ARTIST BIO: Deanna Jolley is a 20 year old dancer, and student at SUNY Fredonia. She has been performing in competitive dance pretty much her whole life. Currently, she performs with Orchesis (@fredoniaorchesis) a dance company here at SUNY Fredonia. In addition to being cast in several pieces, she has also choreographed a beautiful dance which you can find on her Instagram page, @deannadance.
Charlie – Today I’m here with one of my bestest friends, Deanna Jolley. Big D, to start this thing off, tell the people how you got your start in dance.
Deanna – I started in dance because my parents put me in dance when I was, like, three years old, I think. I started at a strict ballet studio, which wasn’t fit for a three year old. Then I went to the studio that I danced at throughout my elementary, middle and high school years.
Charlie – With starting out so young, have you noticed any changes in your relationship to dance as you’ve grown into the person you are today?
Deanna – For sure! I think as I’ve matured I’ve started using dance as a coping mechanism, instead of just a physical outlet. It definitely shows in my dancing! With more emotional involvement in [dance] my technique became more mature, more fluid, and more grounded. As I’ve grown into the person I am, I’ve grown into that style.
Charlie – So, you’re a lesbian woman! That’s a big part of your identity, does your queerness have any effect on your style as a dancer? Or your personal philosophy when it comes to dance?
Deanna – Yes, as a queer person, you kind of have to learn how to fit in, but also stand out. I feel like that can be hard in dance, you gotta get a little weird with it! I think being a lesbian has opened my eyes to a lot of my interests, to a lot of my weird interests, and I think that shows through in the modern and funky dance styles that I enjoy the most. I like the freedom of being able to move in ways that aren’t traditional in ballet, and I think that aligns with the freedom that comes with being gay.
Charlie – Beautiful! Moving on to something a little less uplifting; dance was one of the categories on my survey that people showed the least amount of interest in, why do you think this is?
Deanna – I think dance lacks a lot of respect from the average person. There’s this whole conversation of is dance a sport? Is it an art? Is it both? Is it neither? I think a lot of people don’t see the potential in dance. I don’t think they understand that it is an artform, along with the physicality it takes to perform. So, I think a lot of it is a lack of respect for dance in and of itself. Not to mention, that it’s a female dominated industry, and people simply tend to not respect women’s work. They don’t take our pain or effort seriously either. And that all contributes to a lack of respect for dance as an art.
Charlie – Dance is pretty intense, and has a lot of lasting physical effects on the body, can you speak on the evolution of these effects? Talk to us about the positive and negative aspects of the physicality of this artform.
Deanna – Hell yeah. I can leave dance and come back and still have my body strength, just because it’s so intense that if you do it for so long and put so much of yourself into it, you kind of have that base to come back to. There’s also the aspect of injury. I personally have had many, many an injury in dance. It’s hard to heal because when you get injured you’re expected to just keep dancin on it! If I had a broken toe, a sprained ankle, a fractured vertebrae [laughter] like I had this past semester, you’re just expected to continue on and just deal with it. That’s the mindset in dance. The lasting effects are both very positive and negative. You have a lot of strength, you have to be strong to dance and you have to have balance, and know where your center is, and all that jazz. But, there’s also the injury side of it where you are expected not to allow yourself that time to heal, that can make injuries become kind of lifelong. Also, it’s just so intense that you really can’t avoid gettin ripped. You gotta work for that shit.
Charlie – I think it’s important to ask; what aspects of dance are you the most passionate about?
Deanna – I’d say I’m most passionate about contemporary [the dance style]. I’d say the reason for this is because of how grounded it is. I’m really fascinated by the dancers connection to the floor, how your feet have to move through the floor in ballet, how you have to know how close every part of your body is to the floor to stay controlled. The floor gives you a lot of control, because when you have that connection, you know exactly where you are, exactly where your weight is. I also just love rolling around on the floor, if you’ve seen me improv that’s basically what I do.
Charlie – Music and dance are, obviously, heavily intertwined forms of art. Do you find that for your choreography you have to have music? Or is it more about sound [in general] and emotion in relation to it?
Deanna – Personally, I find myself able to choreograph best to sound. I would say music, but I think it’s more about the feeling of what you’re hearing, and trying to portrait that through movement. I’m definitely not good at coming up with a move and just putting that to music. I need a beat, or something steady to go off of. I’ve talked about this with you before, and you asked me if I think I could choreograph to the sound of water flowing, or something like that, and I definitely think I could. I think it’s more about taking what you hear around you and trying to portray that to other people in a way that makes sense to you and how you’re receiving sound. Music is the easiest though, because there are basic emotional connections you can make to it and work off of.
Charlie – Can you compare and contrast dance to other, more traditional, forms of art? (music, painting, sculpture, etc.)
Deanna – Hmmmm. In physical art, you have a concrete, permanent, image or creation, something you can see from all angles, something that you can come back to. As where, with dance, you can only really see it when someone is intentionally moving in front of you, you can only see it from restrained perspectives for certain amounts of time. It’s hard to replicate exactly what you just did, which I know can be the same with music. I think the practice aspect of dance and music are similar; you have to keep working at it in order for the product to be what you want it to be. The physicality is what really separates it the most. Not to say that musicians don’t work hard and have to use their muscles in certain ways, dance is just a full body experience you can’t really get with anything else, besides maybe another sport. But I think there are more similarities than differences.
Charlie – Your main major here at SUNY Fredonia is Earth Science Adolescent Education, since dance doesn’t seem to be your primary focus career wise, how will it be intertwined with your life post grad?
Deanna – In my dreams, I would love to dance for a company, along with teaching [Earth Science] in a school. I think most realistically, what my true plan is, is to teach at a dance studio and choreograph while I’m teaching at a school. That makes the most sense for me, that’s what the dance teachers I had growing up did. Ideally, I would love to dance for a contemporary company. I love the professional movement world! It’s so fun, and I would love to be a part of that. I will always continue dancing, no matter what.