Britta Olson draws from influences of philosophy and improvisation

Dance major Britta Olson is drawing inspiration from French philosopher René Descartes for her senior showcase.

“Last semester, I was reading a lot of philosophy and Descartes and was really inspired by his meditations,” she said. “He kind of toys with himself and said that he cannot have any beliefs until he doubts everything.”

Olson’s piece, “Is That a Fish?” is the story of two ice fishermen competing with each other to capture a prized fish. One of the dancers tricks the other into believing the fish is not real.

“That’s kind of my main inspiration for this piece,” she said. “You even have to doubt the most basic things, like your senses, and even material objects before you can build upon things.”

Dabbling in dialogue

Olson will be experimenting with speaking roles during her performance by having her dancers introduce themselves and explain their characters. Olson said even though speaking in dance doesn’t happen often, it can flow with the choreography if done correctly.

“I don’t like speaking in dance if it’s just random or abstract,” she said. “I like it to be within character.”

Olson said she has always wanted to try speaking roles in choreography and was inspired by a performance she saw in Brazil by Nir de Volff.

“His piece included both theater and dance, and it was just so inspiring to me,” she said. “It’s so rare, but it’s becoming quite popular with modern dance.”

Even though she has incorporated speaking into her routine, Olson said it was difficult to choreograph due to her lack of experience with theater. To help with the process, she took some of the information she learned in an improvisation course with a section
on speaking in dance. Still, Olson admits it was a struggle.

“I’m not a theater major at all and haven’t studied it, so trying to incorporate it is hard at times,” Olson said.

Rehearsals

Olson decided to keep her showcase to a three-dancer limit due to scheduling issues from a performance of Paul Taylor’s “Esplanade” at the IU Auditorium on Nov. 4.

“That was difficult to work around, because those rehearsals were taking up our time for all the senior concerts,” she said. “We just had less time than previous years.”

Along with working around different schedules, Olson also dealt with choreographing for the first time.

“I remember my first rehearsal,” she said. “I was so nervous and didn’t know if I could do it, but after that rehearsal, things went great, and I was able to convey my ideas to my dancers, and there was such a high afterwards for me.”

Olson said she is confident in the performance and choreography and wants to continue creating routines.

“A lot of dancers love to dance, or they love to teach, or they love to choreograph,” she said. “But my passion is definitely choreographing.”