We’re looking forward to introducing you to Dogs Eat Wind. Check out our conversation below.
Dogs Eat Wind, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
There is a path… sort of… winding. We find ourselves in moments where the way is clear, the footprints of other artists/mentors helping lead the way, until at some point we have to excavate a way forward for ourselves. In less-poetic terms, there are many resources and routes in the dance space, and there has been many international connections between contemporary dance in the U.S. and Italy/Europe. However, these relationships tend to be ephemeral and limited to short periods of time – we attempt to weed through a path that allows a deeper, longer-lasting relationship between our members in the U.S. and in Italy.
When the path starts to become obscured, those are the moments when we allow ourselves to wander — to stop and take in our surroundings, listening to what our current situation is asking of us or what it already has to offer. It is here where we discover a gap and begin to work toward filling it.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
We are Dogs Eat Wind (or DEW), an international contemporary dance collective based between Nashville, Tennessee and Rome, Italy. Our work is usually about relationships in the context of space and place, often stemming from our own dynamics and experiences within the collective itself whether they be personal, social, cultural, etc.
Alongside the work itself, one of our bigger goals as a collective is to contribute to the infrastructure of international collaboration/conversation for independent artists and artist groups — in other words to find hidden-in-plain-sight opportunities for connection, conversation, and collaboration amongst creative scenes in Italy, the southern United States, and other scenes that we run into along the way.
We are currently in residence together in Rome working on our second stage work together entitled “Stay in Touch”.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
Capitalism–honesty.
When did you last change your mind about something important?
In our first year as a collective, we spent an insane amount of time applying and waiting, and waiting and reaching out and waiting and applying and waiting.
.
We were waiting for people to tell us that we could make our own work.
Then, we realized that there was plenty of belief, energy, and capability to make and share the work without waiting on larger institutional support.
This realization led to us making two new films and to the self-supported residency we are now embarking on here in Rome. Placing more emphasis on individual connection and support has precipitated rich and unique performance and development oppurtunities for Dogs Eat Wind.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
Growing up a lot of us trained in academies of, lets call them, “proper dance companies” that instilled the idea that the path of a dancer is to train until your late teens, then audition for companies – if you get in, you dance until your body gives out (their estimated age is ~30) and if you don’t, you move on from the idea of being a professional performer.
What we know now is that there is an entire network of dancers, artists, and groups of performers whose work becomes the essence of many cultures and subcultures. In Nashville, there is a particularly vibrant and growing dance community. These artists train, make work, perform, collaborate, etc. on their own terms, for their own unique purposes and audiences, through specific and often unique opportunities and relationships – and they survive. They survive because they are important to people, despite the undeniable lack of funding from federal and local government institutions.
There is still so much to build up, celebrate, connect, and fund in this social/cultural/artistic circuit, but what we know for sure is that it exists and it HAS existed since we began our training as children. We are here to participate.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
It is important to us that people sense the intimate connection between our dancers. Even coming from different parts of the world, we are able to share hours in the studio filled with laughter and discovery. Approaching whatever cultural differences we may face with love and curiosity rather than judgement has been a core facet of our work, and we hope to it may inspire others to open themselves to finding similar connections in their fields – whether dance and the arts or anything else.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dogseatwind.com
- Instagram: @dogseatwind
- Other: https://patreon.com/DogsEatWind?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
Image Credits
Photos by Sophia Matinazad, Inci Uzell, Karen Alisa, DeBlackStig, and Jessica Marie
