INTERVIEW WITH CHOREOGRAPHER JADE WILLIAMSON

 

Jade Williamson is a dance major born in Pearland, Texas. Just right outside of Houston! She moved to Austin in the fall of 2018 to pursue her education at ACC and eventually UT as well. Some facts about Jade is that her favorite color is a tie between blue and green. Her favorite movie is 10 Things I Hate About You and her favorite series are Black Mirror and Doctor Who. Her favorite book is Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Her current favorite song would have to be anything from Hozier! She also,  “loves her some Rihanna”! I mean who wouldn’t! Some dance styles that inspire her would have to be a mix of modern and jazz. She loves being able to combine the two styles to create new and sometimes weird movements! 

After she graduates With her AA in dance and her BFA in Theater Education from UT next year, she plans to be a theater teacher in a school. She would love to incorporate dance and movement into her theater classes as much as possible. One day, she hopes to open up her own theater and dance company. 

Jade’s piece in the show is called “Different Only By One Letter.” This piece was something that was born out of her own experiences with love and loss. Jade knows the emotions that come with both experiences can be overwhelming and surprisingly, scarily similar. She hopes that this piece can convey the transitions that happen physically, mentally, and emotionally when we lose someone that is or was close to us. She hopes the audience can feel the pain, relief, and rush of it all simultaneously. It was definitely challenging for Jade to try and create a dance film during a pandemic! For her, the choreography creation was interesting, as it was all done in her small apartment living room instead of a dance studio. It was very fun for her though, when she was finally able to get outside to film and to be able to translate all of her movements into a larger space. Filming was worrisome for Jade at first, as she wanted to ensure that she was being safe while still creating the scene and look that was essential for her piece. Luckily Jade had an amazing best friend Morghan to help her with filming and finding locations. Together they trekked through many parks and wooded areas in Austin and found exactly what they needed! 

Jade hopes that the audience feels the rawness of what she is trying to portray. Every action has an equal but opposite reaction. For Jade, in this piece, it is love and the loss that often follows. Whether it's a family member, a friend, or a significant other, losing a love that was felt so deeply hurts. The loss can come from a break-up, betrayal, death, or simply just drifting apart. Grief comes in all shapes and sizes. Jade wants us to know that sometimes we let ourselves become deconstructed or we lose our sense of self in the process of grieving. We always come out feeling raw, and that's okay. She also wants the audience to know that it's okay to hurt during the transition of loss and that we can come out of it stronger and wiser than before.

Interviewed by Taylor King