We spoke with Darion Smith about his upcoming artist residency at Pacific Lutheran University.
Smith says that the spring residency at the campus in Tacoma, Washington, will enable him to teach and to create new work with dancers from PLU. As Smith puts it, "[m]y aim is to make it a powerful experience for the students at PLU by integrating their creative abilities into my studio classes and during rehearsals for the new work I am creating."
Photo: Pacific Lutheran University
Many of these creative opportunities will come through improvisation and compositional tasks. To that end, Smith plans to offer PLU student dancers "new ways to experience dance and develop their own voices."
It is the quest to find an artist's voice and to use dance as a mode of storytelling that propels Smith's choreography. "One of the main reasons why I fell in love with dance is its ability to tell a story," says Smith, who believes that as a choreographer and a dancer he is "a story teller too." This is why he looks forward to guiding the students in class and rehearsals, by helping them to discover more about themselves as creative individuals.
Stay tuned to the Janusphere Dance Company Blog for more on the work Smith plans to develop with Pacific Lutheran University students this spring, and where and when it will debut.