By Steve Sucato
A native of Columbus Grove, Ohio, Morgan Ashley began her dance training in the second grade at a local Cheer Dance studio. By the sixth grade, Morgan began attending dance competitions and continued those through high school. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance from Kent State University before joining GroundWorks as a teaching artist this past January.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I went through so many different ideas of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Some examples were a photographer and a cake decorator.
Do you favor a particular dance style?
I am trained in modern dance and it is my favorite codified discipline. My favorite style to move in though does not fall under one style of dance, it is however my body wants to move or whatever fits my goal in the moment.
You attended two Regional Dance America (RDA) National Choreography intensives, what lessons from there have you incorporated into your choreographic approach and how would you describe that approach?
RDA’s National Choreography Intensive has two parts for its choreographers; choreography and music. Both years I went I have had the opportunity to work with talented music directors who have opened my eyes to aspects of music that I hadn’t thought of before. I have left both intensives with more knowledge and excitement to collaborate with composers to create new scores for my works. Each day I was given objectives and limitations to create work with and those pushed me to explore how and what I create as a choreographer. Choreographic assignments included one day where we had to create a unison piece, the next day we had to focus on partnering. In the last intensive, a large focus was on including our dancers’ voices in our creative process. This was difficult for me at first but by the end I found out how beneficial this was in expanding my own movement vocabulary. This also aided me in finding a middle ground between my vision and how the dancers I am working with move best. By the end of the ten day intensive I was all created out but I think it is important to push the limits of oneself. I learned what choreographic practices and movements I fall back on and what new concepts I can come up with.
You received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance from Kent State University, were you interested in a performance career?
I did go into the program wanting to be a professional dancer dancing with a company like many of my peers. Within the first 2 years of my college career I found myself questioning that goal and my ability to succeed as a professional dancer. While I am a trained dancer and have had the opportunity to work with some wonderful choreographers, learning other’s choreography is difficult for me. I was in a meeting with my advisor at the time talking about her choreographic career when I rediscovered my love for choreography. From that point I have decided that if I cannot find a choreographer’s movement or movement style that fits well on my body, then I am going to create my own. Despite this I still love to perform and if I were ever given the opportunity to perform again I would take it without hesitation.
Throughout your time as a dancer/choreographer, who has been the most influential choreographer you have worked with or have followed?
I had the opportunity to work with dancemakers Nick Cave and William Gill on their project HEARD•Akron which was the Akron installation of a nationally performed work. HEARD focuses on creating a community of the artists in the area. The performers were recruited from multiple organizations around Akron including Inlet Dance Theatre and of course Kent State Dance Department which is how I got involved. The music for the project was created by local jazz musicians so even the sound of HEARD•Akron was unique to our community. I also enjoyed this project because it was not only a performance of dance, it was a collaboration spanning many forms of art including live music and costumes that were works of art. This was an inspiring experience for me as a young creator and I am glad I got to be a part of it. Choreographers that I did not have the honor to work with but whose concepts and works inspire me are Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch. I enjoy chance as a choreographic tool and like to experiment with it when I am working. Then Bausch’s Café Müller is a video that is often on in the background when I am doing things and is a piece I show people when we are talking about dance.
What about teaching dance interests you?
Dance has given me so much in life from purpose to a strong work ethic. To be able to pass on that gift to children and other people who have not had the opportunity to experience it is an honor to me. I get to do what I love, share that with others, and do it for a living. I don’t think there is a better way to do things.
How has your interest in teaching been fostered as a teaching artist for GroundWorks?
I am new to teaching, my first real job as a teaching artist started in January of this year. I did not really know what I was doing but I knew I enjoyed it. Despite not having a lot of experience there were people who believed in me and have helped me along to make me the teacher I am today. One of those people was Rebecca Burcher, the last Education Director for GroundWorks. Through my training as a teaching artist I received in depth information that I have not had before that has been important for myself as not only a teacher but as someone who has been through the education system in general. Our Education and Outreach program is through the lens of Trauma Informed Care which transformed the way I look at teaching and how I look at interacting with other people in general. Also working in both Cleveland and Akron I get to reach a large population of people and artists which helps me grow as a teacher and a human. I am very thankful for the opportunities GroundWorks has given me and I am excited to continue to work and grow with this company.
As the lead teacher at GroundWorks’s summer program at Cleveland’s Riverside School what kinds of activities/lessons did you teach and what age groups?
Over this summer I taught three levels of dance classes at Riverside School to students from all over Cleveland. I taught a class of 3rd graders, 4th and 5th graders, then a class with 6th through 8th graders. For the 3rd graders I taught a class focused on BASTE which breaks down dance into basic levels including Body, Action, Space, Time, and Energy. It answers the questions of who, what, where, when, and how in dance. Then for the students 4th through 8th grade I taught a class focused on social and line dances. No one lesson plan works for every group of students, so even though I was teaching the same curriculum to my 4th, 5th graders and my 6-8th grade students, the two classes went in completely different ways. There was a final performance for this program and each grade level had presented its own dance. The 3rd grade students created a dance with the help of the teaching artists that was built on concepts that were taught during the 5-week program. This performance was also done in collaboration with drumming students who rehearsed a beat to accompany the dance students. The 4th and 5th graders created their own line dances which came out wildly creative in the best way. Then our 6th through 8th graders performed a group TikTok dance then a few individuals did a TikTok dance they wanted to show in addition to that. Each level was excited to show what they had learned and was as unique as they were. Reflecting on the program at Riverside, the students kept me on my toes, every day coming in with new ideas and needs that I had to think quickly to meet. Even though we only worked with these students a short time, they were important to me being the students of the first program I ran as the lead teaching artist for GroundWorks. I have recently begun our afterschool program back at Riverside School that spans the whole school year and there are a few students who took the summer program that I get to see again. I have been met with hugs and excited greetings from these students.
What is something most people do not know about you?
In my down time I make a lot of visual art. This started with watercolor in college and now I work in many mediums, basically anything I can get my hands on. This includes, but is not limited to, acrylic and oil paint, candle wax, a lot of mod podge, potting soil, coffee grounds, rocks, and cardboard. My art has taken on a mind of its own and that is what I love about it. It is so different from the performing arts in a way that I can do anything I want. If I want to glue a Kraft mac and cheese box to a pane of glass I can, and I have. I have so much art sitting around my apartment that some of it is in boxes or stacked behind my TV. To combat this, I am putting my art in a gallery and hoping to sell some of it to someone who isn’t going to store it in a box. The gallery is at the Jenks Building in Cuyahoga Falls and my art will be going up in the beginning of November.
Photo of Morgan Ashley by Sydney Banks