FOR THE LOVE OF DANCE
DANCING is my home, it’s my biggest love, it’s my most vulnerable place of passion, it’s my therapist, it’s my place of creativity and development.
Jon Ole Olstad started dancing at 16 years old, quickly realizing it to be his greatest passion. He was accepted into the National Academy of the Arts in Oslo, and after he was hired for the tour project Kamuyot, a collaboration between the Swedish Riksteatern, and Batsheva Dance Company, led by artistic director Ohad Naharin. In 2013, Jon Ole was hired by Nederlands Dans Theater 1, led by artistic director Paul Lightfoot. In NDT1, he had the honor of working with Paul Lighfoot and Sol Leon, Johan Inger, Hofesh Shechter, Marco Goecke, Alexander Ekman, Jiri Kylian, Mehdi Walerski and Crystal Pite.
His own choreography has been presented at Cross Connection Choreography Competition in Copenhagen, Stockholm Dance Film Festival, Gala of the Stars in Florida, Stuttgart International Solo Tanz Festival, where he won 1st prize dancer and 1st prize choreographer and in 2019 he was awarded the production prize from Ballet Basel at the International Hannover Choreography competition. He has taught at numerous educational institutions: Juilliard, NYU-Tisch, Marymount Manhattan College, Acosta Danza, National Academy of the arts - Oslo, Balletakademien Stockholm, Alvin Ailey and Alonzo King Lines Ballet. He has given company class to Gallim Dance, Ballet Hispanico, BODYTRAFFIC and Theater Regensburg Tanz. He has been on faculty for acclaimed professional Dance studios, such as Edge PAC, Movement Lifestyle, Millenium Dance Complex, Peridance, Broadway Dance Center, ArtÉmotion Summer Intensive, Ballet West, Joffrey Ballet Intensive, World Dance Movement Festival in Italy and NUOVA OFFICINA DELLA DANZA. On top of all that Jon is also a certified GYROKINES® trainer.
How did you get into dance?
My first ballet class was an audition at a high school performing arts program three hours away from where my parents lived. I had no idea what anything was. I just remember standing in the studio, and you know, the girls were wearing leggings and ballet shoes, and I was like, what is this? I didn’t know what first position was, what a tendu was, anything — so when the audition came, I just kind of mimicked everything. I was so out of my own comfort zone we were going to go across the floor and do step, step, chassé and grand jeté leap, and I couldn’t even manage to do a chassé. I thought that there was no way in hell I was going to get accepted into this high school.
I was accepted because the teachers saw that I tried so hard and that alone was enough. From that moment I worked twice as hard as everybody else, and was the first one in the studio and the last one to leave.
It’s perfectly fine to start late, you just have to become so smart so fast. You have to be able to become your own teacher pretty fast and develop twice as fast as everyone else who already knows all of the steps. I think, because I started late, I realized dance was so personal — it wasn’t anyone else’s, it was my dancing. It wasn’t something that anyone could take away from me — I own my own dancing.
What are some of the most interesting reactions or responses regarding your work?
That's a very good question! People think that I am much taller than I am if they meet me for example after they saw me perform. I also get a lot that people think I maybe started with ballet or gymnastics or something because of my flexibility and pointed foot. But the truth is, technique is what I feel is one of my weak points. I took my first ballet class at 16, and I never got a good, solid academic ballet training. It was very much copying the teacher and trying to paste it into my body. Basically mimicking the ballet steps given. I have at times felt sad or frustrated that I didn’t do a proper ballet schooling because I still struggle after now 15 years of dancing to do a clean double pirouette and I wouldn’t even attempt a double tour in the air. But on the other hand, I think doing a schooling like that would have hindered me in finding my own voice in dance and my own way of moving. You have to nurture your individuality, you just have to know where to put it in.
I’m a very emotional person, and I love to be vulnerable; I think when you do that, you find fuel for physicality. I have a sense of people thinking [my work] is on the verge of being cliché, but I honestly believe life is a cliché. We want to see love; we want to be loved. I’m not afraid of totally putting myself out there onstage or in class. I want to feel something so powerfully that the people who are watching feel the repercussions of what I am feeling.
`When I was a dancer at NDT1, I created a solo called ´and we already knew the names`. This was about my own reflections regarding love, loss and the yearning for acceptance in a relationship. The solo starts with me walking on to stage in everyday clothes with full stage and audience light on. I then proceed to ask the audience questions about love like: have you ever been in love ? Raise your hand if you are sitting next to your boyfriend or wife? Raise your Hand if you have ever gone through a divorce? This solo toured in Brazil and Germany and I got close encounters with the audience and many meetings after with people who wanted to tell me their own personal story about life, love and loss. Those were some really interesting reactions and connections made with people seeing my work.
Greatest inspirations or influences?
Siv Gaustad, my Jazz teacher from college. She’s still my biggest inspiration today.
I am inspired by the style and atmosphere of teachers like Siv Gaustad, Alex Magno, Robert Hewitt, Zvi Gotheiner, Terri Best, Malaya. Some of my fav choreographers are Crystal Pite, Jiri Kylian, David Dawson and Pina Bausch.
I get inspired with dancers and movers that move from an emotional point of view. I am fascinated when a dancer doesn’t make excuses for themselves and when taking risks they outweigh perfection and image.
I get inspired with students or dancers I get to work with that don’t expect to grow quickly, I love seeing when they are struggling and having to figure out solutions and creative approaches to make their dancing and art form grow. It's very emotional for me seeing that young student without the obvious talent or dancers body, show up the earliest in the studio to warm up. Smart work ethics, the non giving up and the non thinking that anything can come for free. To not take anything for granted and to always keep enjoying every moment of your passion even in the heaviest of days.
I get inspired by stories that people tell me that show their deepest vulnerability and shame.
I am also inspired by kindness, people that have a deep knowledge of dance but still remain so humble and so authentic.
How has covid impacted your world, and what are possibly some of the positive effects its going to have in this new world that we are all adapting to?
I am teaching classes online now, I do both IG live and on zoom workshops. Covid has made me realize how connected we all are as dancers but how much we all take for granted. I hope the current situation allows dancers to realize and appreciate the simple joy of taking a class in a studio with other people and performing on stage. We sometimes complained that class can get boring and that being on stage can sometimes be unsatisfying, so hopefully now, we will have a new appreciation.
Anything else you’d like to share with us Jon?
It’s perfectly fine if you’re a slower developer. I see people giving up way too fast — like people being in New York for three months and trying to get a job and saying, ‘oh I didn’t get one so I’m going back home.’ If you want to be a dancer, it’s not just about making it today, it’s about making it your whole life. Another person’s success does not mean your failure.
Thank you so much Jon
