In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Taja Will is a queer, Chilean adoptee, performer, choreographer, therapist, and restorative justice facilitator based in the Twin Cities (MN). Their approach integrates improvisation, somatic modalities, text, and vocals in contemporary performance. Will also works in healing justice and as an advocate for artists, especially serving as a liaison for artists in experimental forms, people of color, and the LGBTQIA2+ communities.
In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Taja Will is a queer, Chilean adoptee, performer, choreographer, therapist, and restorative justice facilitator based in the Twin Cities (MN). Their approach integrates improvisation, somatic modalities, text, and vocals in contemporary performance. Will also works in healing justice and as an advocate for artists, especially serving as a liaison for artists in experimental forms, people of color, and the LGBTQIA2+ communities.
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Taja Will (Minneapolis, MN) is a queer, Latinx (Chilean) adoptee, performer, choreographer, somatic therapist, and Healing Justice practitioner, on ancestral Dakota lands of Wahpekute and Anishinabewaki. Taja’s approach integrates improvisation, somatic modalities, text, and vocals in contemporary performance. Will’s work explores visceral connections to current socio-cultural realities through ritual, archetypes, and everyday magic.
Taja is a recent recipient of the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, in the dance field, awarded in 2021. Their work has been presented at the Walker Art Center Choreographer’s Evening, the Red Eye Theater’s New Works 4 Weeks, the Radical Recess series, Right Here Showcase, and the Candy Box Dance Festival. Will is the recipient of a 2018 McKnight Choreography Fellowship, administered by the Cowles Center and funded by The McKnight Foundation. Will has recently received support from the National Association of Latinx Arts & Culture, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.
Taja maintains a dynamic Healing Justice practice that includes consulting with individuals, organizations, and communities in the context of workshops, conflict mediation, one-on-one somatic healing sessions, nervous system triage, board development and organizational cultural competency, and individual coaching on unwinding from white body supremacy culture. They ground their work in indigenous solidarity and decolonization as a means to undo white body supremacy and its pervasive relationship to capitalism, Taja is committed to working for healing and liberation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
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 at The University of Akron, as part of our Ideas in Motion initiative. This episode was recorded as a closed dialogue, via Zoom, during the 2020 pandemic. Today we join Christy Bolingbroke, our Executive / Artistic Director in conversation with Taja Will. Taja is a queer, Chilean, Twin-cities-based performer, and choreographer whose work integrates improvisation, somatic modalities, text, and vocals in contemporary performance.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: How or when did you know you wanted to be a choreographer?
TAJA WILL: Oh, wow. It’s so specific. It was the summer of 2007, I am pretty sure, and I was at SFDI in Seattle, the Seattle Dance Festival for Improvisation. And I was there with friends and because I was dancing in college, but I was a music performance major and composition on the side. Music composition. And so, I knew dance was something that I enjoyed doing, especially contact improvisation. I hadn't thought of it as my creative pathway exclusively. And while I was there, I was getting a lot of feedback, even some feedback from Tonya Lockyer, who I did not know at the time, who told me that I should stay for a workshop the next week with Miguel Gutierrez, who I also did not know. And somehow within that five-day festival, I decided, ‘Oh, I want to be a dance maker, I want to be a choreographer, an improviser.’ And then went into this workshop with Miguel, changed my flight plans, you know, was a college student, didn’t, you know, just kind of went with the magic of it.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Yeah.
TAJA WILL: And was quite brazen. And I remember asking to take him to lunch, we went to lunch, and I said something like, ‘I’ve decided I’m gonna be a choreographer, here’s what I’m gonna make.’ And he was like, ’ Stop, that’s ridiculous.’ And I love him for it. He’s gone on to be a great mentor, an inspiration, but interesting that I could get that specific, that was the week. And then going into the next year of college, which classes resumed, you know, maybe a month later, I really repositioned myself.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Yeah, yes, well if that’s not improvisation, I don't know what is. You were reading the scenario. Kind of continuing along that, I love that you felt that ‘I want to do this,’ but so now you’ve been doing this, how or where do you start? Like, what inspires you and do you start with music, or movement, or an idea? Or, or something else entirely, because we’re finding there is no one way that people make dance.
