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January 2006: Lori Teague

Dance Program Associate Professor Lori Teague Unveils Autobiographic Inspiration and Stories of Doorways in “Doors That Open”

Lori Teague, associate professor in the Emory dance program and an independent Atlanta choreographer, collaborates with four distinctive casts to create an evening of original dance . “Doors That Open” premieres January 19-21, 2006, at 8:00 p.m. in the Schwartz Center’s Dance Studio . (For tickets or information, call 404-727-5050 or go to www.arts.emory.edu.) The evening holds both sides of experience, the qualities of loss and possibility. Teague talks about the show, how her dances are inspired by her life experiences, how she came to Emory, and other topics.

Q: What motivated you to produce the “Doors That Open” show?

A: There are lots of reasons. First, I’ve never done set design so I was interested in delving into it. I said, Let’s have doors everywhere and see how that becomes transformative. The set design has doors swinging, hanging, and hinged in the space. Transformation is the umbrella concept in this concert. The theme is based on moving from things that are hurtful in our lives or blocking us—you have to move in order to transform. It’s healthy. The dance concert is also about creating possibility in our lives. It analyzes whether the door is always open or whether someone has pushed it open for you, how you make choices of walking through the door.

As for the specific dances—most of my work comes from personal experience. At first, when I’m thinking about putting together a dance, I see these images, and they don’t really mean anything to me. But then something emerges, and I say “Aha, this is about my inner narrative!” I don’t mean my dances to be cathartic but they just are. For example, one of the pieces that came to me developed its context in the rehearsal process. I was building the material with three interesting dancers. The goal of the improv was to stay physically connected the whole time. The dancers moved and continued to physically connect. As I continued to watch the piece, it felt really sad to me. It seemed to signify loss. I realized, This is about my family! I lost my brother when I was ten years old. That event is a landmark for my family. So that improve, with the three dancers trying hard to stay connected, was how I perceived my parents, all of us, surviving this loss and moving forward. I remember my life being fine after my brother’s death. But trauma is there; it’s hidden in our fiber. It’s in the pain that we all know.

Another catalyst is that I am an optimist. I am interested in looking at why I am this way and why others are not. I think in the way our world is right now — with natural disasters, political disasters and personal disasters — how do we find moments of levity and fun? For example, there is a piece in the evening’s performance that really is offbeat. We started off with a spelling bee. Greg [Catallier, dance program lecturer] asked me why we were doing a spelling bee. I told him that I’m intrigued by the ways kids stand there so formally, happy to “get it right.” Also, these days, with computers doing so much for us, a lot of people have spelling phobias. So when someone has to spell a word, there’s something going on in the body language that’s interesting to me. So I’m taking that kind of fear and insecurity we have as adults, and exploring what it turns into.

Q: How did you become a dancer and a dance teacher?

A: I did some studio training starting at four years old but was lost in high school, sort of floating. I thought, What am I going to do? I knew I wanted to do something physical, so I returned to dance. After I finished high school I went to Columbia College, a liberal arts women’s college. I had never done modern dance and this program, like most college programs, was modern. As soon as I was introduced to it I had this deep connection to motion and improvisation, and just knew I was a choreographer.

I had great teachers and mentors in my training, but also experienced some limitations in my dancing. I thought, well, I’m not going to New York. I love making dance and I love teaching, and I have been able to combine these here in the dance program at Emory.

Q: What other kind of training have you had?

A: After I graduated from college, I went to Ohio State University and got my masters in performance/choreography. I did a three-year program and absorbed a whole lot. I also became certified in Laban Movement Analysis [LMA]. Movement analysis gives you a framework for looking at the way people move. For example, you might be looking at a woman’s role in a society. If this woman walks with head down and shoulders slumped, what does this say about her societal role? If I’m physically tilted, then I’m communicating something. It’s body language. This study carries over into dance. I am interested in movement analysis both psychologically and culturally. LMA continues to change my life; it makes me a better teacher. Now I understand kinesthetically and psychologically why, for example, a student cannot execute a particular movement.

Q: Did you dance professionally before you came to Emory?

A: When I got out of graduate school, I danced with a folk dance company called Zivïli. Everybody in the company except for me had family in the Western Balkans. Folk dance is all about community and culture. If I had stayed in Ohio, I would have stayed with them longer, because I am really drawn into dance and culture. Today, I explore dance through the form “contact improvisation,” which is about touch, weight-sharing, connections, momentum. It’s like physics. You are in contact with another person all the time, whether it’s weight-bearing or light touch. You are yielding—you are listening and improvising, trusting your own impulses, discovering choices. Because the form is not archetypal it opens up so many things. It is not just standing in a vertical. You are morphing; you might be in a line that is falling and then flying up on someone’s shoulders. If someone flips you upside down, you have to figure out how to balance yourself. You have to adapt.

Q: How did you come to Emory?

A: In 1992, I was just getting ready to go on a camping trip with my husband when one of my professors said she thought there was a job opening up in the South. Two weeks later, I was talking to Sally Radell [director of Emory’s dance program] from my residence in North Carolina, and then she hired me.

Q: How have you seen the Emory Dance Program change over the years since you have been here?

A: It has grown. My job was just a one-year appointment at the time, but it then turned into something more permanent. Sally Radell was the only one here, and now we have five faculty members. Back then, students could minor in dance; now we have a major. We also have moved into the Dance Studio in the Schwartz Center, which we hope is making us more high profile. We have a summer scholarship, and we have more web space.

Q: How else do you like to spend your time besides choreographing, dancing, and teaching?

A: I’m kind of crafty. I would rather make things than buy them. I love to sit down and make a card. A while ago, I was on a tour with Several Dancers Core, and we went to the city of Tblisi in Georgia [the former Soviet Union republic]. It was November and it was freezing. The government would turn off the lights at a certain time of day, and there were all sorts of limitations. We were staying with these visual artists. I thought to myself, “What do we have to complain about? We say we don’t have a grant for this or enough money for that. These people have nothing and yet they get up every day and make art. They create something.” That is my resolution, to try to be more creative.

Edited by Nancy Condon
Communications Coordinator
Arts at Emory

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