PEOPLE OF DJD//

There are many people that make up the community at the DJD Dance Centre. From artists, administrators, volunteers and beyond, these walls are pulsing with personality.

MICHÈLE MOSS
DJD Co-Founder
Dance artist, choreographer, writer, scholar and educator – also known as Professor Moss, tenured associate professor at the University of Calgary

1.WHEN DID YOU START DANCING? DID YOU KNOW RIGHT AWAY IT WOULD BE A BIG PART OF YOUR LIFE?

I started dancing at a very early age. My mother says I started at two years old in the local dance school in Liverpool, UK. Of course, I remember little from that time, but I can see something in those early pictures – pure joy. Those same pictures do create a swirl of positive emotions inside me. It seems that I have loved dancing, and music, forever. I was very lucky to have a mother and father who appreciated and respected the activity. I was also very fortunate that the UK educational system advocated for dance and the many benefits of the pastime. When reflecting on my journey I feel I knew quite early that it would always be part of my life because of the pure delight I felt when in class and on the stage. The moment I really knew was when I moved to Canada, a Centennial year immigrant, and attended Saturday school at Montreal’s NCC. I attended the Negro Community Centre in downtown Montreal, far from my suburban home, because I loved the environment. It was a wonderful blessing to attend the NCC and although the memories are mostly fuzzy I recognize that the experience was seminal.

2. WHAT INTRIGUED YOU THE MOST ABOUT JAZZ?

I encountered jazz music at the NCC but also in my home. Both my parents were devoted and passionate music lovers, non-professional vocalists and aficionados/collectors. To this day my mother can rattle the windows of her home with the volume at which she plays her favourite artists. These artists are more what we at DJD call the ‘cousins of jazz’: soul, gospel, calypso, reggae and R&B music were, and are, most often found on the turntable.
I came to understand and appreciate jazz from the centre of the form back out to the edges, this early educational journey was provided by Vicki Willis. I was excited, indeed overjoyed, to dig into the form. Of course, Louis Armstrong, Ella and Duke were played in my childhood home, but I had a lot to learn and Vicki was a great teacher. Vicki took the time to reveal to me the standards, the luminaries, the form variations and how to appreciate the different sounds. I have gone on to find many musician teachers, guides and collaborators. What has always intrigued me about music in general is percussiveness, the groove, the rhythm section! I am drawn to funky and soulful sounds. I love instrumentals and love jazz vocals-it’s the storytelling I am drawn to. I love going back in history and indeed have made my focus the roots of jazz, the West African contributions to jazz music and dance. I found, and find, intense joy in African music and dance as well as Cuban. I thrill at watching and dancing Senegalese sabar and any number of Guinean traditional dances. The Atlantic slave trade brought my ancestors to Jamaica and music niches such as ‘blue-eyed soul’ and R&B are evidence of my British ancestors’ interest in the mind-body connection and artistic expression through music and dance. I feel that it is my cultural legacy. The breadth of the jazz genre is so intriguing I’m sure I will not come to the end of my research before my end. I am interested in unpacking my passionate embodied response to all kinds and genres of jazz music. The topic has long intrigued me, I love listening intently –on a headset but being on the dance floor is my favourite place to be and I like to share all I have learned.

3.WHAT WAS IT LIKE IN THE EARLY DAYS OF DJD?

The opportunity to make dances for the concert stage has been such a fantastic and ongoing thrill. Experiencing creative expression, collaboration and being a member of a community –local and global-is very fulfilling. The current meme and expression about finding your tribe and loving them hard is what happened from day one. Beyond the pure pleasure of digging around in the musical inspiration, engaging in embodied creativity, expansion of imagination, intellectual stimulation, emotional outlet, ability to jump into the flow of innovation and study a historical form, it’s really been all about the people. The DJD family- past and present- is what has made the journey so great. From BFF, Hannah Stilwell to mentor, Vicki Willis and husband, Damon Johnston to the many company dancers—what would live have been like without my DJD family?!
The ealy days were bright and alive with camaraderie, support and solidarity and I loved it, I feel so lucky to have experienced that! Then the icing on the cake was to take our offerings, crafted with earnestness and devotion, and share it with an audience, it was a gift. I learned so much from those glory days about jazz, performance creation and about Michèle. Those days, and these days, are rich and exciting. Many years of primary source embodied research around the world— and considerable book-learnin’—have provided a great foundation for a career as artist, educator and scholar—it continues to be a great ride!

4.HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MOVEMENT AND APPROACH TO DANCE NOW?

So many of the foundational licks and riffs are burned into my muscle memory. These include early weight transfer training from tap, style research undertaken on the discotheque floor and on the African continent. I’ve been social dancing, as well as studying technique in traditional western-style dance classes, for many decades now and I continue to be inspired by theatrical and social dance, urban practices and cultural dance forms. I am also deeply captivated by music from back in the day and contemporary music. I love working with musicians and exchanging ideas and learning more and more. I do take some pride in rooting out the gems and sharing/creating great pairings for my students. Many of my movement choices and my creation approach moves ever more toward a high degree of playfulness, groove and R&S, rhythm and style. Oh and… (inset breathlessness) exploration of the human condition, lived experience, emotion, imagination, inspiration, ritual, (more breathlessness) visual art, storytelling, design, music and hmmm, errrr, simply…life!