Fans of Jessica Lang Dance, this is your last chance.
On January 24th, 2019, the final Michigan performance from Jessica Lang Dance will take place at the Wharton Center. Artistic Director Jessica Lang is the mastermind behind her company’s diverse lineup of original works. I spoke with her about the final tour with her company, her method for choreography, and what’s next for her.
Stefanie Pohl: What, or who, was it that inspired you to learn the art of dance?
Jessica Lang: I started when I was three, so I don’t quite remember. I have an older sister, and she really wanted to dance. My parents were season subscribers to the ballet, and they would take us to see the shows. I was really inspired by the music, the orchestra in particular. I started taking dance and violin simultaneously. I had really wonderful teachers my whole life, but it was Joe Lanteri who I met when I was about 13 or 14 who said the right thing at the right time. He said I was really talented and I should take his class in New York sometime. That did it. To me, it was the right combination of everything, and I never looked back.
Pohl: Is there a lesson you learned from him, or along the way, that has always stuck with you?
Lang: I think the most important action is to do. You can dream, you can think, you can say, but if you don’t do it, you’ll never know. You have to try and find your way. You fight for what you want, and you have to take in all of the messages coming to you — good and bad. If you do that, you’ll end up in the happy place because you’ll know you’re where you wanted to be.
Pohl: What is the process behind conceptualizing and choreographing a piece of dance? Is it the music, or a feeling you want to invoke, or something else?
Lang: I am always working and looking for what inspires me to make my next dance, and that is the world around me. It could be a relationship, or history, or a poem, or a piece of art. I might see potential in these things and concepts, and my reaction is to make a dance. Sometimes it’s the music, and sometimes it’s art. I would say it’s least about the music, but for example, we’re bringing our piece “This Thing Called Love,” which is inspired by the music of Tony Bennett. There, we’ve already established a mood and a classic sound that it evokes images to me. It’s about trying to find what I see and put it into reality.
Pohl: With this being your final tour with the Jessica Lang Dance company, would you consider the lineup of dances to be the highlights from your repertoire?
Lang: Yes and no. We work really hard with the presenter to create a program that would be right for the community we visit. We have about 15 active pieces of repertory, we talk to the presenter about what works they want and what we would want to bring. This is our second time at Wharton Center, so we’re not bringing back all of the same works. For sure, with this program we’re bringing, they’re all my favorites. I think it’s a really nice, diverse program that offers something for everyone. It’s also a response to our society today and what we need as an outlet. I think about how I want my audience to spend their time, and that is surrounded by beauty and music.
Pohl: When you perform in different spaces, do you need to adjust the choreography or select programming that works best in a particular space?
Lang: Sure, both. We are very conscious of the capacity and capability of the space. It’s all about if they have a projector, how big is the space, how big is the wing space, what set design can we bring, where is it located in the country? There is so much to touring that people don’t always think about or consider. The production sets arrive the dance before, and the dancers arrive the morning of a performance. We quickly space the entire show, which means adapting everything. The dancers are adapting so fast, but we get at least one touch of every piece and compute that as quickly as possible.
Pohl: I imagine being that adaptive would be exciting, but also a big challenge.
Lang: Yeah, we do different things. For example, with the Tony Bennett performance, we have this confetti drop that should fall behind the scrim. We just performed in Florida, and there was no exit on the right side of the stage for where the scrim would be. We eliminated the scrim and adapted the confetti drop. It’s fun to do that, because it keeps it a challenge for myself and the production staff. To me, I have a concept and a way I see the work looking its best, but I’m also open to being flexible to that work and making it look the best in wherever we are.
Pohl: Are there any favorite pieces of dance by other artists that you look at and aspire to or admire?
Lang: There’s so much. The language of dance speaks to me in so many ways. I can say straight up, I love this work by Mark Morris, L’Allegro. If you catch me in the right mood, and I’m probably most likely alone in the theatre and not trying to engage with the people around me at intermission and I’m able to be quiet and watch that, that work really moves me in a way that is unique and special.
Pohl: With the Jessica Lang Dance company closing in April 2019, what are you looking forward to working on in the future?
Lang: Just making a lot more time for creative process. When you make a dance, you’re really investing so much in that process. I want to dive deeper and take a bit more time and be more thoughtful with each creation. I’m going to just keep creating, perhaps for different types of organizations. I did opera in the past and would like to do that more, or getting into film. Creating more dances — that’s what I do. I want to focus solely on that for now.
Don’t miss Jessica Lang Dance at the Wharton Center this Thursday, January 24th. Click here for show and ticket information.