Trezon Dancy is a Dance Artist with a Powerful Voice
Credit Sarah Williams
By Jane D’Angelo, OhioDance executive director
Editor’s note: while the 2020 OhioDance Festival & Conference has been canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak, we encourage you to get to know your local artists! Trezon Dancy is a Columbus choreographer, performing artist and educator, and he spoke with OhioDance executive director Jane D’Angelo.
Jane: When did you start to dance and what led you to it?
Trezon: I started to dance at seven years old. My grandmother is a dancer, of African and tap. I joined her at rehearsals either playing music or trying to catch the steps. Seeing the joy in these movers’ faces really infused my body to stay involved. Immersing myself gave me the ability to see the effect dance could have on an individual’s day and mood. It provided me with safe thinking and a strong freedom of moving.
Jane: Your work is clear and current in today’s dance world; how would you describe it?
Trezon: I am an African-American north side boy who has always seen the picture from a different angle. I describe my work as an invitation to deliverance and aim to connect audiences by guiding them through genuine and visceral movement, inspired by familiar life and human obstacles. For myself, the creation process starts with remembered experiences. Those memories serve as an archive to activate the creative thought. Though the work is abstract, the viewer is encouraged to develop their own interpretation, and find personal life connections visually, physically and spiritually.
Credit Jason Chuang
Jane: Name anything successful in your life — what factors made it successful?
Trezon: During college, studying performance and choreography at Ohio University, I began to explore my choreographic mind, methods and theories. My works have been presented at various venues including: Ohio University; Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Harford, CT; Battery Dance Festival, NY; West Fest Dance Festival at Martha Graham Dance Studio, NY; International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference; and the OhioDance Festival; among others. What made these encounters significant to me, is the ability to be heard. These moments make my work successful.
Jane: What’s the best thing about the Columbus art scene right now?
Trezon: The best thing about the Columbus art scene is the ability to be individually accepted. There is an amazing blend of a community that embraces differences and provides visual artistic statements that impact the communities around them.
Credit Jess Cavender
Jane: You use appealing music in your classes and performances. What music is on your playlist?
Trezon: I enjoy listening to music that turns my brain into a capsule of images that project memories. Though the work is abstract, the viewer is encouraged to develop his own interpretation, and find personal life connections visually, physically and spiritually. My catalog of musicians extend from Yo-Yo Ma, Armand Amar, Michael Wall, Nils Frahm and Miles Davis.
Jane: Tell us what we can expect from you at the OhioDance Festival?
Trezon: I will teach a class I call InPulse Technique. This class is for all ages. In the Saturday evening concert, my choreography focuses around a theme of connecting to a world that holds a community together toward a mission that can produce powerful feelings. I want the audience to reflect upon themselves feeling indulged in what the dancers will create in the space.
To learn more about OhioDance, visit ohiodance.org.