Ep. 90- Michele Moss
Questions asked in this episode:
Take us back for a moment to starting a jazz company. How did that come about and why Decidedly Jazz? (2:05)
What is your opinion right now on the state of jazz or maybe what dancers are missing about jazz? (5:40)
What was it that you think gave DJD the longevity? How did you get so far and keep it relevant for so long? (12:57)
As a university professor, what do you perceive as maybe mismanaged expectations in that first semester, in their first year of university? You get a bunch of dancers maybe from really competitive studios, a range of experiences- what is the hardest thing for them that they didn’t anticipate? (18:31)
Now, you are guiding your daughter through that transition into the professional world. How did you start helping her, mentoring, guiding but also allowing her that freedom of choice because now she’s an adult and has to decide what next? … Where did you have her start and what did that guidance look like? (28:19)
What has been the best thing that you have done for your body to keep it healthy for a long career? (35:28)
Michèle Moss is a dancer, choreographer, researcher and educator. She is a co-founder of DJD (Decidedly Jazz Danceworks) 1984 through to 1999. She continues to collaborate with DJD on many teaching projects, most recent choreography presented in 2008 and most recent performance, the 30th anniversary concert, in 2014. She finds great pleasure in exploring the nature of jazz, through performance-creation and arts-based educational research. She enjoys a diverse career in dance; at this mid-point she is celebrating 15 years of academic service and scholarship. Her professional training has her seek out many experiences including swing, salsa, house dance as well as educational and current training practices to enhance her studio practice. Her research mostly takes the form of creation projects but also includes textual projects, recently co-authoring chapters, with Dr. Jill Crosby, on the history of jazz in a Feb 2014 publication from the University Press of Florida called Jazz Dance: Roots and Branches. She greatly enjoys her U of C teaching assignments and finds the studio a vibrant place to be. During recent years she has been happy to have funded performance-creation projects take the stage working with small and large casts and often with live music. These collaborations with musicians are always especially satisfying and dynamic. She is fortunate to be the recipient of choreographic commissions and international teaching assignments. Publishing her research in journals, magazines as well working on book chapter assignments have been very rewarding. She has conducted ethnographic research in field sites such as Italy, Jamaica, Poland, India, Japan, Sénégal and The Gambia, West Africa as well as New York City, New Orleans, Winnipeg, Toronto, Victoria, Paris and Montréal to name a few locales. Her most significant ethnographic field sites are Guinée, West Africa and Cuba. She considers herself a citizen of the world; born in the UK of Jamaican and British parents, raised in Montréal, resident of Calgary and frequent flyer in search of the best vantage point from which to consider dance and dancing. Onward Weltanschauung-ers!
