interview with everything smaller
by asimplesound

where are you each from and how did you get here?
jessica jolly is from the outer banks of north carolina. david schmidt is from durham, north carolina. donnell turner is from raleigh, north carolina. we all met as undergrads at the university of north carolina at greensboro around 1998. david moved up to new york in 2001 and jessica and donnell came up a year later in august of 2002. we had all romanticized dancing in new york and possibly moving up after college.
when was your first time working together as a group?
we decided to make our own work and started rehearsing together in october of 2002. at first, it was really just a continuation of what we had been doing in college. pretty immediately, we realized this was the only way to fulfill our creative drive. we were dancing and choreographing and directing together.
what is your collaborative rehearsal/choreographing experience as a three person company?
to expand our vocabulary as dance artists and efficiently run the business end of a company, we decided to share many roles. working collaboratively affords us the opportunity of bringing three unique approaches to one idea. many times our processes are different but our motivations and ideals are the same. in time, we have learned each other's work habits and we know how to pick up where the other has left off. the answers to this question seem to bleed into the answers for the next one so we will hold on to this idea....
what are the challenges in starting and maintaining a dance company?
very often we have varying drives to get things done. from one rehearsal to the next, we have varying degrees of inspiration, energy, etc...it really is about compromise and listening to each other. we have a great little family that can get just as dysfunctional as any nuclear family. that's when the compromising comes in. I think we have learned to give up our power from time to time. if there's no give, then we're all going to be pulling at each other. we definitely bring in different strengths at different times. sometimes david is the movement machine, while jessica organizes the architecture and mood. other times, donnell will feel more inspired to create movement while jessica is handling the business end of things: finding extra rehearsal space, working on the website, or organizing proposals. we all do these things at some point in the game. it's just about communicating what we are up for at that moment.
some other challenges are the typical money, space, and time. we are always having to decide what work is appropriate in terms of length, meaning, size,etc... there are various performance opportunities and if we're not invited or presented to do something specific, we have to decide what piece is going to be proposed and where.
the notion of success is relative. a lot of it is being in the right place at the right time. running along side that idea, you put as much as you've got into your art and there will be a return...eventually. we have a lot of heart and enthusiasm for our work. we do believe there's a considerable amount of power in that. that emotion and intent shows in the work and that is a form of success.
describe the workshops/classes you are teaching these days.
we teach modern technique, choreography, and improvisation on a highschool and college level. we freelance teach, working from one small residency to the next. our past residencies have been spent in colleges in arizona and vermont. our next masterclass will be taught in february at a magnet highschool in raleigh, north carolina.
what are you working on now and in the near future?
we are working on an evening length piece being produced at triskelion arts on february 22, 23, and 24th of 2007 in williamsburg, brooklyn. we have a summer residency to create work and teach at swarthmore college in philadelphia in collaboration with lighting designer and production manager, paul moffitt. we will be premiering that work in the philly live arts festival in the fall of 2007 and then premiering it in new york at dance new amsterdam in october. (bottom right photo: steve clarke)

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