TAJA WILL: I would say I start with a concept or an idea, and not something super specific, I kind of feel like I’m one of the types of artists that everything I will ever make in my whole life kind of had the same idea, but it’s like the meta idea, and then all of these different threads of it. And through whatever I’m making before what I am currently making, I find the new thread. So, I would say that I start very conceptually.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Can you define, or articulate the meta, meta idea?
TAJA WILL: It’s probably kind of gross and general like, ‘humans being aware of humanity.’
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: You got to start somewhere. Yeah.
TAJA WILL: Yeah, yeah.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: You can drill down.
TAJA WILL: After which has been very general.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Thinking an artist makes is somehow related to what they’ve previously made and what they will make next, but yeah, you know, if you can kind of play within that broad sandbox. I am curious because of your background in music and vocal performance. How would you characterize your choreographic relationship to sound?
TAJA WILL: There’s, there’s a lot to say. I was noticing in rehearsals, back when we were still having in-person rehearsals, that I often won’t give direction ever with counts really. I won't use breath cues, but we will sound choreography, especially a unison choreography in cadence, like music. And I was really interested in how I know that that’s something I do. I feel like my work has become very specific or kind of signature in the amount of original music in it. I often work directly with a composer, sometimes up to three composers per project. And often work with other collaborators who are excited and willing to use their voices and write so we are writing lyrics, we are co-composing with the composer. Or I will compose some of the work. And so, we have a lot of original sound, a lot of original music, with just a little bit of sampling to land some impact often.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: And, and I mean you also have sung in your works. In your own works too. And that’s not something that all dancers necessarily do. And similarly, not all singers necessarily dance and move as well. I’m curious, and this is more specific to you, your practice, is Joe Goode once said that ‘everyone knows that talking and dancing cancel each other out.’ Like, you can’t focus on both equally, and I definitely as a viewer grapple with that sometimes. That you can tell if, ‘Well they just created that really intense movement sequence and now they’re trying to talk or sing on top of it.’ Or vice versa, ‘ok, they’re, they’re singing but it doesn’t feel like they’re completely committing to the movement.’ How do you strike that balance? And, and especially, I’m, I’m curious this idea of how you’re, you’re humming the cadence of choreography.
TAJA WILL: I think that it all is in the design. And I’ve used a lot of different design strategies. There is a kind of proper anthem in the piece that I’m making right now, and in a way of limiting the things to look at during it, I’m singing the anthem and I’m seated in line with the audience. And I’m covered in fabric. And there are two other movers at that time who are both also covered in different fabrics, so we’re taking away some of the specific face recognition personality, and especially taking that away from the vocalist, I think, helps the audience focus on the movement that’s happening in kind of the prime space.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: And also, how they listen, I would imagine, differently than watching and listening secondarily.
TAJA WILL: Absolutely.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Cool.
TAJA WILL: And you always practice the movement that’s happening with me singing. Almost always I think, maybe with a recording of me, but that helps us kind of be in that, the cadence together, knowing where I pause and where I change kind of the tambor of my voice. So, we’re practicing musicality in that way.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: There’s a, I, I’m also reminded of another artist’s quote in, in Mark Morris, remarking that dancers and singers have the most in common because their instrument is the same, it’s the body. So, you know, depending on where one subscribes on the aesthetic spectrum between Joe Goode and Mark Morris, it could be the most natural thing in the world, you’re singing and dancing, or one of the most challenging undertakings that you, you are tackling in your work. How do you name a dance work? Cause this is something that our, our choreographic students are often like, ‘I don’t know what to call it,’ I mean, and you could say the same for titling a book, right, or a song, picking your handle on social media. There seems to be so much permanence in naming something. How do you approach it?
TAJA WILL: I start with a title.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: You do?
TAJA WILL: Yep. I think I have; I can’t think of any examples of my work that I have not started with the title.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: And it’s never a working title that you’re able to be like, ‘it’s this,’ and sort of anchor that.
TAJA WILL: Sometimes it’s a title that evolves. Like my solo work, Bruja, evolved into Bruja Fugitive Majesty. And Gospels of Oblivion evolved into Gospels of Oblivion: To the End. I think that speaks a little bit to the duration that I take in creating my work, because I will create it over several years. So, people are likely to have seen an installation of it as a work in progress somewhere, so my evolving the title, it then signals that it has also evolved in the piece.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Nice, I appreciate what it, introducing the idea of, of creative process within a timeline too. Because that’s something else, sometimes people are, are making on a semester schedule, and sometimes people are making on an annual. So, the idea they could lead across multiple years is great and a good reminder too. We, you know, we have made this introduction of this capsule series as ‘21st Century dance practices,’ you accepted the invitation to teach, thank you, but I am curious, like, what does that term mean to you as, as an idea or an organizing principle?
