Sarah Ramey
Image Description: Color headshot photograph of Sarah Ramey
This month we are so pleased to feature Sarah Ramey as our CDA Community Spotlight artist. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies before spending time performing with Gesel Mason and Liz Lerman. Sarah came to Columbus in 2013 by way of an MFA program in Dance at the Ohio State University. Upon graduation in 2016, she embarked on a creative path perhaps a bit different from the one she had planned at the outset of her graduate study. A serious knee injury “changed [her] plans significantly” and set her on a path toward imagining her dancing life differently. She worked as assistant to the directors at Ballet Met here in Columbus from 2016-2018, and—while balancing her schedule as a full-time mom—is currently teaching some virtual inter-generational classes. But one major aspect of her life that has led her to reimagine her creative process and output was becoming a mother. In 2018, Sarah’s daughter was born, which has led her to reflect on how the seemingly disparate aspects of artistic and home life have found intersection and cohesion.
We interviewed Sarah about how she sees herself as an artist in the Columbus dance community. Read more of what she had to say here:
Q: How would you describe your art?
A: Right now, it's really in a process of evolution. After a long recovery from ACL surgery in 2016 and then having a baby in 2018, I've not had a consistent dance practice until very recently. These events were life-changing in very different ways, and it's only now that my daughter is approaching age 2 that I've felt like I'm in a place where I can make dances again. One of my main interests as a choreographer has always been exploring the highs and lows of the human experience, and how pain and joy can somehow live alongside each other. Part of what motivated me to return to dance-making was experiencing these extremes in such a concentrated way as I walked through different seasons of motherhood and discovering that dance was a way to process these life changes and understand them a little better. So my art right now feels completely tied to my daughter, even when I'm not making something that is about her. My whole experience of myself and the world changed when I became a mother, and this extends into what I make and how I make it.
Q: What has your experience been making art in the Columbus dance community?
A: I've found the artists in our community to be so supportive of other artists, and this creates a climate that encourages the creation of new work and new ways of working. Artists here are very entrepreneurial. I think of Rashana Perks Smith making dances in her house and then recently initiating the CVLmoves project to find ways to create live performance experiences that could be safely created and performed during a time of social distancing. I really appreciate, too, what Columbus Dance Alliance has done to create performance opportunities through the CDA WORKS series--it's really vital to have opportunities to share work and get feedback, and I think this has really met a need in the community.
There is also real respect for dancers who start training later in life, and a desire to give people of different ages and dance backgrounds opportunities not just to take class but also the chance to create dances and perform. Because I work so much with older adults, it really excites me that people who are coming to dance when they are older, or who want to continue to dance as they age, have many options in our city because the studios here are so welcoming to adults.
Image Descriptions: (Right to Left) Color photo of Sarah Ramey outside a residence standing on a stone stair step and leaning backwards supported by her hand grasping a metal handrail. Color photo of Sarah Ramey and the cast of her dance piece “With Me” sitting close together and smiling. Color photo of Sarah Ramey and her spouse, Steve, in front of a residence. Sarah is supported by one leg and leaning backward while Steve is seated to her right, playing the guitar.
Photo Credit: (Right to Left) Mindy Ramey, Sarah Ramey, Mindy Ramey
Q: Your work seems to exist at the intersection of the community and the family unit in a way that demonstrates a deeply interpersonal dynamic. Can you speak to your process of dance making that illuminates this dynamism?
Image Description: Color photo of Sarah Ramey body facing away from the camera, standing on her right leg with her left leg extended behind toward another dancer crouching on the floor.
Photo Credit: Due Wu
A: I've found that in this stage of my life, I can't separate my artistic life from my family life. Due to the fact that the pandemic has created a condition in which my husband, daughter, and I are in our house together constantly and because of my role as my daughter's primary caregiver, all the parts of my life sort of blur together. Right now, I'm rediscovering my process and learning about the kind of art I make now, as a 36-year-old mom who can't train like I used to and can't actually move like I used to. I really valued pushing my physical limits when I was a young dancer and a lot of my choreography came from that, but now I'm learning about how my body dances now when I can't do everything I want to do physically. It's really very frustrating. But I've found that the constraints have also forced me to consider my choreographic choices more deeply, and I've found a freedom in trusting the body I have now, and learning how it moves, rather than imposing some past idea I have about dance on it. It's funny because for years, I have taught dance classes to older adults and made dances with them, and I'm always preaching about how people can dance at any age, and our physical limitations make for interesting choreography, etc. but I didn't really have to face those things in my own body until this year.
