Today we’d like to introduce you to Cylene Walker-Willis.
Cylene, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I grew up in the rural red dirt of Oklahoma. At two years of age, my mother put me in dance class at our local dance studio were I promptly “almost” quit. One of my older brothers (of which there are five) picked me up one day from dance, and I told him I would not return. I was done dancing. On the way home he asked me why and I explained that we had tap AFTER ballet and I could not tie my tap shoes by myself (I was and still am a very independent woman). My sweet brother then spent the evening sewing elastic into my tap shoes. He claims now to have saved my dance career.
So I kept dancing and then competing, which I loved. In hindsight, this was such a good thing for me. It kept me humble and helped me learn to deal with my nerves. I kept dancing and competing throughout my childhood and even in high school. I also became part of the high school drill team. But after graduating high school, I assumed I was done dancing. I had looked at colleges that had dance programs, but I also loved science, so it seemed at the time the logical decision to go into science. At that time, which was the late 90s and being from a small town in Oklahoma, I really didn’t know what kind of dance opportunities were out there. I knew I didn’t really want to join a dance company, so I thought dance was over for me. I had taught some dance in the after-school program at my local elementary school, and that was great. I discovered that I loved teaching, but that type of job for me was not going to be there forever. So I went to college and got my degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. When I graduated, I still didn’t have a plan. Dance opportunities kept presenting themselves, and when they would pop up, I would take them. These were jobs like teaching, choreographing, subbing for a local dance studio, and even several opportunities to perform. I found myself teaching High School Biology in another small town in northern Oklahoma, and while I still occasionally had opportunities to dance, I felt like dance needed to be a priority, and it wasn’t at that point. I wasn’t myself anymore. Something was missing. I had met my husband, David, who is a freaking rockstar and we were living in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He is so supportive and always encourages me to take those dance opportunities. About three months after we were married I mentioned potentially going to graduate school for dance…thinking it was a pipe dream. First of all, where I wanted to go (Texas Woman’s University) would take me away out of state for several years because I couldn’t ask him to pick up and move (I wanted to come back to our town) and we were just newly married. What was I thinking!? His response was immediate, “Follow your dreams. You have my support no matter what. Always.”
So I did… At thirty-six years old I quit my very secure job, moved to a new state, and went back to school. Graduate school was no joke. I was challenged physically, mentally, and emotionally. In fact, after the first week of school my father, who I was incredibly close to, passed away unexpectedly. That was the hardest year of my life. I began to truly understand grief in a way I never had. This truly affected my dance making. Two of the reasons I had gone back to school was I wanted to better understand dance pedagogy because I wanted to teach at a university and I wanted to grow as a choreographer. This grief, this loss changed me in such a way that I sought to find catharsis in my dance making. I began making work about humanity. I had an incredible desire to understand us, humanity. I knew that stories and personal narratives connect people, so I began studying those facets of our psyche that we don’t discuss…things like grief, depression, anxiety, fear. I looked for a way to make work that didn’t tell other peoples’ stories, but I wanted to use movement, sound, lights, and costumes to create an environment to show those who struggle that they are not alone.
I have since graduated and moved back to Stillwater where I teach at Oklahoma State University and Dance Star Productions. I am also the Creative Director/Founder of Brave Productions and Brave Art Dance Theater.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do? Why? And what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Humanity fascinates me. We walk a tightrope between our drive for independence and our need for one another. In my work, I seek to highlight this paradox by creating a dance collage that uses imagery through gestures, ritual, tableaux, and text to explore personal and social narratives. My art promotes awareness of the individual within the collective community.
I believe that stories and personal narratives provide an opportunity to connect the one to the many by making the I, we. In dance that very concept has the potential to leave an audience inspired or hopefully maybe even changed.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
Local, national, and international events are what influences my work. I think artists are the provokers of conversations about social and political issues. I think that has always been the case to some degree, but it seems more so today. To me, it feels like it’s our job to shed light on these topics through our work.
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?
My dance company Brave Art Dance Theater performs regionally. We also collaborate with Sylvestre Wilde Dance Collective in Texas. Our next performance will be at the World Dance Alliance- Americas Conference in El Paso, TX. Our schedule of events can be found at www.braveproductions.org.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.braveproductions.org
- Email: braveproductionsok@gmail.com
- Instagram: @braveartok
- Facebook: Brave Art Dance Theater
Image Credit:
Personal Photo: Cylene Walker-Willis
Dance Photos: Britt’s Eye View
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
