MIKE TYUS

"The human body is both limited and limitless"

Mike Tyus is an amazing dancer, choreographer and creative director who has been working with Le Cirque du Soleil, Jacob Jonas The Company and Pilobolus.

You have an outstanding and brilliant career, working with “Cirque du Soleil”, the legendary modern dance company “Pilobolus” and being a founding member of “Jacob Jonas The Company”. What is the key of all your successes?

“First off, Thank you! It’s been an amazing adventure and sometimes I forget all that has been accomplished over the years. I’m not sure if there is a “key’ to success. One thing that has helped me was setting a goal that has pulled me out of tough and dark seasons. “I must be dancing and I must be creating.” If those two things are happening in my life then I’m on a good path.”

-How did you develop your artistry?

“When I set out to begin my career my goal was to collect as many experiences and artistic processes as possible. Who I am and what I make is made up of all those experiences syphoned through my own personal desire to make work. I continue to collect Ideas and process and my artistry continues to develop.”

-You had a serious injury when you were young. How did dance help you to overcome this?

“I was born with Blount’s Disease. It wasn’t an injury. It was a disease that effected the way my leg bones grew. It has caused a lot of pain and instability to this day. I had surgery to correct my legs when I was 11. For recovery I chose to train in dance. From that point on I was hooked. Dance gave me a physical practice that would end up retraining my biomechanics. It gave me tools that helped build strength and overcome my greatest physical challenge.”

-You worked for the impressive “Cirque du Soleil”. How did this experience change yourperspective of dance and influence you?

“Cirque expanded my understanding of what movement could be and how it could be used. In cirque I wasn’t a “dancer” I was a character performer. This character spoke through movement and shaped story through dance. From then on dance became more than just steps but a means to build small worlds onstage.”

-You work a lot with amazing videos, and you are able to create fascinating concepts, always different and full of ideas. What is the importance of video in dance today?

“Covid has taken away our access to traditional performance spaces. Instead of seeing this as the end of our art form, a lot of dancers and choreographers have taken to filming their work in non-traditional places. This has breathed new life into dance and once again expanded my understanding of what you can do with movement. Film is its own art form and I love that I can dabble in something new while still holding true to my mission to dance and create.”

-What is the different empathy between a live performance and a video-dance?

“The whole process of going to the theater and watching something temporal and beautiful happen before your eyes makes for a magic experience.

To be able to manipulate ones perspective in myriad of ways and open small windows into different worlds with film makes for something unique and powerful.”

-Your instagram became an amazing platform where to share all your art, and it is just fascinating. What is the importance of social media for artists today, if used in the right way?

“Social Media has given me and my artists friends our very own audiences. I no longer have to wait for a theater to accept my submission or approve of my work in order to be seen. I use it as a testing ground for new ideas or simply a way to connect with other artists for collaborations. It can be used in so many ways. The right way is the way that works best for you. It has taught me a lot about branding, marketing, and has helped me build a practice of creating something new every week. It has also helped me generate an income during a time where I have lost a lot of work.”

-How did it start the idea of creating “Jacob Jonas The Company”?

“JJTC is the brain child of Jacob Jonas. I’m considered a founding member because I was there at the beginning of his choreographic career and helped inform his earlier work. But to be clear Jacob Jonas is the mastermind behind JJTC. His ability to mobilize artists, create opportunity, and champion the art form of dance has put him front and center as one of the great dance creators of the future."

-What is the importance of discipline in dance?

"Discipline is another word for practice, consistency, or persistence. The work of dance is all these things combined. The more work you put in, the more you get out. You must build a physical and creative self-practice in order to achieve great things through dance. It’s paramount.”

-You are an amazing choreographer also. What inspires you the most for creating a piece?

“Thank you! It’s been a dream of mine to be considered a choreographer. Choreography is a wild sport. Most of the time it’s fed by instinct. I try to capture and shape something as untetherable as human form and emotion and make it speak for me. There are so many movement patterns in my body and those that I like to work with. Trying to manipulate and reconstruct those patterns to create something of interest has always fascinated me. It’s become a practice to create interesting things. You truly have to love movement in order to do so. I’m inspired by movements that repeat. I’m inspired by violence. I’m inspired by sex. I’m inspired by things I’ve never seen before. Over all I’m inspired by the process of making dance.”

-What are the difficulties and beautiful aspects of being a choreographer?

“Being original is a great challenge especially for somebody who, like a sponge, absorbs a lot of dance. It can be easy to just regurgitate what I see. So when I do make something original it’s quite an accomplishment.”

-What catches your attention in another dancer?

“I like dancers with the ability to move in many languages, the ability to let go and trust the process an ethos that are proactive. I like dancers who make bold original decisions.”

-What is the role of dance in society today? Why do we need dance?

“This question always gets me. On darker days I ask myself this question and don’t receive an answer. I don’t know if it’s that we “need” dance or if dance is just a natural product of the human experience. Exploring dance , like an astronaut or a geologist explores space or the earth, is the exploration of the human psyche through physical means. There’s also something to say about catharsis, the release of repressed emotion. Some people see dance as healing, others see it has recreational, and like me some people see it as life itself.”

-What fascinates you the most about dance and movement?

“Although the design of the human body is limited to a few variations, dance has shown me that there are a plethora of ways to move it. The human body is both limited and limitless in it’s ability to move itself and those that watch it.”

-What is the relationship between dance and music?

“Music is a tool dancers use to explore impulse and expression but it’s not the only tool and it’s not a necessary tool.”

-Can you give some advice to young dancers?

“EXPLORE. There’s always more than one way. Build a physical practice now. You will last

longer. Make your dance practice a spiritual one. Creativity is the natural result of spirituality.”

Thank you so much Mike, it has been a real honor to interview you!