Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance with Taja Will Season 3 Episode 33

Taja Will (pronouns Taja/they) is a queer, Latinx (Chilean)
adoptee, performer, choreographer, somatic therapist and Healing
Justice practitioner based in the Twin Cities (MN), on the stolen
and  occupied Dakota lands of Wahpekute and Anishinabewaki.
Taja’s approach integrates improvisation, somatic modalities,
text and vocals in contemporary performance. Their aesthetic is
one of spontaneity, bold choice making, sonic and kinetic
partnership and the ability to move in relationship to risk and
intimacy. Will’s work explores visceral connections to current
socio-cultural realities through ritual, archetypes and everyday
magic.


Will’s work has been presented throughout the Twin Cities and
across the United States. Including local performances at the
Walker Art Center Choreographer’s Evening, the Red Eye Theater’s
New Works 4 Weeks, the Radical Recess series, Right Here Showcase
and the Candy Box Dance Festival. Will is the recipient of a 2018
McKnight Choreography Fellowship, administered by the Cowles
Center and funded by The McKnight Foundation. Will has recently
received support from the National Association of Latinx Arts
& Culture, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan
Regional Arts Council, and was a finalist for Queer Art’s(NYC)
Eva Yaa Grant for Queer Women(+) Dance Artists. 


As a performer Will has collaborated with Sara Shelton Mann, Rosy
Simas Danse, Keith Hennessy, Aniccha Arts (Pramila Vasudevan),
Deborah Jinza Thayer, Blake Nellis, Timmy Rehborg, Off Leash
Area, Vanessa Voskuil, Body Cartography Project and Miguel
Gutierrez among others. As an educator Will has been a guest
teacher and adjunct faculty at several institutions across the
United States, including University of Minnesota, Knox College,
Hamline University, Zenon Dance School, Earthdance Creative
Living, wcciJam, and the Lion’s Jaw Festival. 


Taja maintains a dynamic Healing Justice practice that includes
consulting with individuals, organizations, and communities in
the context of workshops, conflict mediation, one-on-one somatic
healing sessions, nervous system triage, board development and
organizational cultural competency, and individual coaching on
unwinding from white body supremacy culture. They ground their
work in indigenous solidarity and decolonization as a means to
undo white body supremacy and it’s pervasive relationship to
capitalism, Taja is committed to working for healing and
liberation of Black, Indigenous and people of color. 


They have recently accepted the position of Equity & Justice
Coordinator at Earthdance Creative Living, an artist retreat
center in Western Massachusetts, on the ancestral lands of the
Agawams, Pocumtuc, Nipmuck and Wabanaki Confederacy.



Taja Will goes by "Taja/they" pronouns. In our interview, you may
note the error by host Mathew in referring to Taja as "she"
during the middle of the interview. Mathew acknowledges and is
sorry for this error. Upon conversation and reflection, Mathew
and ARENA DANCES have taken this opportunity to learn more about
supporting non-binary folks.