TAJA WILL: I think that it strikes me as a way to speak about the multitudes that land in contemporary and set them to a time. I am interested in this idea of contemporary art being redefined all of the time. There was contemporary art, you know, 100 years ago, we’re making contemporary art now, what does that mean as we speak about the genre? And it also, for me, I’m looking back 20 years from now at being part of this program, and I see the 21st century dance practices and I think about the time, I’m clued into so many other things that are happening and can also draw lines to where things are different in my practice now. So, I think it’s a little bit of a time capsule.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Yeah, and I think we’re also working in juxtaposition to The University of Akron’s own history as a dance program. Which also, you know, is close to 50 years. The University’s close to 150 years old, but with the bulk of this program coming out of the 20th century, and you, the, similar to a lot of other University dance programs, right? Where it, it’s kind of binary - it’s ballet or modern - and we were really trying to blow open the idea that there’s such an idea of a continuum of dance. And I appreciate that you’ve identified the cross section of contemporary, whatever that means, from So You Think You Can Dance to anything on our stages. But working within this idea of a codified technique and vocabularies of the 20th century and then at the same time making work in the now, I'm also curious how do you navigate for yourself between new and old movement vocabulary? Is there something that you recognize you, you do as a part of yourself and your training and it’s in all of your works? Or are you constantly seeking things that you’ve never seen before? Like, what is that tension in the actual dance making?
TAJA WILL: I think I am more interested in originality or innovation in my methodology than creating an expectation on myself to evolve my movement vocabulary. Or perhaps it’s that I have a trust that’s happening. Since, what year was it? Maybe, 2014, I had a ACL reconstruction and part of my rehabilitation into my movement practice was doing video of every rehearsal personal practice that I had so I could track how I was using my muscles and my knee and my leg. And I’ve continued to do that practice. And so, I’m always taking short bits of video as a sample and it’s a way that I capture my improvisation and also a way that I find inspiration for choreography. I have noticed so much change in the nuance but there’s also something that feels very quintessential and, like, a signature aesthetic of mine. That I feel kind of precious about. And don’t mind it being there. I don’t mind when people say, ‘Oh, your solo was so Taja.’ ‘Well, thank you.’ I’m feeling very authentic about it.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: It’s very on brand. Yeah. Exactly, I appreciate that distinction about innovation in your own methodology as opposed to, you know, how many flips, tricks, things and, and part of this is in response to how a, a lot of more wealthy, then we’ll say, commercial dance, or even on Instagram, social media things are changing the way that we view dance, the way that we, we view beauty, the way that we understand. Because people, you know, especially on social media, maybe they have 10 or 12 tries to get that one great shot. It can’t happen always in real time. So as a relation, or extension of that, how would you describe, or define, virtuosity in dance?
TAJA WILL: Wow.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: On your own terms.
TAJA WILL: Yeah, well, I feel like it’s very personal and, oh, I almost don’t know what a definition would be, but as I think about it and when, when I’m looking at someone’s movement and it feels researched, or authentic, or personal, I think of that as virtuosic. And it has almost nothing to do with the lines, shapes, time, and space used in the composition. I also practice a lot of, like, embodied empathy, so I would say that I liberally define virtuosic. And I define it in curiosity or decision making. I’m, I’m interested in people showing their process, and I’m interested in also the, like, intellect, that intellectualization of process as a virtuosity in the physical ability and physical training that is virtuosity. I think I see a lot of virtuosity.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: That’s great, I’m sure they appreciate it.
TAJA WILL: I think, like, I want to appreciate people’s bodies.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: In addition to sort of disrupting the binary considerations of dance that are a lot, in a lot of our prevailing systems, we’re also trying to stretch the idea of, to be curious. Or what virtuosity may be. It’s not always 32 fouetté turns center stage. So, we’re, we’re, we’re trying to consciously name it, and really own that, or invite people to be more mindful for themselves. So, I appreciate you grappling with it too. I am curious, how do you get out of a creative rut? And this is one of those things, like, it’s, it’s great to have a process that’s over multiple years, but then there’s, a, very real challenges if you have limited studio time, limited time with your collaborators. And, and this need to produce and when we do have a, a performance, or an opening night, it’s like, ‘ok, well, whatever it takes.’ You know, you have to persevere to meet deadlines, as people do in lots of different fields. So, particularly with, like, you, there’s the have, have to, but you’re just not feeling it. How do you get out of that rut?
