Today we’d like to introduce you to Ariel Osterweis.
Ariel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am currently a Performance Studies scholar who teaches at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). I teach courses in Critical Dance Studies and Performance Studies. I got my start as a dancer, studying at San Francisco Ballet School throughout childhood. I moved to New York as a teen to study at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, then on scholarship at the Ailey School (home of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater). After dancing professionally with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Mia Michaels R.A.W., Heidi Latsky Dance, and others, I decided to go back to school, so I earned my BA in Anthropology at Columbia University, after which I earned my Ph.D. in Performance Studies from UC Berkeley. After Berkeley, I worked as a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. I was thrilled to land a job at CalArts because it meant I would be in an arts-centered environment and my kids could grow up in LA. We live in Studio City near my kids’ school. I have three: Dashiell (12), Zane (10), and Soleil (4), and they are all very athletic, creative, and bright. I find it fascinating to teach college and graduate school students while raising younger children. I learn from the next generations. My days are spent with a combination of teaching, parenting, and writing books.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My path has been anything but smooth. While I have had many successes and came from an economically stable background, I have taken many risks in life which have resulted in both great highs and clunky failures. As we are well-aware, professional dance can be very competitive and is often ruled by an unhealthy regime of bodily perfection. I was always auditioning in one way or another – for roles in pieces, placement in companies, and more. One develops quite a thick skin in the dance world! Advice I would give to young performers is that, while choices made in the performance world are not always “fair,” they are not to be taken personally. Perseverance is key to any career in the arts. The same goes for academia. As a scholar, one submits articles and book proposals in the hopes of publication; one also applies to teaching or administrative jobs over the years. If your passion is consistent and you have a strong work ethic, the rest will fall into place. We don’t always know which information will stick throughout the years, but one thing I remember reading in a magazine or hearing in an interview was something like, take your work seriously, but not yourself. Somewhere, somehow, one must call upon a sense of humor.
What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
I am finishing writing a book on the dancer Desmond Richardson. The book focuses on virtuosity, race, and sexuality. I have brought my artistic experience into conversation with my scholarly interests. The book is under contract with Oxford University Press. I am also working on a book of interviews with artists and scholars who focus on performance and the body. Finally, my next monograph will be called Prophylactic Aesthetics, and it focuses on latex, spandex and sexual anxieties of the 1980s and 1990s as expressed by contemporary artists working in dance, visual art, and performance. As of late, I have rekindled my love of performance practice and most recently performed with Julie Tolentino in embodied, durational work. As a scholar-practitioner, my hope is that all my writing gives the reader a sense of embodiment and sensual orientation while paying close attention to socio-cultural contexts of production. As a queer, mixed-race person (Korean and German-Jewish), my perspective is always informed by multiple angles as well as a sense of in-betweenness.
For good reason, society often focuses more on the problems rather than the opportunities that exist, because the problems need to be solved. However, we’d probably also benefit from looking for and recognizing the opportunities that women are better positioned to capitalize on. Have you discovered such opportunities?
“Opportunities” is an interesting word for me because it suggests that there are predetermined containers into which we may or not fit. I have always been someone to “go for it.” When I feel I want to pursue something, whether it’s ballet training, a life in New York, or the study of Anthropology, I have poured my entire being into it. I suppose I have thought of my pursuits as “lifestyles” more than “opportunities,” “jobs,” or “destinations.” I am most fulfilled when working and living at the intersection of pleasure and fear; I love a hearty challenge. I think women are well-positioned to change the world!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Ariel Osterweis in REPEATER, 2019 by Julie Tolentino
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.
