Q&A: DANCING FOR LIFE

Through movement, Yolanda Pauly ’21 unlocks the expression of her full identity.

Pauly, a St. Olaf College senior double majoring in dance and in race and ethnic studies, participated in the 2023 season of the Ordway’s GreenRoom, a paid, intensive training fellowship created by BIPOC artists to center underrepresented communities within musical theater. The life-changing experience deepened her connection to the arts and reaffirmed her passion for dance.

Question: Where did your love of dance begin?

Answer: I started taking ballet at the Edina Community Center when I was 4 or 5. I took some breaks and tried team sports, which was not for me. I went back to dance and found a love for movement. Then I saw a modern dance performance with Alanna Morris and was in awe. She’s a Black dancer, and I could see myself in her. My mom said, “That could be you one day.” So that was kind of an awakening-my-passion moment.

Q: Can you talk about your experience as an Ordway GreenRoom fellow?

A: I was reluctant to apply at first because I connected it more to musical theater than to dance. I went a lot of my life thinking less about race and how I am affected by it or how it impacts me, and how I impact the world. While GreenRoom is focused on art and artistry, I think I learned a lot more about myself as a woman of color. The first weeks were so hard because I was in a mind space of, “Okay I’m a POC [person of color], yes, but I’m not a musical theater person; I’m a dancer.’ I come from a very privileged world. I went to Blake. I was given opportunities to be in spaces a lot of people in the program weren’t. I struggled emotionally wondering, “Should I be here [in the GreenRoom program]?” But I was really affirmed in who I am and what that means for me as a dancer, specifically, and also hearing other people’s perspectives and where they’ve found comfort and connection. I was uplifted by five Oles [alumni of St. Olaf College] who were the faculty members, including [Blake Upper School choral director] Natalia Romero Arbeláez. It was cool to make those connections and learn what their experience was like at St. Olaf in the arts as a person of color, and what it’s like to move beyond St. Olaf. I felt more motivated and empowered to be confidently, loudly and proudly Yolanda, an Afro-Latina and queer—and just me.

Q: What effect has your GreenRoom experience had on you back at St. Olaf?

A: I felt so warm in the [GreenRoom] space because it was all PoC. When I went back to St. Olaf, I went into a bit of culture shock. But I channeled what I gained in GreenRoom into the classes I ended up taking the next year. I took Latinx literature where we talked a lot about what it looks like to be biracial, with part of that identity being Latino. I was invigorated, and I was living every day curious. If there was something I felt was opposing my existence, I pushed back and made sure I was consciously rewiring my brain to undo the internalized racism I have in my body. I pushed back and stood more firmly on my own ground. I also channeled what I think about when I move: I think about race and its challenges and my own hardships. The end product was my senior capstone project.

Q: Can you share more about your project?

A: My senior capstone was a solo performance piece I choreographed with the help of Toni Pierce-Sands, artistic director of TU Dance in St. Paul. The piece focused on my journey in the last five years, beginning with my awakening moment, when George Floyd was murdered. That was my first moment of being like, “I am Black. How does this impact how I exist in the world?” The piece moves into the realization of a world where I didn’t even really understand my own positionality. And then it transitions into acceptance of this intersectionality of sexuality, race, religion and all of these things that come together in my identity. I paired the dance with spoken word, and it ends in Spanish with some proclamations. I’m in a space where I want to proclaim all that I am.

So many things make up me, the individual. It was a hard but very beautiful process. It pays homage to all the places I’ve been and also what is to come. I recognize and am grateful that there’s something else coming.

Q: You’ll be graduating soon. What is next for you?

A: My first post-grad plans are in Becket, Massachusetts, where I’ll be a Barbara and Amos Hostetter and Philanthropy intern at Jacob’s Pillow, a dance center, school and performing arts space. Ultimately, I want to create more. I want to do a rendition of my solo as a group piece. And I want to continue to educate myself and advocate for PoC, for multiracial and biracial individuals, for queer folk and for movement. I think the arts are so important in this world. I’m creative and open-minded when it comes to my future. Dance is my life. It will be there forever and ever.

Do you know Blake alumni doing interesting work? Let us know at cyrus@blakeschool.org.