Sour raisin pie

For my next victim, I was curious to talk to someone who didn’t come up through an established company, creating a name for herself as a performer first and then making the move to choreographing. Non Edwards moved to the Twin Cities and jumped right in, creating and performing work straight out of the gate. She’s been a presence in the Minnesota Fringe Festival for a few years running as well as showcasing her work on any available stage. I asked her the standard questions over hot beverages, heard some fun stories, and learned that there’s such a thing as “sour raisin pie”. I feel like using an emoticon here, but I don’t know if there’s one that could truly express my confusion/horror at the idea of a pie made of sour raisins. Author’s Note: I have to say—I’ve only talked to a handful of people in the dance community for this column, but it’s ridiculously fun to get to know people by asking them intrusive questions about their artistic history/process and personal habits. We have people this interesting just wandering around making work and doing cool things. So go see some of it! But I digress. Name: A lot of people ask about my name, so my full name is Shannon Edwards, and Non is my nickname. Occupation: This question always gives me grief, because I guess I equate occupation with employment, and I make most of my income as a billing specialist at a chiropractic clinic, but I also freelance, and I work for Deborah Jinza Thayer, her company Movement Architecture, and I just started rehearsing with Jennifer Glaws. I’ll be performing in her [MFA] piece…and she hopes to re-stage that this fall at the Red Eye. Minneapolis or St. Paul: I do live in St. Paul, I’ve lived in St. Paul for the last year, but I lived in Minneapolis for five years before that. I think that Minneapolis has a more vibrant vibe, it’s just more upbeat. Something about St. Paul is just kind of somber. I don’t know if it’s the capital or the business center downtown, it’s just…too serious. More things seem possible in Minneapolis. 1) How did you end up doing the work you do? My parents put me in dance when I was young, four or five, so I studied ballet and jazz at a local studio growing up. Modern dance didn’t really happen in rural Iowa as I was growing up, so I didn’t really know about it and I didn’t think I was going to be a ballet dance, so when I went to college, I went for academics. I went to Grinnell College in Iowa, and I studied Math there. They didn’t have a dance program — well, they didn’t have a dance major while I was there, but they did have classes, so I discovered modern dance there, and danced in the dance troupe, choreographed in the student showcases. When I graduated, I auditioned for a company in Kansas, so I danced for the 940 Dance Company for two years. They’re since obsolete, but it was really fun. We toured Kansas and Missouri, went to Texas, went to Mexico, and I also taught modern dance to youth and adults at the performing arts center while I was there. But after two years, I really wanted to be performing work that I felt more connected to, that had more of an aesthetic alignment. I also wanted to be part of a bigger dance community, so I came to the Twin Cities in 2009. I really gave a go at trying to direct a dance company, from 2009 to 2013. We did three Fringe shows, a lot of the showcases: Renovate, 9x22, the Red Eye Theater Works in Progress. But after I did my “Bob Fosse Makeover” in the 2013 Fringe Festival, I took a break for a while. I needed time to rethink how I was doing things. So in 2014, I started dancing again in June with Deborah, now with Jennifer. So the next thing I’m going to do for choreography will be the Zenon Dance Zone Scholarship Program. If anybody signs up! No one’s signed up yet. Interviewer—extra question: You were a math major. Does that influence what you do now at all? I don’t know that math has much of an influence. In a grand scale, I feel that math is really about problem-solving, so in that way, those kinds of skills can be applied in many ways, but other than that, I don’t think so. People talk about math’s relationship to music. I don’t really know. I don’t think there’s a fundamental connection there. In general, it’s been - there’s always the brain vs. body divide. I wish that I’d gone to school…for dance and trained more heavily, but I have a different background, and that’s all right. I’m really interested in the power dynamics of dance and choreography, and that’s something that’s been a struggle because as a choreographer, you’re in charge of bodies on stage and the way that other people are represented and [how] their bodies are viewed. I find that very interesting, but it’s also very difficult to make sure that I’m not doing something that is oppressive in some way. I’m really interested in that. I’m interested in a female viewpoint, a feminist viewpoint. I’ve only been choreographing with women. So, I think that’s something I really think about: the body, its representation, and power, and how power is communicated through movement, through image. 2) Who/What’s your nemesis? Why? I really think, if I have a nemesis, it’s me. I get in my own way. I doubt myself, and it just makes it more of a challenge to move forward. 3) How long have you lived in the Cities?/What brought you here? I moved here in 2009. I had been coming up here in the summers in college to train, because there wasn’t a lot of dance going on in Iowa. I started to come up here in the summer in 2006, and I did the Zenon scholarship program, worked at Little Caesars in the Midway, and danced for the whole summer. So when I was looking to move on from 940, this seemed like a logical place to come. I already knew the lay of the land. 4) Preferred place to be if you’re alone and incapacitated? I think this question is so funny! I mean, it’s kind of depressing. I guess, if I’m incapacitated, I want to be somewhere that’s going to counteract that, so I want to be somewhere that would inspire me. Maybe nature, maybe somewhere lush and green, or near the water, like the ocean. Somewhere beautiful and, hopefully, inspiring. 