In Conversation, a series of interviews exploring exchanges about dance and different folks’ relationship to dance.
Health and wellness. These are no longer just trending topics on Twitter and Instagram. Wellness no longer means an image of a woman in athleisure wear in a yoga pose trying to sell us branded water. Wellness has taken on a more grounded and intimate meaning as we all continue to re-examine our physical and mental health this year.
In this edition of In Conversation I spoke with Olivia Eng about her holistic practices and processes that guide her as an artist and creator. After spinal surgery in 2012 she reconstructed her movement practices by healing and reconnecting with her herbalism and farming roots.
Olivia Eng is a multi-disciplinary artist, performer, teacher, and choreographer. She is passionate about creating art, photography, holistic practices, herbal medicine, traveling, and connecting with community. Eng graduated from UC Irvine focusing on Dance Performance and Sociology.
She has traveled the world collaborating, performing, and studying with artists in traditional and contemporary forms of West African movement, Brazilian, Indian dance, and more. She began developing the S.C.A.R.S. (Strength, Courage, and Resilience of the Soul) Project, with a mission to foster healing through dance, story-telling, poetry, art, cross cultural exchange and holistic practices.
Read the transcript of the full conversation
Mentioned in the recording:
- Donald McKayle
- University of California, Irvine Department of Dance
- Paco Gomes
- San Francisco Trolley Dances, a collaborative program by Epiphany Dance Theater
- UC Gill Tract Farm Community Farm (Albany, CA)
- Daisaku Ikeda, current president of Soka Gakkai International
- Kintsugi (Japanese art practice)
Learn more about S.C.A.R.S.
Website: www.scarsart.wixsite.com/scars
Instagram: @scars.art.heals
Facebook: SCARSArt
YouTube: SCARSArt
All Audio Recorded and Edited by Andréa Spearman
For more In Conversation content, read and listen here.
This conversation appeared in the Winter 2022 issue of In Dance.