TAJA WILL: I’ve definitely felt that. I’ve felt it recently. I think, I use a lot of different strategies and some of them are to get in connection with others. Sometimes I use writing, right now I would say that writing is kind of a main practice for keeping my current project alive as we do virtual rehearsals. They are not movement based, they’re speaking and writing based. I, I do kind of wrestle with the deadline because I trust myself in movement and composition so deeply, and if I have a deadline and am feeling like I’m in this kind of rut, I will not discipline myself to do any better. Or to make something impactful or exquisite, or virtuosic, because I don’t believe in disciplining that part of ourselves. The part that is stuck because there’s so much intelligence in that. And I feel like this kind of speaks to my background in psychotherapy too, to not discipline our defense mechanisms because there is so much intelligence in stopping, pausing, resting, not doing. And whatever that does to support the fortitude of our system later, in another timeline. So, I think that’s a big practice of mine and just trusting myself is also a, trusting myself as an improviser. To come into a performance and not necessarily dance. To read a poem instead. I give myself permission to do something like that, and often in transparency with whenever I’m in partnership with. Or presenting.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: What I hear in the, is, is a practice of maybe self-compassion. So, you talked about being, you know, having practicing empathy, but, but also that standing up for yourself, giving yourself room, grace around that. And then when the, the trust in your, in your skills, in your ability as an improviser, I’m struck that that sounds a little bit like having faith in oneself. Not to offer a, you know, a, a, from a spiritual lens, but just, you know, I think that there’s a, a lot of psychology out there about imposter syndrome, and then we also get told about the things, like, ‘you’ve got to fake it until you make it.’ and somewhere in the middle there is that quiet confidence, I know what I’m doing, and this may not be my right time, but don’t let that sort of get in the way and still have faith that you’ll be able to press on. Through it a little bit. So great. And one last question. And, and it is, it is kind of on the line of fake it til you make it, but hopefully better than that. In making a creative life, I am curious if there is one great piece of advice that you’ve received, and you’d be willing to share with our students? Or maybe if there is a, a great piece of advice or one that you found for yourself and that you’d be willing to share or offer up with the others.
TAJA WILL: Wow. What a big, beautiful question.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: ‘I thought this was over.’
TAJA WILL: I don’t know if these are pieces of advice, but I think about some of the semantic nuggets that I hold. As wisdom and as listening as creative process and the two things that are coming to mind are cellular respiration. So, remembering that it’s not just our five lobes of lungs that are breathing us, that it’s every cell, the cells at the bottom of the foot, which is the skin that is the same skin on the forehead. This kind of global awareness of the body, and the other reminder is paired with that, the tensegrity of the body, and the ability to move in multiple directions at once. And how our body is so intelligent and resonant that it, we decide we’re going one direction, if we make a decision, if we are committed to something that is a singular point, or a singular line, our whole body will help us do that. And from the intelligence of being in center, our body can also get us there, but without being fixated on that point, or line, or goal, or achievement, or ambition, we can get there in all of these different ways because the body can move towards that while moving in other directions at the same time.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Oh, I love. Say that word again? I’m not familiar. We might have to spell it.
TAJA WILL: Tensegrity.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Ok, we definitely have to spell it.
TAJA WILL: I don’t know if I can. I’m really bad at spelling. T-e-n-s-e-g-r-i-t-y.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: We’ll, we’ll fact check it for sure. You know, the hope might be that we would transcribe these three years down the line because we will have such an amazing collection. Super, super grateful for your time and also contribution to this thinking. Thank you so much Taja.
TAJA WILL: Thanks for having me.
OUTRODUCTION: Inside the Dancer’s Studio lunchtime talk series is supported by NCCAkron, The University of Akron, The University of Akron Foundation, and the Mary Schiller Myers Lecture Series in the Arts. Our podcast program is produced by Jennifer Edwards, Ellis Rovin is our composer and editor, transcription by Madeline Greenberg, theme music by Flocco Torres, cover art by Micah Kraus, and Julian Curet and Kat Wentz are our artist coordinators. 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. Thank you for listening and stay curious.