5) How often do you call home? I try to call home every two weeks. My parents almost never call me, so it’s, like, all on my shoulders. Then you’re wondering, “Is this the right number of times?” 6) Best performance space in the Twin Cities? Why? I feel, unfortunately, like the answer might be the Goodale Theater in the Cowles Center. It’s just, I feel like there are so few limitations there. It has the most possibilities. I say “unfortunately” because it’s a space I, personally, couldn’t afford to rent. So I do want to throw out that I love non-traditional spaces, like the California Building. Skewed Visions did their show “EX” there. Deborah’s also done a lot of work at the California Building. I personally really love Studio 206 at the Ivy Building in Minneapolis. 7) Favorite performer, living or dead? Why? This is so hard because I feel like I don’t have a favorite, so when I was thinking about this, it was like, “Well, I’m going to have to say somebody.” I’m going to go with someone local and say Dustin Maxwell. He’s such a great person, but he also has beautiful technique, and I’m also interested in the work he’s making as a performer, and his butoh performance art work. I think Dustin’s very talented. 8) Most hated dessert? I generally don’t discriminate against desserts, but I would say anything that was once healthy that’s now trying to be dessert. I don’t like— like, my grandpa loves sour raisin pie, or banana anything really is not qualified for a dessert for me. Interviewer: Sour raisin pie? It was [my grandpa’s] favorite pie. I’m just throwing it out there: sour raisin pie does not sound appealing. 9) What annoys you about the Twin Cities arts scene? I have to say I don’t know a lot about the arts scene outside of the dance community, so I’ll just speak to that. I feel like while the community is supportive, and we say a lot of supportive things about each other, we’re not supportive in some of the most important ways, like showing up to someone’s work, or taking a chance on someone whose work you haven’t seen, or maybe someone who did a show three years ago that you didn’t like, maybe their work’s different now. I think the dance community sucks at showing up. I’m guilty, too. It’s the weather, the environment, or whatever. 10) Arts awards shows and/or “best of” lists in the Twin Cities: go. I want to say, “Neither,” just because I feel like popular opinion is always suspect, but also because neither of them have acknowledged my awesome talent. No, but when I was thinking about this, if I had to choose between the Sage Awards or the City Pages Best Of lists, I would go with the Sage Awards because it’s actually people in the community, who know about the field, who are nominating people, whereas I have no idea what’s going on with City Pages. Once again, popular opinion is subject to suspicion. 11) Donuts: awesome or overrated? Donuts are awesome. I had a donut this morning. I like to get the ones that are filled with vanilla creme fluff. Yeah, the ones that rot your teeth, that’s what I love. 12) Best thing about the Twin Cities arts scene? I think that this is a great place to show work. It’s fairly easy to get into a venue. There are a lot of showcases, a lot of ways to show something, even if it’s 10 or 15 minutes, just to get something out there. I think that’s awesome that it’s so welcoming to emerging artists, new artists putting work on stage. 13) What song or songs best describe your life? I don’t know that it best describes my life, but I’ve been listening to Fay Victor’s album “Lazy Old Sun.” She’s a jazz singer and I’ve had it on non-stop for the last couple months. I’ve been dabbling in listening to jazz. I don’t really know a lot about it - my boyfriend’s a jazz musician - so I’ve been trying to broaden my horizons. I’ve been listening mostly to instrumental, but Fay Victor is a vocalist and she’s also a woman. It opens with this song “Lazy Old Winter”. It really reminds me of the winter, but there’s calls to spring and summer as well. 14) Out of any living Minnesotan, who would you pick as the next Governor of Minnesota? I am feeling up for the job. I don't stay very involved in politics, but I think I would like to give it a go!  15) Spring, Summer Fall, or Winter? I think Fall’s my favorite season, but it’s too short here. I mean, this year we had a decent fall, but the year before it was, like, two days. That makes me sad. 16) Favorite adult beverage? Usually it goes one of two ways: gin or wine. 17) Pajamas: necessary or a waste of laundry space? I think they’re necessary. I hate being cold. Also, I love lounging in them when I’m not sleeping, so I need something to lounge in. 18) Favorite “luxury” item with which to treat yourself? I love that it’s in quotation marks, because anything I treat myself to is generally under $13. [Laughs] I would say coffee, chocolate, or wine. Food, always. 19) What rituals do you have concerning your work?/How do you prepare? One thing I’ve been doing for the last six months that has really made a difference in the way that I feel about myself, but also in my ability to be present while I’m dancing, has been spending time in the studio by myself. Just spending two or three hours - usually I try to do it five days a week - in the studio, either doing yoga or working out or improvising, dancing, going over combinations from class or something from rehearsal, just to have that time on my own helps me open up my body and integrate a technique, because the time you have in class is just not enough. That’s really made a difference and I really feel my best when I’m able to do something like that consistently. It was hard at first to get [myself] there, but once [I’m] there, it’s like, “I’m here, better do something.” 20) You have $500,000 to spend on whatever you want, as long as it’s not on something personal. What would you do with it? Personal? Does this mean I just can’t spend it on, like, a new car? What I’d want to do is establish an entity that’s mission is to serve my artistic vision. I would probably do that. I’d invest some of it to try to get a return on some of that money, and acquire a space. I think space is the ultimate challenge, so a space to rehearse, to have class, and just spend time in the studio.