Pauline Jennings Instructor of Fine Arts: Dance

Pauline Jennings

Programs

MFA Dance Choreography and Performance, Mills College (Oakland, CA)
BA Integrative Arts, Pennsylvania State University (University Park, PA)
Schreyers Honors Degree, Theater, Pennsylvania State University (University Park, PA)

Courses I Teach:

Creative Dance
Performance, Art and Social Justice (FYS)

Areas of Expertise

Contemporary dance, audience-interactive performance, site-specific dance, interdisciplinary collaboration, intermedia performance, immersive art, art and social justice

Through teaching, I strive to facilitate safe and encouraging learning environments for taking risks, boldly expressing oneself and developing communities rooted in trust and respect. By frequently incorporating collaboration and dialog, we commit to celebrating diversity of backgrounds, ideas and experiences while developing tools for communicating to a broad audience. Through acquisition of historical context, artistic skills, and the ability to critically engage with existing art, we begin to envision how creative expression can help to reimagine and change the world around us. We do all of this while remembering that joy, laughter and play can be just as important tools for learning as somber study and reflection.

Research

Pauline Jennings is a contemporary choreographer compelled to create works for stage, video and interactive installation that attempt to viscerally capture the excitement, confusion and fear accompanying our rapidly changing society. In her often collaborative work, it is important that both the performers and audience partake in a journey together – neither party quite knowing all of the details at the start of a performance, but discovering them together along the way. Developing emergent forms, responsive systems, and modes of audience interactivity has enabled her to choreograph in this manner. Emergent work further demonstrates and attempts to viscerally capture the excitement, confusion and fear that accompany our rapidly changing society. Through her work, Pauline hopes that viewers will have an opportunity to reflect upon and take a more active role in determining their own evolution.

Jennings is currently collaborating with Joshua Lacourse on a new duet “Two Chairs,” a full-day, immersive movement duet seeking to spark the fire of connection and blaze the trail of shared humanity between pairs of sentient beings. She is also co-curating the digital dance project “Quarantine Dance Project” with Alyssa Lee Wilmot. Jennings’ prior choreographic works have been presented in festivals and showcases internationally, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Merce Cunningham Studio, EMPAC, Museumsquartier Wien, Hamiltonian Gallery (Washington, DC), Lake Studios (Berlin), Institut Intermédií (Prague), Eastern Bloc (Montreal), Primo Piano LivinGallery (Lecce), and Museum of Contemporary Art and Planning Exhibition (Shenzhen). Jennings currently teaches dance at Saint Michael’s College and has lectured and taught at New York University – Shanghai, the University of Applied Arts (Vienna), University of California at Berkeley, Arizona State University, Amherst College, Dartmouth College, and College of Santa Fe.

Awards and Recognitions

Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Emergency Grant (2019)
Burlington City Arts Project VT Award (2018)
Vermont Performance Lab SEED Award (2018)

Recent News

Artist Talks and Workshops:

  • Artist Talk. ISEA 2020: Sentience, Montreal, Canada. Oct. 2020
  • Artist Talk. Julian Scott Memorial Gallery, Johnson, VT. Mar. 2019
  • Workshop (co-taught with Joshua Lacourse). Burlington City Arts, Burlington, VT. Jan. 2019
  • Artist Talk. Burlington City Arts, Contois Auditorium, Burlington, VT. Nov. 2018
  • Workshop. New York University – Shanghai, Shanghai, China. Nov. 2017

Artist Residencies:

  • Lake Studios Berlin, Berlin, Germany. June 2019.
  • Vermont Performance Lab, Brattleboro, VT. July 2018

Performances and Exhibitions:

  • Quarantine Dance Project. Online weekly exhibit of dance for the frame, co-curated with Alyssa Wilmot (5/1/20 – current)
  • Lake Studios Berlin, Berlin, Germany. ​Eins, Zwei, Fünf und Sechs. F​ull evening audience interactive duet, co-choreographed and performed with Joshua Lacourse (6/27/19)
  • Unfinished Fridays Vol. #59, ​Lake Studios Berlin, Berlin, Germany.​ ​13 Minutes of Nothing (Give or Take). ​Duet co-choreographed and performed with Joshua Lacourse (6/21/19)
  • Hamiltonian Gallery, Washington DC. ​neighboring|towns.​ Co-direction of 4-channel video installation with Heather Theresa Clark; Co-choreographed and performed with Joshua Lacourse (5/18/19 – 6/30/10)
  • Burlington City Arts, Burlington VT.​ ​Becoming Human: The Air Connects Us.​ Directed,
    choreographed and performed in three-channel video installation (10/19/18 – 2/9/19)
  • Feverish World Symposium, Burlington, VT. ​Seeking Nourishment (​ half-day event)​. ​Directed half-day, multi-site, audience interactive event; Co-choreographed and performed interactive duet with Joshua Lacourse (10/20/18)
  • Contois Auditorium, Burlington, VT.​ ​Becoming Human: Sea Inside Our Skin ​(full evening)​. ​Full evening duet, co-choreographed and performed with Joshua Lacourse (11/29/18)
  • 118 Elliot Space, Brattleboro, VT. ​Sea Inside Our Skin (​ full evening)​.​ Full evening duet,
    co-choreographed and performed with Joshua Lacourse (7/28/18)
  • Museum of Contemporary Art and Planning Exhibition, Shenzhen, China​. ​9 Ways & Means.
    Interactive performer (4/29/18)

Publications:

  • Boisvert, H., Jennings, P., Patton, K. “Walking Wounded: Workshop.” ISEA2018, Durban University of Technology, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, June 23-30, 2018.

Grants and Awards:

  • Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Emergency Grant (2019)
  • Burlington City Arts Project VT Award (2018)
  • Vermont Performance Lab SEED Award (2018)