Alexandra Clark-Stilianos
Alexandra (Lexi) Clark-Stilianos comes to Columbus via a very circuitous route. She has had the opportunity to live and dance in many different places including Chicago and Los Angeles. She has been in and out of Ohio for quite a while now, having most recently obtained her MFA from the Ohio State University, but she recently returned to the Columbus dance + performance art scene to set down roots and become a more permanent fixture within our community. As a result, she brings with her an exciting amalgam of style, networking, and understanding of the ways in which dance making can occur. With the launch of brand new dance and technology company, STILGO, Lexi has some very exciting things in the works and on the horizon. We think she will become a vital member of our dance and performance community, and we’re excited to hear more about her work in her own words. We hope you are, too, as you read some of what Lexi shared with us here:
Q: How would you describe your art?
A: Questions like this seem hard sometimes, since you’re so on the inside of your work most of the time. It asks you (importantly) to take a step outside. I would describe my choreographies/installations/works as both busy but soft, loud but clear, comforting, disquieting, layered, a little gritty - like me. My choreography is typically grounded, momentous, punctuated by musicality from my commercial dance training, but decadently feel-good. I strive for it to feel good to do, not easy or complacent, but lush. It often involves the artists and the audience intertwining themselves, involving the people who are performing dance and performing spectatorship to create the work together. That has appeared as them actually altering some audio or video while the piece is happening or playing games with the cast in the lobby ahead of time which is added in later on in real time. I was working on a piece entitled SLIP pre-covid that examined concepts of domestic labor and arts vs craft through knitting practices in dance- we arm knit a giant projection surface in real time, ask the audience to construct that surface/participate as well, and knit our bodies together while using feminist knitting practice and how they intersect with feminist dance practices (the Craftivist Manifesto is a great place to start). With all the contact involved that will need to be shelved for the time being but I think it’s a good example- integrating ourselves, our audiences, and using our bodies to construct movement ideas as well as visual fiber art sculptures to be projected upon. I make art that is usually big in scale to create worlds for us to temporarily live in, thats where the projection and technology can be very useful. I also usually try and design my choreographies so they can be stand alone interactive installations before or after. As a dance maker who will sit in an audience wanting to also be part of the performers world, curating as aspect that offers (but does not require, consent based) the opportunitiy to engage in some way rounds out the experience for me. I create dance spaces and dance works I would want to see and reflect the values I honor.
Image Description: Color image of three individuals from the waist up gesturing around torso and head with flowing fabric against a white background.
Q: You recently moved back to Columbus after spending a few years in Chicago, and you already have some upcoming workshops, events, and other creative endeavors. Tell us more about STILGO, your new company based in dance and technology, and where that is headed as you lay down roots as a Columbus dance artist?
A: Yes, I am back in Columbus- and so happy to be here. When we all went virtual, the dancers I had been working with in Chicago for a festival commission and I moved online like most people. With some trial and error we found an online company class model that felt super invigorating and not one that just tried to replicate in person classes, which garnered more frustration than good vibes. It also allowed me to connect with amazing dance colleagues in the field across the country, how else could I be sharing dance space and energy with artists in Seattle, New York City, Columbus, and Chicago at the same time? I loved this model, and plan to continue hosting company classes online throughout our staying home and after.
STILGO has long been a dream of mine, but I felt I didn’t need to make a company per say if I was just making dances, since that could and was being done as an independent artist. I decided to launch it now (in the best of times? worst of times? time is a construct ya’ll) because I realized there was more I was already doing under it’s header. STILGO can and aims to be a home base for me, a jumping off point for us, site of collaboration for others, and a place to be radically safe in all bodies and identities in dance. What that means exactly will continue to grow but my favorite and most fruitful dance spaces have been radically open and deeply uninterested in uniformity so we could all throw our bodies around as they are and as we wish, and I want STILGO to be just another place for that.
