Rachel Oliver Young: MOVEMENT

2021 Artist-in-Residence at Traveler’s Rest

How was your experience as an Open AIR Artist-in-Residence?

I gave birth to twins the same year that I started a full-time job as the Education Director of Dance at Denver School of the Arts. I was flung into a completely new life, and lost time and creativity for awhile, and with that came the self-doubt of what it means to be an Artist with a Capitol A, and if I would ever be able to call myself that again. Experiencing the Open AIR Residency program with Joy French was just what I needed to reignite my creativity, give me time and space to be an artist again, and most importantly to collaborate, create, and discuss life and art making with a fellow artist and mother, who I admire and love.

What was your research process during this time?

As a dancer and choreographer, my art form is inherently about product, and the experience for the audience. Joy and I were caught up in that in the beginning, and had to really slow down and change the focus to be more exploitative and to think of the residency as feeding our process and giving us tools far past the residency.

What are you up to now (post Open AIR)?

I am still the Education Director at Denver School of the Arts, so I regularly choreograph and teach dance to students, grades 6-12. Additionally, I serve on the Presenting Denver Board, working to promote and produce dance in Colorado.

How would you describe your work?

I am a contemporary, interdisciplinary choreographer focusing on collaboration with other artists and dancers in order to bring my interest of human interactions and experiences alive in my work. The dancers are very much a part of the movement invention and the creative process, and their style and idiosyncrasies are present in the work. Movement choices are very much determined by the needs of the piece. My work springs from impulse, intention, and curiosity regarding the subject of the piece. How does this text inspire me to move? How do I represent certain feelings or situations in an abstract way? I enjoy exploring athleticism and the potential of the human body through physicality conveying emotion, movement manipulation and dynamics. Full-bodied and articulate movements are often accompanied by clear, intriguing gestures. Accompanying this physicality in my work is focus, repetition, stillness, and speed.

Any new projects in the works?

I am currently working with Presenting Denver, to create a Site-Specific Dance Festival in August of 2022. This site-specific program shows a variety of unconventional and unique approaches to dance and space, while showcasing a variety of dance artists and companies from around Colorado.

See more of Rachel’s work at www.racheloliveryoung.com