicing freedom because that it speaks to me so directly, that that's what we need right now in these times. But um you know, we're working with systems that have been historically very binary (Howard: Mm-hmm), it's Ballet or modern. And this is something that we hope to disrupt that.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: What does 21st century dance practices mean to you?
J’SUN HOWARD: It means like Malcolm X said, ‘By Any Means Necessary’ (Bolingbroke: Hmm). I pull from Voguing, I pull from Hip Hop, I pull from modern, postmodern, improvisation, martial arts. So we have all these things available to us, why not use them in order to say or make a statement with our work (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm)? I think there are a lot of choreographers who are doing that as well, using visual art, using technology, using theatre work. The way that you decide to make your work, I think people are doing a lot more research about how to bring different things in (Bolingbroke: Hmm), and it not just being about movement. But there's all these different threads (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm). And that's how you end up connecting to a lot of people because you invite them in in a certain way.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Mm-hmm. That it resonates so much as someone who graduated and was a practicing professional artist at the turn of the century, I was so grateful that the training was broader than just (Howard: Mm-hmm) Ballet or modern because it spoke to versatility (Howard: Mm-hmm). You would, you would need a dancer or a collaborator who maybe doesn't come from a background of Voguing, but you're like alright, we're gonna stretch let's expand and how are we going to you know, get really good at this.
J’SUN HOWARD: So alongside Righteous Beauty, which I'm working on here in the residency, I'm making another piece right now in Chicago, for The Dance Center's presenting season. They’re doing like the Chicago artists spotlight (Bolingbroke: Awesome). And then they're gonna do it annually, I believe (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm). And there's a dancer, new collaborator, and he Vouges. But he doesn't have a lot of partnering skills, so we've been (Bolingbroke: Mmm) working on how to get him to do more partnering (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm). And last Friday, it was I think he had some breakthroughs (Bolingbroke: Excellent), which were really, really great.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Oh, fabulous.
J’SUN HOWARD: So that's an example of you know working with someone…Yeah.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: It's finding through that. Well, I was gonna ask, when we aren't just sort of resting on the idea of, you know, lateral T's, and Horton technique, or fouetté turns in ballet, what does virtuosity look like for you?
J’SUN HOWARD: It looks like watching the person on the stage, and you can see their spirit and their soul on fire on stage.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Mmm. I love that. On fire.
J’SUN HOWARD: Over the years, I think, watching so much movement, I can see people's energy. A lot. It’s really strange for me now, but it's really cool. Um so when I can see that I'm like, Yes, they're in it, they’re in the pocket (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm). They're showing us them.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: That je ne sais quoi (Howard: Yeah. Mm-hmm). That something that you can't teach when they're showing up fully as themselves and on the edge of possibility (Howard: Exactly). Yes. I love that you're working on two things at the same time right now. I think what anyone can resonate with, whether it's making dinner, facing the blank page, writing an essay, or making a dance, is that sometimes you've got a deadline coming, but you find yourself a little bit in a creative rut (Howard: Mm-hmm). Do you have any practice or a way of sort of breaking out of that if you're feeling a little stagnant?
J’SUN HOWARD: I read a lot and that helps. And also, like I read a lot of fiction, a lot of poetry. Um and also I’ve been reading a lot of academic stuff because I'm mentoring another artist (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm). So that helps because it gives me other ideas, especially as far as my research. So I like right now, oh (Bolingbroke: Yeah), this is the moment. And then I've been lucky to travel to Japan just about every year, minus the pandemic, since 2018 (Bolingbroke: Hmm). So traveling internationally, not just to Japan, but to Singapore and Taiwan. Hopefully Hong Kong (Bolingbroke: Okay), in the Fall. Going out in the world helps too (Bolingbroke: Yeah), when you can.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: How do you name a dance? You can spend hours (Howard: Mm-hmm) making something in a studio before you perform it. But then the titling can be such a like, short form (Howard: Right), for what you're trying to say.
J’SUN HOWARD: With The Righteous Beauty of the Things Never Accounted For, I think it was in, it was a while ago, when I read some essay, I can't even remember what it's about. But it was like a long sentence and it had so many commas and smack dab in the middle was that phrase (Bolingbroke: Hmm). I was like I'm gonna take that (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm) because that's a beautiful, beautiful language.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Yeah, there's sort of a sampling (Howard: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm) that I see as a, as a habit coming along here.
J’SUN HOWARD: Yes. And then a lot of the times, it comes from writing poetry, and titling the poem and using the poem in the title (Bolingbroke: Mmm) with the actual name (Bolingbroke: Mm-hmm) for the dance. But yes, sampling, writing poetry, sometimes listening to music, taking words and phrases from the songs.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Love that. Do you have any advice for making a creative career that either you received or you would like to pass on, that you say to other artists and students that we could share? (Howard uh hm).
J’SUN HOWARD: Early on in Chicago, I auditioned for a dance company. I didn't make it past the first cut, which is fine, you know. But one of the main male dancers was there as like, why you didn't make it to the next round because you were one of the best male dancers here (Bolingbroke: Hmm). And from that moment, I was like, You know what? Having this person said that to me, just like, make your own path (Bolingbroke: Hmm). Don't worry about somebody's audition, when that person saw it or others saw it there. Just make your own path and do what you got to do.
OUTRODUCTION: Inside The Dancer’s Studio Conversation Series is supported by NCCAkron, the University of Akron, the University of Akron Foundation, the Mary Schiller Myers Lecture Series in the Arts, and Audio-Technica, a global audio manufacturer with U.S. headquarters in Northeast Ohio. Our podcast program is produced by Jennifer Edwards. James Sleeman is our editor, transcription by Arushi Singh. Theme music by Floco Torres, cover art by Micah Kraus. Special thanks to Laura Ellacott, Sarah Durham, and Will Blake. To learn more about NCCAkron, please visit us online at NCCakron.org. And follow us on Instagram or Facebook at NCCAkron. We hope you enjoyed this episode, and we encourage you to subscribe on your favorite podcast streaming platform by searching for Inside The Dancer’s Studio. Please share with your friends and if you’d like to help get the word out rate us, and leave a review on Apple podcasts. Thanks for listening and stay curious.