STILGO as a company just “soft launched” with a few different events. Our short dance film “Siren Redress” premiered at the 10th Annual Going Dutch Festival as a featured commission (can be viewed here until end of November) and I was super excited to be able to throw together this project before departing Chicago. I also hosted a movement workshop and a lecture about what Isadora is, all on Zoom. Additionally, the first session of Isadora For Dancers just concluded in which I teach other dance artists with no experience in the creative platform and media server Isadora how to use it for their own dance works. I immersed myself in this program in graduate school and found it to be super accessible for someone with little previous tech background and felt empowered as an artist being able to use its creative tools I want to share that with others. STILGO dance + tech will explore dance, technology, and the intersection of the two from my/a dance makers perspective. I always give a warning that I am a dance maker first, and a technologist second- because even though I am passionate about it, it is what I am less experienced in but I think that transparency is important. It’s empowering to be able to offer these creative tools to other dancers who may feel that level of programming is above their heads- because its not. Especially since technology is still so male dominated Being able to create your own visuals not only widens your container as an independent artist but also makes you a more informed collaborator when tech week rolls around. I had the opportunity to experience dance and technology intersections in my grad degree (shoutout to ACCAD and OSU Dance) but that may not be others path, or maybe they just want to dip their toes. I definitely could’ve done more if I was introduced ahead of time and I love offering that to my colleagues in the field. The classes are running as a couple 4-week sessions to introduce the maker to Isadora and then offer more advanced techniques, and afterwards we will meet for small gatherings to share ideas, works in progress, and otherwise have a supportive cohort to develop similar work alongside. It helps to not make in a vacuum and the Isadora community is already so generous and open, I want to toss my hat in the ring as anther place to convene and share works in progress.
My visions for STILGO dance + tech are for it to act not only as platform for my choreographic works but for others with the same values, platforms, and movement ideals as I do. Movement opportunities, tech classes, spaces to meet up with other dance tech people to share works in progress, and much more (to be imagined). I will continue to work with dancers in Chicago and also want to start working with dance artists here in Columbus too. I have been generously offered commission by Side Street Arts to come back and take over their galleries for a full show of November 2021 and I’d like that show to be a model for future work. Working with dancers in both cities and bringing them together, with the goal to also self-present that show here in Columbus as well. The whole midwestern dance scene is so rich so while I want to ground myself in Columbus (new home base! thank you for the already warm welcome CDA) I also want to continue to foster those connections from Columbus to Chicago and between/beyond. As an independent artists I have presented work all over Michigan in the past few years as well so it’s very apparent the midwest is my artistic home.
Image Description: Color image of a left arm and shoulder stretched across the foreground of the frame from right to left, and a crouching body in the background positioned under the first body’s arm, against a brightly lit window backdrop
Q: What are your hopes/dreams/desires for dance in Columbus, your dance or otherwise?
A: I am excited to reconnect with the community here, I was here for my MFA at Ohio State but was mostly wrapped up in the dance community as its associated with the school- which is fantastic but only one side of Columbus dance. Columbus is one of those cities that proves that a thriving dance scene can exist outside the big pack-up-your-stuff-and-move-there-cities (which don’t kid yourself, I have also done). I love seeing the artists here that both make work to take it elsewhere but also are gripping their roots tightly in their own community. I want to contribute to that.
Beyond the other things STILGO will do, I have had the goal to start a collaborative intermedia dance jam that works with any and all movement based groups in Columbus once we can all meet safely en masse again. Creating a space and a score with lots of interactive elements to play with, source material to fish through, and an open collaborative playlist to center the space.
I am excited to make work here, and get involved (as a supporter, participant, spectator, etc.) with all the companies here who have lead the charge before me.
Q: What other Columbus based artists are you inspired by right now?
A: I love the work that Flux and Flow and Seabus are doing, and anyone in general who is committed to both accessibility and community. Let’s get bodies moving how they want to move (or resting how they want to rest) and have plenty of places to do so. I also am inspired, generally with artists of any medium, but especially fiber arts since that is a hobby of mine. I am looking forward to jumping in the deep end of what makers are doing here- to see, support, collaborate, etc. I feel like I both know the community, but also have some catching up to do, having been away. When I first moved to Chicago, I didn’t make any public work for at least 6 months because I felt it important to find my footing in that dance community. Its different on this side since it’s more of a reunion and I already have some wheels churning but I always thinks its important to leave your own mark while recognizing and supporting what was already there. Put me in coach!
Photos Credit: Laura DeAngelis
Graphic Design: Taylor Clark-Stilianos
Image Description: Color image of individual standing on right leg with left leg lifted, knee flexed, and worse tilted sideways to the right at a 90 degree angle in front of a cinderblock wall and window backdrop with white block letters reading STILGO
CDA extends our thanks to Lexi for being our November Community Spotlight artist. If you missed her recent social media takeover, or her Instagram interview with Hana Newfeld, you can check them out HERE!
If you are interested in learning more about or supporting Lexi’s ongoing work you can check out her website and subscribe to STILGO’s newsletter at www.stilgoco.com, follow on social media (Facebook and instagram @stilgoco), or donate via Venmo (@aclarkstil) or Zelle/quickpay/Paypal (adstilianos@gmail.com).