I've also had to let go of my expectations of what rehearsal should look like (hours in a studio) and embrace the conditions created by my version of motherhood. My rehearsal time has to be extremely focused because it is so short, and generally I rehearse at home rather than in a dance studio. It was very freeing to just work with the resources I have rather than try to fight for something that doesn't really work for me or my family right now. Practically, this means that the bulk of me and my husband's creative activities takes place around my daughter's schedule: I teach a class from my living room on Zoom on Mondays while she naps in the afternoon, and then on the other days I rehearse during her naptime. When she goes to bed at night, my husband and I have the opportunity to play music together a couple of nights a week. There are times when she is awake that I need to work, like when I'm prepping a class, and it's been amazing to see how she's already dancing and picking up things I do. She started counting to 8 pretty early, and we realized that she stopped at 8 because I was counting in 8s all the time as I was making material to teach to my students. Prior to the pandemic, I had the opportunity to bring her to the studio a couple of times while I rehearsed and while it was chaotic and crazy and sometimes not very productive, I loved having her with me.
Image Description: Color photo of Sarah Ramey sining into a microphone
Photo Credit: Sheridan Hendrix
Ultimately I enjoy how our family and art are intertwined. I like that our daughter will grow up seeing her parents write music, and make dances and perform. I have to shout out so many friends and family that support us in this too--prior to the pandemic, my husband and I were able to go out and perform music with our band, Ramey, because of friends and family, especially Steve's mom Donna and my sister-in-law, Mindy, who would frequently watch our daughter. It simply wouldn't be possible for us to make and share art in the ways we have been able to without this support system.
Q: What are your hopes/dreams/desires for dance in Columbus, your dance or otherwise?
A: I'm always thinking about ways that artists can have access to affordable rehearsal space and I keep thinking that perhaps there are partnerships that can be developed with local businesses (after the pandemic) that would be mutually beneficial and provide greater visibility to dance in Columbus. Access to rehearsal space is a major concern for most artists, and I hope that someday Columbus will have more options. I also hope that more older adults will turn to dance as an option for physical health and creative expression.
Q: What other Columbus-based artists are you inspired by right now?
A: I really admire what BalletMet dancer Rachael Parini is doing with her Chocolate and Tulle project on Instagram that highlights what it's like to be a POC in ballet--Rae has a real love for mentoring the next generation of ballet dancers of color and I'm excited to see how this project develops. I'm always inspired by BalletMet Director of Education Ambre Emory-Maier who creates opportunities for people all over Central Ohio to experience high-quality dance programming. I smile whenever I think about Flux and Flow and how Russell and Filippo have built such a supportive community that is so welcoming to people of all dance experience levels.
The opportunity to talk about and witness Sarah’s creative process in conjunction with our Community Spotlight initiative has lent us the unique ability to reflect on what makes an artist. This is a particularly salient reflection for many of us during a time when we may be feeling disconnected from what Sarah describes as “‘ideal’ conditions, whether that was access to studio space, or time, or a body that wasn't injured or recovering from injury.” In a time of extreme disconnection and concern for personal and social wellbeing, it can be difficult to imagine our art located in the same frame as it was before. But as Sarah brilliantly illuminates, “The resources were not the art. Art was something I made (with many collaborators and a lot of help and support) and something I could continue to make--if I wanted to. I feel very fortunate for the chance to change my perspective about this and to continue to make work that fits into the life I have now.” The transparency of the struggle and growth that Sarah let us witness demonstrates an ongoing mantra for us to reimagine our processes and our connections to community as networks of support and wellsprings of creativity. Change reveals openings sometimes violently exposed as uncomfortable vulnerabilities, which Sarah reflected on beautifully: “I've always believed that God had a purpose for my life that involved serving others, but when my life unfolded differently than I thought it should, and when I had to step back from dance--something I loved--for a time, it was extremely painful and actually faith-shaking for me. Now that I'm on the other side of that, I can dance and create again with a certain freedom I didn't have before. The themes of change and adaptation that are present in my work and process are really an outgrowth of the security I feel in the fact that God has a purpose for my life, so I can be both vulnerable and content during uncertain or unfamiliar times.”
CDA extends its gratitude to Sarah for participating in our Community Spotlight initiative. Her feature began with a brilliant social media takeover, where she let us in on “a day in the life” of a working artist, mother, and teacher. Don’t miss her upcoming Instagram performance of “mamamama” Friday, October 23 at 8 PM!!
If you are interested in learning more about or supporting Sarah’s ongoing work you can check out her personal website, follow her Are You Still Dancing? project by visiting the website she has created featuring stories of people who love to dance, check out Ramey on instagram.com/rameyband or on YouTube!, or donate via Venmo to Sarah_Ramey.