Conversations with Jeff Slayton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Slayton.

Hi Jeff, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Richmond, VA. At the age of 8 our family doctor prescribed dance lessons to strengthen my right leg that I had been wearing a brace on since age 4. As it turned out, I was talented and loved dancing. By age fourteen I was performing in a local ballet company and in musical theater shows in venues around the city.

I was a Theater major for one year at Richmond Professional Institute (now Virginia Commonwealth University) but dropped out and worked as a draftsman at the Virginia State Highway Department for two years. Totally bored, at age 21, I enrolled in the Dance Department at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York where I studied with Viola Farber, Bunty Kelly, Marie Adair, Dan Wagoner, Don Redlich and others. After my first year I took a two week workshop at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio in NYC where Mr. Cunningham gave me a full scholarship and soon asked me to join his company. I never returned to college and have never regretted the decision to leave.

I performed with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (1967 – 1970), the Viola Farber Dance Company (1970-1983), Jeff Slayton & Dancers (1978-1983) touring Europe, South America and the USA. I choreographed new works for several small dance companies, dance department students around the US and in South Korea, and I was on the dance faculty at the American Dance Festive in Durham, NC for eight summers (1988-1996).

I taught part-time in the Dance Department at California State University, Long Beach from 1978 – 1985 and full-time from 1986 to 1999. Because of all my professional experience as a dancer and a teacher, I retired in August of 1999 as a tenured Full Professor of Dance without a formal degree. I freelanced in several university dance departments from 1999 to 2002 including University of California at Berkeley, Mills College, and the North Carolina College of the Arts.
I dropped out of the dance community for several years to work on some personal issues, but returned in 2010.

After writing for Seedance and Bachtrack for two years, in September of 2017 my partner and I launched the LA Dance Chronicle and we have grown from 1 writer and 1 technical person to a total of 13 dance critics and dance writers.

I am the author of two dance books: “The Prickley Rose: A Biography of Viola Farber” and “Dancing Toward Sanity”. Both available on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Jeff+Slayton&crid=170FJTL9VTTWM&sprefix=jeff+slayton%2Caps%2C203&ref=nb_sb_noss_1)

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Yes and no. I was very fortunate to get a professional performing career and because I had excellent training with Viola Farber and a lot of teaching experience at her studio in NYC and around the world, getting a teaching job after moving to California went smoothy.

I am not a very good business person and after 6 years of trying to keep my Los Angeles based company, Jeff Slayton & Dancers going without good management and because my partner at the time died as a result of AIDS, I had to close the company down. I went on tenure track at CSU, Long Beach not because I wanted to be in academia, but I had huge medical bills to pay off. My partner had no health insurance.

Once I retired from CSULB, I developed an alcohol problem and so in 2003 I left dancing all together and worked on myself and my personal problems. I am now 22 years sober and life is going well again.

In the business of Dance, money is always a problem and dancers have to reinvent themselves constantly. As it turns out, I was very good at that.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
After returning to the dance scene in 2008, I noticed that the local newspapers were not covering the LA based dance companies, but focusing primarily on the touring companies. I was asked to write for an online dance site SeeDance and the London based BachTrack reviewing dance in LA. I did this until 2016 and was going to truly retire, but instead, my partner Martin Holman and I created LA Dance Chronicle.

Our mission at L.A. Dance Chronicle is to promote the Art of Dance and to provide artists with critical and supportive reviews needed for promotional materials, grant proposals and fund raising.

In Addition, our writing staff will provide in-depth articles that inform and inspire present and future audiences. We seek to provide a centralized performance calendar and a newsletter for Los Angeles area dance artists to share promotional news throughout California and beyond.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Throughout my career I have tried to listen to my mentors. For my dancing career, Viola Farber was my mentor as well as an incredible friend. For my career as a dance writer, Ann Haskins has been my north star and she has never led me astray. I would say that dancers need to learn from and pay attention to those teachers whom they trust and whose advise has been fruitful and shy away from those who promise overnight success. Talent, hard work, discipline and luck are what has proven to be the elements of what it takes in this business.

The dance business has a huge number of dance artists but it is actually a small community. I am not good at being social but I am good at building connections with people in the public relations community.

Pricing:

• Subscribing to LA Dance Chronicle is free.
• Pricing for promotional articles ranges from $80 to $200.
• Reviews are free with the exception of two press tickets.
• LA Dance Chronicle is considering providing space for ads.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ladancechronicle.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladancechronicle/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LADanceChronicle
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/76264153/admin/dashboard/

Image Credits
Photo of Jeff Slayton in pink: Jeff Slayton in film titled “Brazos River” featuring the Viola Farber Dance Company – Directed by Robert Rauschenberg and music by David Tudor – Photo courtesy of Viola Farber Archives.