IU dance professor incorporates travel, politics into choreography
For nearly 35 years, Iris Rosa has served as director of Indiana University's African American Dance Company. A professor in IU's Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Rosa teaches choreography as well as modern, jazz and ethnic dance, and has traveled to places including Ghana, Puerto Rico and Cuba to study and teach dance. She has choreographed for musicals at the Phoenix Theatre, Civic Theatre, American Cabaret Theatre and Theatre on the Square. Rosa also is director of Sancocho: Music and Dance College, a performing ensemble that focuses on African-derived music and dance from the Caribbean and Latin America, and the Seda Negra/Black Silk Dance Company, which focuses on a fusion of contemporary modern and traditional dance forms of the African Diaspora.
Rosa recently talked with Live at IU about her passion for dance, what inspires her and the upcoming "The Potpourri of Arts in the African American Tradition" performance, featuring Rosa's African American Dance Company students with IU's Soul Revue and the African American Choral Ensemble. The performance is at 8 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. For tickets, call the Sunrise Box Office at 812-323-3020. General admission for adults is $15 and $5 for students and children.
LIU: What brought you to IU?
IR: I was an undergrad and a graduate student here. I had a job in northern Indiana, and I was called to interview for the position of director of the African American Dance Company. I came back to IU to start work with the dance company in 1974, stayed, moved up through the ranks, and now I'm a full professor.
LIU: What do you like most about being a professor at IU?
IR: It's the students -- that's why we all should be here. We serve the students in our disciplines, so we should be focusing on what they need if they take our courses. And of course, the camaraderie of a department and your colleagues.
LIU: What inspired you to become a dancer?
IR: When I was an undergrad, I went through a few majors, just like all freshmen do. I did a little bit of dance in high school. I was in a modern dance company that was created by Mildred Ball, who is now my mentor. When I came down here, I discovered the contemporary dance program. I auditioned and decided to become a dance major, and after I graduated, I stayed a couple more years for my master's degree in modern dance and elementary education. After I got my degree here, I went out to New York and did a lot of other types of studying and dance.
LIU: Where is the most interesting place you've studied, choreographed, performed or taught?
IR: I'll have to say Guantanamo, Cuba, and Santiago. The Cuban culture is vast and diverse. When my family and I went to Santiago and Guantanamo to study music and dance, we found it very different from the western part of Cuba. They have a lot of Haitian influence -- the dances are really vibrant and strong. The whole area is very diverse in itself because it has influences from Jamaica and the other islands, Haiti, Spain, and it's very African. I found it to be a very interesting spot historically because of the revolution. That place was very different from what I had been exposed to.
LIU: Who or what has influenced you and your style of dance?
IR: I get a little bit out of everywhere I have been. My choreography reflects the diversity of movement styles and different forms of dance. I'm not strictly a ballet person, but you could see in a piece of choreography ballet, modern, all sorts of ethnic, African movements. It's a fusion. I like the Cuban movement style a lot. I also enjoy movement style from Matanzas and Santiago. I'm a trained modern dancer, so I fuse the different styles, because I can use modern as a base. I like the techniques of Horton and Jose Limon.
Iris Rosa (far right), with members of Sancocho: Music and Dance College
LIU:What are your plans for the future?
IR: The future for me, number one, is to continue to learn and be better every year in what I do. I think that if we ever decided that we have learned enough, then we're in trouble. My ultimate goal would be to have a professional dance company do one of my pieces, but I'm very happy with what I do here. I'd also like to go back to some of the places I've been.
LIU: What are you currently working on?
IR: I've been director of African American Dance Company, which also is a course. I have new students every semester and we have major performances. Since they have different dance backgrounds, I have to work with various levels. First they work with a good jazz piece; that's what we're doing now. We always do work that reflects the human condition. It could be something that is about what's happening socially or politically in the world today within the African Diaspora.
LIU: Are you going to be doing any performances related to the upcoming Presidential election?
IR: Last year we did, and we've made statements about the election. I think politics always weaves itself into dance. I also think people don't understand that dance reflects life; anything that is going on, you can really dance about. Dance is like storytelling. It's been very political for us, very social. We make social statements and try to get people psychologically to come into the pieces. The students not only dance, they also have to read and understand what they're dancing about. I've done pieces about racism, pieces that reflect human condition -- homelessness, for example. Within all of that, I've done collaborative pieces. I did one on the rural South with a colleague. We want to provoke thought and have the audience have a conversation when they leave, not just say, 'Oh that was real cute.'
