Door Number 12: Years ago, Franziska found BodyVox by coincidence. Due to the cancellation of a tour of Pilobolus, Franziska was looking for a replacement – and BodyVox (Portland, USA) was there and could step into all arranged performances. What luck! Here you will find our interview with Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland, the Artistic Directors of BodyVox since 1997.

NDKD: What does DANCE mean to you?

Jamey Hampton (JH): Communication of our deepest joys, fears, and possibilities. And lots and lots of very hard work.

NDKD: Why did you become a dancer | technician | choreographer | cultural worker | theater director | ballet master?

JH: Nothing else was even close to fulfilling my desire to have a magical life.

Ashley Roland (AR): I believe I became a dancer/choreographer because I knew of the art form's ability to bend and redefine reality.

NDKD: What role does music play in connection with dance for you and why?

JH: Music is the river on which the vessel of dance travels.

NDKD: What was your first encounter with dance?

JH: In 8th grade, in 1967, I was 13. My school in Portland, Oregon hosted a graduation dance party. As the turntable spun songs by the Jackson 5, all the boys were on one side of the room, all the girls on the other side. No one was dancing, of course. They were just awkwardly looking across the room at each other. 

Something inspired me, and I crossed the chasm of embarrassment to the other side and asked two black girls to dance. The three of us went to the middle of the room and started dancing. Keep in mind we had never done this before. We started slowly, kind of internal, checking out the crowd to see if we were violating some code of conduct. But   soon we were our own world, and we began dancing with vigor and abandon.  For 4-5 minutes this went on. Everyone on the sidelines just stared at us. It was incredibly invigorating. It was part performance, part indulgence, part celebration. 

I suppose that at that moment I became aware of the ability of my body to speak in ways my voice could not.

AR: I grew up in a musical household. Both my parents would play music and sing in church and at local events. When I was very young (3?) I climbed up on a coffee table in my home, took my clothes off and danced feverishly to a song on the radio called "Georgie Girl". All through my childhood, my friends and I would put elaborate shows together and perform for our parents. Filled with song, dance, and theater, these shows were the foundation for a life of performing. Being on stage was completely natural for me. Thankfully, I was drawn to concert dance rather than stripping.

NDKD: How do you work exactly?

JH & AR: We always say that we never stop working. We have worked together for close to 40 years, originally in MOMIX and ISO Dance, and with BodyVox for 24 years. We are married with two sons, and our lives are intertwined on deep and essential levels. Our imaginations are active, and we exist in a world of creativity that seems rather timeless. We develop ideas for our work in both random and predictable situations. An idea for a show might come to us on a hike or might emerge as a response to some event or series of undeniably absurd human juxtapositions. Sometimes we recognize a void in our world that needs to be filled with something we can create. We share a sense of responsibility towards expressing the mystery and beauty of the human experiment. We also share the belief that dance is a perfect vehicle for humor.

Once we have the germ of an idea, it enters our lives completely. It follows us everywhere we go, cooks’ meals with us, rides in the car as we take our son to school. It sleeps with us and wakes up in the morning with us. We spend hundreds of hours with our wonderful dancers bringing this fleeting idea into form and existence. Sometimes it's like a wild animal, sometimes like an old friend. We've made close to 30 shows together, and each one is a close friend to us. And a wild animal.

NDKD: Your favorite choreography you have seen/danced yourself?

JH: It seems that throughout my life, different dance performances have struck me profoundly. The most earth shattering/reality shifting experience was seeing "Astarte" by Robert Joffrey in the early 70's when I was 14. I sat in the second row, on the aisle, with my mother. Halfway through the wild proceedings on stage (it was, famously, a "psychedelic" ballet), there was a brief respite, and a lone woman was onstage...the goddess Astarte. Suddenly, a 6'4" man seated next to me stood up, squeezed through the row to the aisle, and began walking towards the stage. As he approached, he began taking his clothes off. At the foot of the stage, he was down to his underwear. He climbed onstage and did a sensual duet with the goddess, while a film of them in closeup was projected on them. I completely believed all of this was really happening...that the man (turns out he was the famous dancer Christian Holder) was just some guy who had violated the rules of decorum in the theater. That someone was filming them and projecting it, like in the news. I was fully immersed, shocked at what I was seeing. I was the ideal audience member...I bought it completely. 

NDKD: List three words that are related to dance/culture for you!

JH & AR: Vibrant. Mysterious. Essential 

NDKD: Finally, please describe yourself in one sentence.

JH & AR: Our role on this earth is to encapsulate the vast range of the human experience through beautiful theatrical productions that inspire and uplift our audiences.

NDKD: Many thanks for all your answers! Merry Christmas!

Photo by Michael Shay