Artistic Statement
My interests lie in the human condition; our commonality, what moves us or at least sheds light on the fact that we all care deeply about something. My inspiration and process are rooted in the significance of human gesture as a powerful, universal language. Movement communicates directly to the gut and my work strives to embody those unspoken narratives we encounter every day. I tend to play in abstraction, using visceral and highly physical movement and sometimes text to portray more obvious social familiarities.
Biography
Donnell Oakley is an independent
choreographer, dancer, pilates and
dance instructor based in Brooklyn,
NY. She grew up in Raleigh, North
Carolina, and began “growing like a
flower” in creative movement dance
classes at Arts Together at age three.
She graduated from the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro with a
BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography in 2001 and attended the American Dance Festival in the summers of 1999 and 2001 and has been dancing professionally in New York ever since. Donnell co-founded everything smaller in 2002, a Brooklyn-based dance company driven by collaboration. She spent 6 extraordinary years making dances with the inimitable Jessica Jolly and David Schmidt. everything smaller performed in venues and events such as the Studio 42's Starving Artist Ball, Movement Research's Improvisation is Hard, The Flea Theater's Dance Conversations, DanceNOW NYC, the Bodyblend series at Dixon Place, the Solar Powered Arts Festival, Dancespace Center's Wave of Humanity and their Elizabeth Pape Memorial Concert for which everything smaller received the Elizabeth Pape Scholarship in 2005, the Williamsburg Free Festival, the International D.U.M.B.O Dance Festival, WAX Works, Triskelion Arts Benefit Concerts, New Jersey’s S.W.E.A.T., Teresa Wimmer's Twilight Project, the Brooklyn Dance Sampler, Middlebury College, University of Michigan, Swarthmore University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
In 2008, Donnell finished 6 extraordinary years with everything smaller. She has continued making dances, mostly solos and duets and has had her work produced through Movement Research, the 92nd Street Y, the West End Theatre, Triskelion Arts, the Joyce SoHo, DanceNow NYC, Dance New Amsterdam, and Dixon Place. She is currently working on a duet, sure, i’m sure, and an untitled trio created under the Bessie Schönberg Artist Residency at The Yard in 2013. Both will be presented at The Green Building in Brooklyn, NY by Gowanus Art & Production Presents! July 16th and 17th, 2014.
In addition to her own work, Donnell currently loves collaborating and dancing with Steeledance, Chavasse Dance and Performance, Liz Staruch of Philly, Alex|Xan: The Median Movement, Fritha Pengelly, and Doug Elkins & Friends. Donnell has been dancing with Steeledance since 2005, most recently performing in Salt Dance Festival 2011 in Salt Lake City, Utah and premiering their 2 newest works at the Ailey Citygroup Theater, NYC in February of 2013. Steeledance loved being apart of this past year’s 15th Anniversary DanceNOW Festival at Joe’s Pub. SteeleDance will premier Strictly Personal at The Yard this June.
In August of 2011, Donnell also embarked on a residency with Chavasse Dance and Performance in Puglia, Italy through ResExtensa Dance Company to continue the creation of The Hunger For the Longing, which premiered at The University of Michigan in November of 2011. She traveled with Amy to China this last July to perform a new duet, Low Winter Light, with fellow company member Jessica Jolly as part of the Beijing Dance Festival.
Donnell has been working with Doug Elkins & Friends’ award-winning Fräulein Maria, touring North America, since 2008. In March of 2011, acting as rehearsal director, she had a month long residency through Dance Works in California at Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theater, where Doug Elkins Choreography Etc. began working on the Bessie nominated Mo(or)town/Redux, which had it’s world premier in May of 2012 at American Dance Institute in Maryland, it’s New York premier at Baryshnikov Arts Center in December of 2012, and it’s European premier in Suresnes, France in January of this year. Doug and company are thrilled that Mo(or)town/Redux was part of the line up for the Fall For Dance Festival last year in New York! Doug’s newest creation, Hapless Bizarre, was in residency at The Yard and Jacob’s Pillow and previewed at The Yard this August. It began touring with it’s premier at Keene State College in New Hampshire in February of 2014.
She has been invited to teach at West Chester University, the University of Michigan, Middlebury University, Arizona State University, Prescott College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Enloe High School, Arts Together, The Yard, The Beijing Dance Festival, and as a continuing part of the modern guest artist program at Gibney Dance in New York City.
Donnell feels a strong connection to her roots and believes deeply in Arts Together’s philosophy: “We believe that students who develop personal artistic vision as well as technique become creators rather than imitators.”
