ABOUT ME
Artist Statement (Dance)
Short:
I am a multidisciplinary contemporary dance artist. I work in theatre, music and poetry as well. I am often inspired by performance art and visual art. All creative paths merge in alignment into a unique presence of beauty and truth of one's ever-changing, ever-transforming soul and spirit. I create from the inside out, with depth and longing covering every surface of my expression. Deep contemplations on the greater meaning of our world, and the human journey, color the work. Life is a great mystery and a grand adventure, and through my work as an artist, I intend to seek the darkest depths, highest heights, and everything in between of it all. I work from a place of darkness, balance, transcendence and deep transformation.
Dance connects people to place, community and personal experience. Dance is a powerful tool that unites a group of people. Dance is a conversation that brings our expression and experience to life through the use of the human body as a vehicle for that expression. Dance carries all art into our bodies and daily lives by the movement of the body through transcendent spaces.
Long:
How I came to dance:
I took ballet lessons until I was 10 years old. Competition in dance turned me off to the art form for many years. I was reintroduced to dance in college through taking a Butoh class. At the end of the class, I decided I needed to study dance because dance was the only art form through which I felt like I could truly express every aspect of my experience. I had studied poetry, music and visual arts for many years, and it was only through dance that I felt like I could express myself on an elevated level. Not only does dance change the atmosphere and mood of the performers and the audience (as music and creative writing can), but it also enables an artist to create an entirely new world in which the dancer and audience can live. With my body as an instrument, I use dance to create new worlds and to completely embody art being expressed through me. In college, I discovered a new approach to dance that wasn’t competitive and judgemental. I recommitted myself to dance and performing arts through the innovative classes and techniques of Butoh with Julie Becton Guillum (Asheville Butoh), of Contemplative Dance Practice and other Buddhist-inspired movement research practices with Barbara Dilley (Naropa University), and of the inner-work and holistic-dancer approaches of Schiffting with Jenny Schiff (Schiff Dance Collective).
How I define my dance genre:
Contemporary and somatic dance genres, as well as my various training backgrounds (including, modern, jazz, ballet and Butoh).
How I approach my dance genre:
Bodymind connection, inner to the outer (Kazuo Ohno, Founder of Butoh).
Why dance is important to me and what dance means to me personally:
Dance is important to me because it is the avenue through which I am best able to express my Soul. Dance is also important to me because it is an continual practice and a mode of personal expression that allows me to connect with other people and the world in a way that is alive, present and fully embodied. Dance means everything to me. Dance is life. Dance is transformation, creation, connection and aliveness. Dance is the integrity of honesty.
The way I use dance in the world and what I believe dance does in the world:
The way I use dance in the world is to create honest landscapes that transport people into the landscape in an inspiring way. I use dance in this world as a means to connect with myself better, to connect with other people on deeper levels, and to connect with the natural world. I believe dance and performance overall creates community, connection, conversation and deep inner soul integration. Dance is a celebration of the aliveness of our imprinted stories told and untold. Dance connects people to place, community and personal experience. Dance is a powerful tool that unites a group of people. Dance is a conversation that brings our expression and experience to life through the use of the human body as a vehicle for that expression. Dance carries all art into our bodies and daily lives by the movement of the body through transcendent spaces.
Artist Biography
Short:
Annie Lo is a multi-disciplinary visionary contemporary dance artist, spiritual teacher and musician residing in Boulder, Colorado. Her artistic disciplines include contemporary dance, theatre, poetry, and music. Her training includes a BFA Performance from Naropa University, 200-level YTT Shambhava Yoga from Shoshoni Yoga Retreat, and Priestess training at Sacred Three Goddess School and the Order of the White Moon. The divine feminine, deep inner work around social justice and the process of transformation around one's consciousness, contemplations on creative methods, and the intuitive flow of the divine mystery influence all of her work.
Long:
Annie Lo is a multi-disciplinary contemporary dance artist and athlete residing in Boulder, Colorado. Her artistic history through grade school at The Key School includes ballet, piano, viola, guitar, voice, chorus, song-writing, composition, photography, and poetry. Her artistic history through undergraduate studies with Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina and Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado includes Voice, Yoga, and Creative Writing. Her performing arts history through collegiate studies and dance schools includes Contemporary Theater, Performance Art, Multi-media Performance, Butoh, and Contemplative, Contemporary, Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical Jazz, and Modern Dance as well as improvisation, choreographing, creative process, writing and directing. Her spiritual history through eclectic studies includes Contemplative Education, Vipassana Meditation, Zen Buddhism, Wicca priestess practices, energy healing, hatha yoga, earth-based ritual, animism, and astral schools and guides. Her acting instructors include Joan Bruemmer (Band of Toughs) and Lorenzo Gonzalez (Naropa University). Her dance instructors include Julie Becton Guillum (Asheville Butoh), Patrick Mueller (3rd Law Dance), Kat Gurley (Wild Heart Dance), Barbara Dilley Barbara Dilley (Judson Dance Theater, Cunningham Dance Company, Naropa University), Katherine Kaufman (Naropa University), and Jenny Schiff with the Schiff Dance Collective. She has done trainings under Antonio Fava (Arscomica), Diego Pinon, Yukio Waguri, and Mizu Desierto (Boulder Butoh Festival), and Sumi Clements, Erika Randall and Wade Madsen (Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop). Lo continuously pursues rigorous training in the performing arts and dance throughout the production year. Her most notable dance performances include Ambrosia in Yarrow (Naropa University), and O (Denver Art Museum).
Artist Biography (Music)
Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, Annie W. Lo is an earth-based mystic, and a passionate and soulful neofolk singer-songwriter and performer.
Growing up studying music throughout her life including Classical European music on viola, piano and voice, chorus and chamber choir studies, Western music theory, Appalachian Folk Ballads, and a wide range of singer-songwriting styles.
Her musical style is based in nature-based shamanism, visionary mysticism, neofolk, Appalachian and American folk traditions, Western classical, blues and roots, and indie folk music.
Trainings
BFA Performance Naropa University
200-level YTT Shambhava Yoga Shoshoni Mountain Retreat
(Beginning-Intermediate)
Contemporary Dance
Ballet
Lyrical Jazz
Contemporary Acting
Ensemble/Production
Classical Western Piano (8 years)
Classical Western Viola (4 years)
Guitar (16 years, self-taught)
Chorus (4 years)
Chamber Choir I and II
Music Theory I
Appalachian Folk Ballads I
Applied Voice I
Singer-songwriter/Song-writing (16 years)
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