Moving in a new direction
View(s):Contemporary dance performer and choreographer Janet Lilly, says that teaching was always the next logical step in her career
As a performer, choreographer and teacher of contemporary dance, Janet Lilly can trace the love she has for her art form back to her mother. “My mother grew up in Southern California in the 1930’s,” says Janet, explaining that at that time every little girl wanted to be like the tap dancing child superstar Shirley Temple. To date her mother can, “still toss off a mean time step in the kitchen when she feels like it,” says Janet who was enrolled (along with her three sisters) in dance classes as a young girl.
Janet teaching a student at a workshop. Pix by Nilan Maligaspe
Janet has since gone on to enjoy a career in professional performances in New York City where she danced with the Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane Company. With a Masters of Fine Arts in Performance and Choreography from the University of Michigan under her belt, she says that the combination of physicality and artistry keeps her in dance. Early experiences with choreographing her own pieces have shaped her approach. “This interwoven practice of training the physical and thinking dance artist is part of my tradition and is what drew me to teaching in a university after I received my advanced degree,” explains Janet.
Janet received a Fulbright Award in 2009 to teach contemporary choreographic methods at the University of Pune, India. “Contemporary Dance is a form that has evolved out of classical Modern Dance a Post-Modern Dance in the United States,” says Janet, pointing out that the form emphasises physical and artistic expression that is not limited to one style or theatrical element – contemporary dancers often integrate theatre and new media into their performances.
She taught at several other institutions while on the sub-continent and found the experience an eye opening one. “Everywhere I travelled I found serious dance artists interested in expanding their knowledge of dance composition and thinking about dance and dance making in new ways.”
Looking back, two of the highlights of Janet’s career will always be teaching 110 dancers in a composition workshop at Rabindra Bharati University and discovering the innovative work of Jayachandran Palazhy and the Attakkalari Repertory Company.
It was at the last location that she met choreographer, Nilan Maliguspe, who had succeeded in impressing Janet with his “dramatic choreographic impulses” in the workshops he attended.
The two kept in touch and when Janet and her husband planned a visit to India, they decided they would fit in Sri Lanka as well. The couple explored the cultural triangle in Sri Lanka and upon their return to Colombo conducted a contemporary dance workshop for around 40 young dancers at Nilan’s Arpeggio Creative Dance Academy in the Warehouse Project. Excited by the success of the project, Janet now hopes of the possibility of returning to Colombo to work further on contemporary dance training and choreography.
For Janet, being able to teach has always been the logical third step after being first a performer and then a choreographer. “I love working with young dancers and choreographers,” she says.
“The ways that they are incorporating their ideas about the world and art continuously fascinates me.”
Recognising the challenges dancers in Sri Lanka face, Janet shares her belief that they have great potential. Many of them wouldn’t be able to support themselves as fulltime dancers, but it’s a problem artists around the world share says Janet. “What is amazing is that the dancer always finds a way to practice their art.”
Follow @timesonlinelk
comments powered by Disqus