Today we’d like to introduce you to Olivia Gieringer.
Olivia, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Throughout my life, dance has been the motivating force behind everything I do. Beginning in sixth grade, I attended Denver School of the Arts, a performing arts magnet school where I majored in dance for the seven years of my adolescent life. I was surrounded by a small group of artists, both students and teachers, that supported me to explore my artistic capacity starting at a young age. During this time, I had the freedom to tap into my connection to not only dance but also music, fashion, visual art, and academic scholarship; my environment piqued an interest in creating my own work very early on. Additionally, I trained at Michelle Latimer Dance Academy under the direction of Michelle Latimer. Growing up, I practiced a variety of forms including ballet, contemporary, modern, hip hop, and jazz, in which I was able to cultivate and evolve into my own distinct movement style over time. After graduating from Denver School of the Arts in 2016, I moved to Los Angeles to study at the University of Southern California as a BFA Dance Major in the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance under the direction of William Forsythe and Jodie Gates. At USC, I have trained under a number of master teachers and choreographers, furthering my higher-level education in dance. After suffering an injury in my sophomore year of college that left me physically unable to practice dance for a year, I reestablished my relationship to choreography and fell back in love with dance all over again. Now, I am fully recovered and starting my senior year at USC Kaufman and plan to continue evolving both as a dancer and choreographer.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
First and foremost, I am a dancer and performer. In the process of learning choreography, my goal is to approach the movement as authentically to the choreographer’s vision as possible. And in the case that the choreographer that I am working with is not specific about their vision, I offer a collaborative approach in which I contribute my own ideas to assist in making the work come to life. As a performer, I hope that my performance is so moving that people feel the desire to get up and dance with me! In addition to being a performer, I am a choreographer as well. Every time I choreograph something, the process is always different; however, the one thing it always starts with is a strong connection to the music. In using the music as a guiding principle to formulate a physical embodiment of sound, my choreography is strategically designed to create recognizable patterns and motifs that are organized in a way that is unpredictable to the viewer.
Have things improved for artists? What should cities do to empower artists?
I believe that the life of an artist, at least in America, will always present adversity. The opportunities are limited while the competition of incredibly talented people is increasing exponentially. I think that the most important thing the people of Los Angeles can do is to make a consistent effort to expose themselves to as many different types of art as they can. Additionally, commissioning or buying work from local artists is extremely important. And if financial support is not possible, it is always helpful to volunteer time to organizations that support the arts!
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Being that I am a student at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, I regularly perform in our free shows that are open to the public! Also, I have recently been very interested in choreographing for film. I have a YouTube and Vimeo channel that I post everything I have created and I will be producing many more films in this upcoming year! I also regularly post short dance videos on my Instagram, @oliviagieringer.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 3039471271
- Email: gieringe@usc.edu
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliviagieringer/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Olivia-Gieringer-723002651420655/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI7w58gjSccaoU0ERnn6kYA?view_as=subscriber
Image Credit:
Christopher Duggan, Ella Gallaty, Alex Brinson, Jackie Kopcsak
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
