Interview with Dance Department Chair Catherine Solaas

Interview with Dance Department Chair Catherine Solaas

Q. What has inspired you to teach dance? 

I'm a student of dance as much as I am a teacher of dance. I learn every day from my experiences, my students, and my own lifelong research of the field I love. If I can help inspire my students to hone in on their passion, develop their talent, or explore the inherent magic in dance, then I am inspired.

Q. What is the best thing you have learned in a dance class - as a teacher or a student?

Oh gosh, where to begin! One of the first important revelations for me as a young dancer, was that dance is not about the performance. Every part of dance education is about the process. The learning process, the creative process, the process of mastering technique. It's the journey that matters.

Q. What is your background in dance?

I finished my undergrad and graduate degrees in dance at the University of Oregon, then moved to NYC to dance with the Tiffany Mills Company and Ursula Payne. While there, I took classes with and was inspired by too many great artists to mention, among them David Dorfman, Lisa Race, Miguel Gutierrez, Michelle Boule, Alexandra Beller, Michele Bloom, and so, so many more. Then I moved to Norway, where I joined the dance faculty of a performing arts high school. While there, I was very fortunate to work with an international consortium of artists: Jill Sigman, Janne Wetre, Kristin Norderval, Æsa Bjørk Thorsteinsdóttir, Renate Pittroff and Christoph Theiler. I've had the great fortune of working with some TALENTED folks!

Q. Do you have a mentor who inspires or inspired you?

So many people have inspired me in my career! Sherrie Barr, retired professor of dance, taught me to use my iliopsoas - that was a big one! She continues to inspire me today, and I think back on our Bartenieff fundamentals and Laban movement analysis classes at UO with great fondness - even though we all thought wearing unitards was cool back then.

Q. How did you get into dance?

I truly fell in love with dance as a college junior, while majoring in math. I've loved to move all my life, and imagining myself sitting at a desk doing research in math for hours on end seemed to be my grim destiny. Until one day, I was walking down the upstairs hall in Gerlinger Annex on the UO campus in Eugene. I heard some loud percussion booming through the doors of one of the dance studios, and I was captivated. I stood outside of the room, mouth agape, and gawked in at a room full of bare-footed women moving their full bodies asymmetrically with parallel feet... really well. Immediately, I changed my major to dance and worked really really hard to audition into that advanced modern dance class. 

Q. How long have you been dancing?

Wow, well I suppose I am truly a vintage dancer at this point. I started dancing professionally 25 years ago... go ahead and do the math. :)

Q. Do you like to dance barefoot or with socks?

Barefoot always and forever.

Q. What is your spirit animal?

The deer. Or so I've been told. :)