Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessica Heaton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Jessica, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such an experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
The greatest unexpected problem I’ve faced on the creative pathway is that most of my job is not creative! There’s a lot of administrative work that has to be done to make my creative journey even possible. These things include scheduling, contracts, grant writing, paperwork, trainings, and more. At times, I have really resented all the administrative work required of me to make art possible for myself and for the others on my dance company, but as I’ve gotten more practiced at the administration, I’ve actually found that I do enjoy it. More and more these days I’m just facilitating art-creation for other people (guest choreographers, my professional dancers, etc.) but it feels really rewarding to sit down at the performance and know I made it possible, even if none of my own art is actually being presented.
Jessica, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am the founder and Artistic Director of the Wasatch Contemporary Dance Company, a performing group in Utah County. I received a dance minor from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. In high school and college, I served in many dance leadership roles, even helping to start my brand-new high school’s dance department. I served as Assistant to the Director of my college dance company. I guess these are the things that gave me the confidence and skills to begin my own professional dance company. Although I always wanted to direct a professional dance company, I didn’t think I would start one at age 23. I imagined I’d be much older and that my resume would be more impressive when I started a dance company, but I felt the call to begin this journey even before I graduated from BYU. And I was seeing all these incredible dancers in my area fall to the wayside because contemporary dance performance for adults was unheard of in our area prior to 2010.
It has been a unique place to begin a professional dance company and pave the way for other artists. We are the first professional contemporary dance company to exist in our county. We are still very much in the work of helping the community understand why the arts are important, why artists deserve to be paid respectably for their work, and how community support is needed to keep dance and other arts growing in our county. Because contemporary dance is still fairly new on community members’ radar, we work hard to bridge the gap between commercial dance and concert dance. Our format and structure help patrons get to know the art form in a way that is comfortable and relatable. We try to provide context, back story, and thematic work for our audiences, who don’t always enjoy guessing what concert dance is supposed to mean. We’ve gotten creative with our shows, sometimes performing in unique immersive environments that break that wall between audience and dancer. These venues have included libraries, jazz clubs, and museums. We’ve served mocktails, created group art together, and utilized smart phones and social media in our performances. We’re working hard to make contemporary dance accessible, multifaceted, and evolutionary.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I feel like there’s a major hierarchy in which arts society values. We’ll pay hundreds of dollars for an original piece of art to hang on our wall, but $30 for a ticket to a dance performance feels like too much. I fully support visual artists making hundreds (and more!) for their work, I just wish that patrons understood everything that goes into creating a performance so that they didn’t gawk at a concert’s ticket price. In a concert there are usually a dozen dancers or more to pay, as well as choreographers, lighting designers, costume designers, and administrative staff. Each of these people deserve to be paid for their work in the show as well as the years of training they undertook to achieve that level of skill, the same way the price tag on a painting reflects the years the painter spent honing his craft. Don’t even get me started on how much people will pay for tickets to a sporting event! Ha!
If you can’t support a show by attending, consider making a donation around the time of their show. This shows you are thinking of them and supporting them. You want their art to continue so that you can attend their events for years to come.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I had reached out to other Artistic Directors earlier in my career. I learned over the years that other professionals are happy to share their experiences, what worked for them, and what didn’t. I was so afraid to ask “stupid questions” but in reality, I have found that we all have them, and we all “fake it until we make it” to some degree. Everyone I have asked for direction has been transparent, helpful, and encouraging to me and I try to pay it forward by supporting other newer companies around me.
Contact Info:
- Website: wasatchcontemporary.com
- Instagram: @wasatchcontemporary
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WasatchContemporary
Image Credits
Photo of Jessica Heaton: Heather Young Photo of dancer in front of light panels: Katie Bruce Photo of dancers in a jazz club: Jessica Heaton Photo of dancers braiding fabric: Heather Wrigley Photo of dancers in blue in a museum: Heather Wrigley