Lithe figures writhe around each other in a chaotic jumble on-stage, each being lifted high by the others before being pulled back into the group. The six artists wear layers of tattered clothing that remind the viewer of struggling survivors more than the professional New York dancers that they are.
However, in time an order begins to take hold. The frenzy slows to a controlled movement. A lone woman emerges, balancing carefully upon the backs of the others. The men and women form a human chain, slowly guiding their cargo offstage.
This isn’t a live performance, but a video. It is part of a larger piece entitled “Landfall” by University honors college alumnus Tiffany Mills. She visited campus recently to talk about her experience founding a successful New York dance company.
Mills spoke at the Robert D. Clark Honors College to faculty and guests, several of whom taught Mills during her years at the University.
“She’s doing really cutting-edge work,” said Therese Picado, the honors college communications coordinator. “It’s really quite exciting.”
Mills’ presentation comes at the end of a month-long visit to the Northwest with her husband. She said she regularly returns to the West Coast during the summer to visit family and to teach.
This year she spent a week teaching at Conduit Dance in Portland, and three weeks at the Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, where she created a new piece.
“My language is movement,” Mills said.
Mills said she is a Eugene native whose interest in dance began in her early years with tap lessons and gymnastics, and eventually involvement with musical theater and the Eugene Ballet.
After graduating from the University in 1992, she received a master’s degree in dance from Ohio State and moved to New York in 1995 to work as a dancer and choreographer. Five years later, she had started the Tiffany Mills Company, a nonprofit dance studio.
Mills says she wants to use the company to generate interest in dance as a medium for communication, to expand beyond the “same people at the same concerts,” and to grapple with broader issues that affect a wider audience.
“‘Modern’ dance is a problem word,” Mills said. “We’re neither modern nor post-modern. We are contemporary but that’s not the right word. We are creative moving beings. We need a title.”
Following that creative vein, Mills’ work in progress is entitled “Tomorrow’s Legs,” which incorporates movement and speaking to explore real stories in dancers lives.
Produced in collaboration with British theater artist Peter Petralia, “Tomorrow’s Legs” will premiere in February at the St. Mark’s Church in the East Village, New York. Mills used voice-over-IP software to make telephone calls over the Internet to allow Petralia to work with the company from his home in England.
To prospective dancers and choreographers who want to make their living in the industry, Mills has both words of warning and encouragement.
“Cultivate lots of skills,” Mills said. Competition is forcing many professional dancers to work at several dance companies at once. Dance companies like hers, with a dedicated cast, are a dying breed, while “pick-up companies” with one-time dancers are becoming more popular.
“Gotta love what you do,” Mills said. “That carries you on.”
The Tiffany Mills Company offers internships to university students interested in the dance industry. More information can be found at www.tiffanymillscompany.org.