By Sophie Fahey '17
Staff Writer

Kevin Williamson is a new Assistant Professor of Dance at Scripps. His areas of expertise are Modern Dance, Laban Movement Analysis/Bartenieff Fundamentals, Choreography, Improvisation, and Queer Performance. (scrippscollege.edu)

TSV: Had you heard about Scripps before coming here?

KW: I had.  I was born and raised in Southern California, so I knew of the 5Cs from a young age.  Students at Chadwick school, where I previously taught, became students at the Claremont Colleges, and I also used to substitute for Professor Joel Smith.   

TSV: Were you teaching somewhere else before you came to Scripps?  

KW: I was a lecturer, teaching modern/postmodern practices and choreography at Loyola Marymount University and University of California, Los Angeles. 

TSV: What classes are you teaching?

KW: I am teaching jazz dance and an auxiliary seminar on issues pertaining to jazz dance history, as well as Senior Seminar.  

TSV: What sort of dance background do you have?  

KW: I grew up emulating dancers in Janet Jackson videos until I was about ten years old.  I had studio training in my teens, mostly in jazz and hip-hop, and worked on and off commercially until I went to UCLA for my undergraduate studies in dance.  After college I danced in Austria, Germany, New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles for various choreographers and companies (Robert Moses, David Gordon, Julie Taymor, David Rousseve, Maria Gillespie, LA Contemporary Dance Company, TanzAtelierWien). While working with these choreographers, I continued mytraining under their tutelage, and developed an eclectic choreographic toolbox.  Istarted making my own work seriously some ten years ago.  Since then, I had awesome opportunities to create works for various colleges, theater and opera companies, and performed original works with my collective in LA, NYC, SF, and Beijing.  I went back to UCLA for my MFA in 2012.  And in the meantime, I consistently taught at studios, secondary schools, and colleges.  Each experience informing the next.

TSV: What is your typical day at Scripps like?  

KW: Well, I am quite new, so I don’t know if I could define a “typical” day yet, but so far it has consisted of orientation meetings, organizing my office, course planning, student advising, and of course, class!  It has been so awesome getting to know all of the students, faculty, and staff in the Scripps community.  It feels like home!  

TSV: Do you have any advice for students interested in taking your classes? Or advice for students in general?  

KW: Dance, dance, dance!…..and…. find time for long exhales, moments of stillness, and contemplation each day.